The defense teams for Khmer Rouge tribunal defendants Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan on Tuesday rejected a proposal from the prosecution that the court appoint new counsel for their clients to get around their ongoing boycott of substantive hearings.
Both defense teams walked out of the first day of hearings in the second phase of their trial earlier this month on instructions from their clients. Nuon Chea says the four judges on the Trial Chamber who convicted him during the first phase are biased and wants them replaced. Khieu Samphan says his lawyers are too busy appealing his own conviction in the first phase to simultaneously defend him in the second.
During a closed-door trial management meeting Tuesday, the second since the walkout, the court discussed a proposal from the prosecution that the Trial Chamber assign one new counsel for each defendant to act as “amici curiae” to effectively represent them until their existing defense teams rejoin the hearings.
The prosecutors laid out their case in a letter to the chamber dated October 22.
“The co-prosecutors emphasize that defense counsel usurp the functions of the chamber and prejudice the rights of the parties if they determine when a trial starts and stops,” they say. “The appointment of amici curiae counsel is an interim measure that allows the trial to continue without disruption, and it is therefore essential that such counsel be appointed immediately.”
The prosecutors ask the chamber to appoint and keep the new counsel “until such time as the accused’s counsel return to participate in the proceedings or until counsel are barred from appearing for the accused on grounds of continuing misconduct.”
Both defendants strenuously rejected the idea.
After Tuesday’s meeting, Nuon Chea’s team released a handwritten letter their client wrote to the court on Monday along with an English translation.
“It is my absolute stance that I shall not accept under any circumstances new lawyers,” Nuon Chea writes, adding that he retains complete faith in his current team. “If the court decides to appoint new lawyers I shall not accept them and I shall refuse to come to court. Only by use of force shall I attend any hearing.”
Kong Sam Onn, one of Khieu Samphan’s lawyers, said Tuesday that he and his team also rejected the prosecution’s proposal.
“We think it is not necessary and we think it is against the lawyers’ code of ethics,” he said. “[Khieu Samphan] already has lawyers…and the court cannot force him to have a new one.”
Mr. Sam Onn said the judges did not decide Tuesday whether to assign the proposed new counsel.
Both defense teams also said their clients were still advising them to stay away from any substantive hearings in the case.
