Ieng Sary Team Promises Action in Website Order

Reacting to Tuesday’s publicized threats of sanction from the Khmer Rouge tribunal, the defense for former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary said they would remove from their website three documents deemed confidential but promised to take legal action in response.

The tribunal’s co-investigating judges, Marcel Lemonde and You Bunleng, on Tuesday gave the de­fense 48 hours to remove all confidential information from their independent website or face disciplinary measures by the court and possibly by the Cambodian and other bar associations as well.

The defense in January an­nounced that they were creating the website to publicize legal documents they claimed the court had deliberately suppressed or de­layed processing. The defense in Decem­ber also publicly denounced the tribunal’s Pre-Trial Chamber for allegedly interfering in the court’s registry in order to discard selected documents from a filing. The site can be viewed at http://sites. google.com/site/iengsarydefence/.

In a statement posted to their website Wednesday, lawyers Mich­ael Karnavas and Ang Udom said they were removing three plead­ings: a July appeal against a re­fusal to appoint a psychiatric expert for Ieng Sary, and requests made in January and March of last year for information concerning tribunal in­vestigators Stephen Heder and David Boyle.

“A full, transparent and public response to this order will be filed in due course,” Karnavas and Ang Udom wrote.

“Despite the removal of these documents, the website will remain active and continue to provide ac­cess to those following proceedings at the ECCC to public documents filed by the defense.”

It was unclear Wednesday whe­ther the removal of only three pleadings would satisfy the co-investigating judges, who in their order on Tuesday noted the website’s initial publication of nine confidential documents, which they said had in fact occurred in January.

The site Wednesday still contained more than 10 motions and re­quests as well as report annexes and decisions, including the motion concerning Heder.

Lemonde and You Bunleng also said Tuesday that they had forwarded their order regarding the website to the Cambodian Bar Asso­ciation for consideration.

Bar Presi­dent Chiv Songhak said Wednes­day that he was not aware of the matter.