Despite the glacial pace of proceedings in the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s second case, allegations of rampant political interference in the court’s investigations and now a strike by translators who have not been paid since November, Cambodian and international legal experts met on Tuesday to once again mull the legacy the war tribunal will leave.
Though it has long been argued that the U.N.-backed tribunal would be a positive role model for the country’s national courts to follow, several controversial court rulings last year—including the jailing of radio station owner Mam Sonando and Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who are believed to have been framed for the murder of a union leader—have raised questions as to whether the war crimes court is having any effect whatsoever.
“The model used by the ECCC [Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia] is considered better than the International Criminal Court, but its best practices have not yet been implemented in domestic courts,” Thun Saray, president of local rights group Adhoc, told the conference organized by the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, the Cambodian Bar Association, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
“The main objective is to think about the positive legacy of the ECCC,” Mr. Saray said. “A society that provides no justice provides no stability.”
Bar Association President Bun Honn, who was recently at the center of controversy after he prohibited lawyers from speaking to the media without prior consent, chose to focus on the definition of “legacy.”
“Legacy could be used in a way to develop a trust in the law and the courts,” he said.
Panhavuth Long, a program officer for the Cambodian Justice Initiative organization, asked the conference who will mold the tribunal’s legacy, as much needs to be done to reform the judicial system.
“How do we make judges, lawyers and prosecutors have a conscience about conflicts of interest?” he asked the guests. “And who will play a leadership role in the legacy?”
