ECCC, Case 002/02, Issue 9

Case 002/02

ECCC

Cambodia

English

This week, the Trial Chamber moved efficiently in completing the examination of three witnesses and commencing the questioning of a fourth, even as procedural hurdles threatened the continued progress of Case 002/02. The OCP began to insert newly released confidential statements from the Case 004 investigation into the Case 002/02 dossier, as they include both inculpatory and exculpatory material relevant to the ongoing trial. Both the Defense Teams, with the tacit support of the Civil Parties, sought postponement of trial so the new statements could be reviewed for impact upon witness testimony in the current trial segment on Tram Kak District and Kraing Ta Chan Security Center (KTC). The Trial Chamber declined to postpone this week, moving forward with the four witnesses after determining the new statements were not relevant to their particular examinations. However, the Court did announce modifications to the hearing schedule for the next two weeks to provide more time for the parties to review the new Case 004 statements. With the threat of postponement effectively addressed, the Chamber successfully heard testimony from a monk who was defrocked and forced to labor under the Khmer Rouge, and from two ‘base’ people who described life in their Tram Kak cooperatives. In its brief session on Thursday, 19 February, the Chamber began to hear testimony from a former prison guard at Kraing Ta Chan previously identified as ‘Little Duch’. This report summarizes the testimony of the four witnesses, analyzes the inclusion of Case 004 statements in evidence, and briefly discusses other procedural and trial management issues that arose this week