ECCC, Case 002/01, Issue 67

Case 002/01

ECCC

Cambodia

English

This week, the Chamber heard the Defense teams respond to documents which had been presented by the OCP and CPLCLs two weeks earlier as part of the final “key document hearing” for Case 002/01. The Nuon Chea Defense attempted to distinguish policy from implementation and place the documents into context. Nuon Chea himself made a personal statement, during which he explained the reasoning behind DK policy, challenged the accuracy of books written by foreigners, and clarified his leadership role during the DK. The Khieu Samphan Defense also informed the Chamber that Khieu Samphan had decided to invoke his right to remain silent and was no longer prepared to respond to questions from the OCP or Civil Parties. Khieu Samphan also made a personal statement explaining that his decision was fuelled by what he considered to be unfair treatment of his Defense counsel, and violations of his right to a fair trial. International counsel for Khieu Samphan, Arthur Vercken, used the time allotted to respond to the documents by lodging a variety of complaints about the fairness of the trial.

Following the conclusion of the document hearing on Tuesday, the Chamber heard the testimony of Witness Stephen Heder for the remainder of the week. Numerous legal and procedural issues were raised, including recurring debate about the fact that Heder had been summoned as a witness rather than an expert. Courtroom etiquette remained an issue throughout the week, with heated exchanges between Vercken, Prosecutor Keith Raynor, and the Trial Chamber Judges.