While thousands of Cambodians are likely responsible for human atrocities during the Khmer Rouge era, UN investigators said Tuesday they would target only the leaders.
“How many are guilty? In a sense, thousands, many thousands,” said Sir Ninian Stephen at a press conference in Phnom Penh. “But of the top leaders there are only five or six….If we go after the small fish…we will be locked in a trial process for 20, 25 years.”
The head of the UN investigative team, which arrived Saturday to assess evidence for a possible international tribunal, estimated that a trial targeting only those leaders could cost $40 million annually.
“Our mandate is concerned with the feasibility of bringing Khmer Rouge leaders to justice, not…prosecuting thousands,” he added.
The Khmer Rouge regime resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians from 1975 to 1978 through starvation, forced labor, torture, and execution in a campaign to abolish capitalism, class differences and individual property. While the long-term leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, died in April, prominent surviving Khmer Rouge cadre such as Ta Mok, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, and Khieu Samphan are almost certain to be targeted for a trial.
But trying particular individuals beyond the handful of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders will be costly, lengthy and difficult, the experts said, in part because Khmer Rouge recruitment during the early 1970s was so pervasive.
A human rights worker compared the situation to post World War II Germany.
“In Cambodia there were lots of people directly or indirectly involved in these crimes,” the rights worker said Tuesday night.
Based on a Sunday evening meeting with Hun Sen, UN officials said the second prime minister is in guarded approval of their investigation.
“Hun Sen was very hesitant at present to say anything [pointing to top Khmer Rouge leaders]. We didn’t discuss questions of limitation and we didn’t suggest that might be the case,” said Stephen.
In discussions about extraditing war criminals, however, Hun Sen referred to a recent treaty between Cambodia and Thailand which would facilitate catching Khmer Rouge along the Thai border, Stephen said. After its investigation in Cambodia concludes Nov 22, Stephen said the team would be traveling to Thailand to discuss how Thailand could cease to become a haven for fleeing Khmer Rouge.
Many of the highest-ranking present Khmer Rouge cadre have sought refuge in jungle bases of northwestern Cambodia next to Thailand.
According to Stephen, two months ago the tribunal investigators also met with Chinese and French representatives for a week in New York City to discuss a Khmer Rouge trial. China has called Khmer Rouge issues “internal affairs of Cambodia,” and its veto on the UN Security Council could otherwise derail an international trial.
The tribunal was a result of more than a year of international deliberation after then-prime ministers Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen wrote to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June 1997 for legal and financial assistance to “bring to justice those persons responsible for the genocide and crimes against humanity during the rule of the Khmer Rouge.”
The UN condemned the Khmer Rouge in November 1997, leading to Annan’s appointment of Stephen, former governor-general of Australia; Steven Ratner, a US expert on international law and war crimes; and Rajsoomer Lallah, former chief justice of Mauritius as the three members of the UN legal team to examine Khmer Rouge evidence.
The investigators will write up their findings in a report to the secretary-general by the end of January. With UN approval, the report will pave the way for scouting a court location, recruiting legal personnel, and apprehending the Khmer Rouge leaders, a process which may take a couple of years.
Stephen stressed that the UN will do its utmost to be thorough.
“It is clearly not worthwhile for the UN not to be interested in impeccability and honesty, with independent prosecutors and independent judges,” he said.
While hedging on how to simultaneously deal with individual accountability of Khmer Rouge atrocities and protect Cambodia’s fragile political stability, Stephen was adamant that there was no inherent conflict between the tribunal’s twin objectives of bringing about national reconciliation and bringing justice.
“It’s a misconception to think the two are necessarily alternatives. I would for myself believe reconstruction and harmony may be promoted by the exercise of justice….I don’t think the passing of 20 years will be insuperable,” said Stephen.
