Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> JURIST - The Paper Chase

Legal News

: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Cambodia genocide court denies second bail request of ex-Khmer Rouge official

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on Monday denied a second request for release on bail by former Khmer Rouge official Ieng Thirith. Ieng was Minister of Social Action in the Democratic Kampuchea regime, and is currently under investigation for charges of crimes against humanity. In Novermber 2007, investigating judges ordered her arrest and provisional detention. The order was extended for another year in November 2008. The decision on Monday also dismissed Ieng's appeal against the extension, finding that:provisional detention still remains a necessary measure to prevent the Charged Person from exerting pressure on witnesses or destroying evidence. Furthermore, the Pre-Trial Chamber deems detention necessary in order to ensure the presence of the Charged Person during the judicial proceedings and to preserve public order.Ieng's lawyer said that they will further pursue the issue at trial. Ieng maintains that another former Khmer Rouge official, Nuon Chea, was responsible for the crimes for which she has been charged. The ECCC is in the midst of the first trial of a former Khmer Rouge leader, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as "Duch." In late April, Kaing admitted to training prison staff to use torture to obtain confessions from prisoners, after he accepted responsibility for the deaths of 12,000 Cambodians in the S-21 prison camp. Kaing's trial is the first of eight that the ECCC hopes to hear against former members of the Khmer Rouge, which has been accused of murdering 1.7 million Cambodians during its nearly four-year reign.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).