An Appeals Court prosecutor on Wednesday said former Khmer Rouge chief Chhouk Rin should face prison for murder, kidnapping and leading an armed group in a train ambush that ended with the execution of three Western hostages in 1994.
The appeals hearing took place despite the absence of Chhouk Rin and his lawyer, Puth Theavy, who had made a failed attempt to reschedule the trial to prepare more witnesses to speak on behalf of his client.
Khmer Rouge rebels killed 13 Cambodians in the train attack in 1994 and took Australian David Wilson, 29, Briton Mark Slater, 28, and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, hostage for two months before executing them as government troops stormed their base at Phnom Voar in Kampot province.
Chhouk Rin was jailed briefly for the train ambush but cleared by a Cambodian court in 2000 on grounds he was protected by a 1994 amnesty for Khmer Rouge soldiers who made peace with the government.
Appeals Court Prosecutor Kong Srim said Chhouk Rin attacked the train after the amnesty came into affect and therefore could not seek its protection.
“Chhouk Rin directly committed the act of destroying people’s property and the train,” Kong Srim told the court.
“The charges are: premeditated killing, illegal detention and membership of an illegal armed group,” Kong Srim said.
A verdict will be announced next Wednesday, Appeals Court Chief Judge Samrith Sophal told the court.
Chhouk Rin contacted by telephone after the trial said he would appear in court for next week’s verdict but would appeal to the Supreme Court if he was found guilty.
“I could not go to the trial today because my lawyer had legally asked the court to have the new witnesses summoned,” Chhouk Rin said.
Relatives of lawyer Puth Theavy said he was unable to attend court because of illness.
Chhouk Rin defected to the government in October 1994, just weeks before his former base on Phnom Voar was captured by the government and the bodies of the three hostages recovered.
He is one of three Khmer Rouge suspects believed to be most responsible for the raid.
Chhouk Rin maintains the three hostages were executed after he left the Khmer Rouge and joined government. He also claims he was not involved in the train raid.
Nuon Paet, Chhouk Rin’s superior on Phnom Voar, was jailed for life in 1999 for the ambush. Sam Bith, regional commander for Khmer Rouge operations in Kampot, was arrested in May and is imprisoned in Phnom Penh awaiting trial.
Attended by diplomats, legal experts, reporters and the father of French hostage Jean-Michel Braquet, the morning hearing centered on representation from lawyers seeking the prosecution of Chhouk Rin.
Chief Judge Samrith Sophal opened Wednesday’s hearing stating Chhouk Rin’s municipal court verdict in 2000 was now being appealed by the lawyers for the family of Jean-Michel Braquet.
The case was not postponed because the application was unreasonable and lodged too late by Chhouk Rin’s lawyer, Samrith Sophal said.
Lawyers representing the families of David Wilson and Mark Slater had not appealed the verdict but lawyer Ea Sopheap, who represented the deceased Briton’s family, was present in court and permitted to take part in the trial, said Samrith Sophal.
Advised by French lawyer Francois Zimeray, Braquet’s local lawyer Touch Chheng Tech said Chhouk Rin was a Khmer Rouge commander, and the 1994 amnesty was only applicable for lower ranking members of the communist movement.
However, Touch Chheng Tech became bogged down when asked to explain to the Appeals Court what Chhouk Rin’s place in the Khmer Rouge command structure in Kampot province had been at the time of the attack.
Lawyer for the family of Mark Slater, Ea Sopheap, called witness Chan Sary who was a guard on the ambushed train and was held for 12 days on Phnom Voar after the attack.
Dashing Chhouk Rin’s assertions that he was in hospital on the day of the attack, Chan Sary said he was interrogated by Chhouk Rin two hours after the train was ambushed and later recognized the rebel commander by his missing toes.
However, questioned by Judge Thuong Mony, the witness said other prisoners on Phnom Voar had told him the interrogator was Chhouk Rin.
French lawyer Francois Zimeray said after the trial that Chhouk Rin’s absence from court proved his guilt.
He also blasted the municipal court’s interpretation of the 1994 Khmer Rouge amnesty clearing Chhouk Rin of the attack, which occurred three months after the law’s enactment.
“In the interpretation…it is exactly as if the Khmer Rouge were allowed to commit all the crimes they wanted during six months after the passing of the law,” Zimeray said.
“This interpretation is completely absurd and in opposition to the constitution,” he said.
He also blasted Cambodian officials, who, he claimed, tried to benefit from the hostages in order to muster international assistance to fight the Khmer Rouge.
“One could say the hostages had been sacrificed for political interests because at this time Cambodia had interest to show the Khmer Rouge were still a threat and try to get international sympathy [and] international military help,” he said.
Jean-Claude Braquet, the father of the murdered French backpacker, told reporters that Chhouk Rin was still being “protected” eight years after the death of his son and he did not expect justice done.
“I’m still searching for truth,” he told reporters through an interpreter.
British Ambassador Stephen Bridges attended the trial but said he would refrain from comment until the verdict.
Australian Ambassador Louise Hand said her government wants justice done.
“We’ve made many representations over the years [to the government] and will continue to do so,” Hand said.
Half-a-dozen Chhouk Rin supporters from Phnom Voar were present at the courthouse, listening intently to the hearing.
“We are sorry for the three Westerners but we want to ask justice from the court for Chhouk Rin,” said Phnom Voar resident Ouch Noun.
Chhouk Rin has strong support in Phnom Voar and is admired as the person who brought peace to the rebel area by being the first Khmer Rouge commander to defect to the government.
Wednesday trial was a muted affair, compared to Chhouk Rin’s 2000 court appearance, when relatives of the slain men and supporters of the former Khmer Rouge commander packed the municipal courthouse.
Chhouk Rin’s supporters and friends burst into applause at his acquittal while the victims’ families shook their heads in dismay.
