Prime Minister Hun Sen Friday said, in spite of objections from UN legal experts, the Khmer Rouge tribunal draft law would not be changed as it goes through “another round” of legislation.
The Constitutional Council last week sent the draft law back to the National Assembly because it incorrectly made reference to the outdated 1956 Constitution.
In a speech before the Council of Ministers, Hun Sen said that he had no intention of altering the law, even though it must go full circle again through the National Assembly, Senate, and Constitutional Council.
“I am the prime minister of Cambodia. I must listen to the legislative bodies here and not to anyone else,” the premier said.
It was Hun Sen’s second attack on the UN this week. Earlier, he said the UN human rights commission was interfering with Cambodia’s sovereignty and giving aid and comfort to terrorists. He has threatened to expel UN human rights monitors from the country.
Asked for reaction, Peter Leuprecht, the UN’s senior official for human rights in Cambodia, said he was willing to put faith in the government that the legislation would move forward. He refused to comment on Hun Sen’s remarks, saying that he had not heard them himself.
“There have been some developments and some delays. There have been ups and downs, but the deal was reached last summer. The formula for Cambodia is different, as you know,” Leuprecht said.
After the Senate passed the tribunal legislation, UN official Hans Corell sent the government a letter expressing concerns, especially over the prospect that Ieng Sary, “Brother Number Three” in the genocidal regime, would be immune from prosecution.
King Norodom Sihanouk gave Ieng Sary immunity after he led a 1996 mass defection of Khmer Rouge regulars that effectively crippled the movement. Hun Sen has said repeatedly that prosecuting Ieng Sary could lead to war.
Leuprecht said Friday that Hun Sen and the government must be willing to compromise with the UN in order for the tribunal to have credibility.
“What I will say is that if the formula [for the war crimes tribunal] is to work, it needs the cooperation of the international community. There is a strong expectation of the international committee that this will be passed,” Leuprecht said.
The government deadlocked with the UN on a trial agreement until last year, when the US brokered a deal to allow for both a foreign and Cambodian presence in the courtroom.
