Top Jurists on List for KR Trial

Dith Munthy, head of Cambo­dia’s Supreme Court, and Ly Vouch Leng, president of the Appeals Court, are on the government’s list to serve in a Khmer Rouge tribunal, according to officials familiar with the list.

Both are admired for their legal minds and their experience, according to two senior government officials who confirmed they are on the list. And both are members of the ruling CPP.

Dith Munthy is a member of the CPP Permanent Committee, of which there are seven members. He is ranked 20th in the par­ty.

Ly Vouch Leng is a less prominent member and doesn’t sit on either the CPP’s permanent committee or the central committee.

The tribunal draft law, which is under the scrutiny of the Con­stitutional Council, states the Supreme Council of Magistracy shall appoint the judges and prosecutors to serve in the three tribunal levels—trial, appeals and supreme court.

The government on its own has also gotten involved and has already drawn up a list of candidates it wants to serve as judges and prosecutors in the trial, according to government officials.

Legal experts have criticized the list, saying the government should not be involved because it could influence the trial.

Ly Vouch Leng, who was secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said she will serve on the tribunal if she is chosen, but she does wish to be part of the trial.

“I won’t be happy if I’m chosen, but I will have to serve,” she said. “I don’t want to do it because it’s too much work.”

Dith Munthy, on the other hand, said he will be glad to participate and serve the 38 relatives of his who were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime.

“What I will do is for all the people, not just my relatives,” he said.

He said he does not know what the Supreme Council will do, but according to legal principle among those who should be chosen to be part of the trial are the head of the Phnom Penh Municipal Trial Court, the chief of the Appeals Court and the president of the Supreme Court.

Answering frequent criticisms of the Cambodian judicial system, Dith Munthy acknowledges that “everything is not perfect.”

“It’s their right to criticize us, but my idea is I will work for the people according to the law.”

The lawyer for Ta Mok, one of two Khmer Rouge cadre being held for a tribunal, should ask that both Ly Vouch Leng and Dith Munthy be replaced, said Lao Mong Hay, executive director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy. Because both of them are members of the CPP, the party that fought the Khmer Rouge for more than 10 years, neither of them can be impartial, he claims.

“These people already have a prejudice against the accused,” Lao Mong Hay said.

Ta Mok’s attorney Benson Samay, however, said he believes the judges selected to serve on the tribunal will be impartial, no matter their party affiliation.

“Even if they are CPP, I don’t have any objection to that,” he said.

Sok Sam Oeun, director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said neither of these people have the experience to serve on a trial and both of them should be sent overseas for training in international law.

“If they are looked upon as being partial, their independence will be upgraded through training,” he said.

But Suy Nou, secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said that both Dith Munthy and Ly Vouch Leng are qualified and are right choices for the trial.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the judges and prosecutors who serve in the tribunal must be clean, independent, experienced and knowledgeable in the law. He added that Dith Munthy and Ly Vouch Leng fit all of those descriptions.

“It’s inevitable that both of them will serve on the tribunal,” he said.

 

 

 

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