UN Names 12 KR Tribunal Judicial Nominees

The UN has published the names of 12 legal experts nominated by UN Secretary-General Kofi An­nan to participate in the Khmer Rouge tribunal, according to the UN’s New York press briefing notes for Wednesday.

The names of seven international judges were forwarded to the Cam­bodian Supreme Council of Magi­stracy who must choose judges for two trial and three appeal court po­sitions.

They nominees are: New Zea­land Governor-General Silvia Cart­wright, US New York State Su­preme Court judge Martin Karop­kin, Sri Lankan Chandra Nihal Ja­ya­singhe, Frenchman Jean-Marc La­vergne, Japanese citizen Motoo Noguchi, and Kosovo Internation­alized Courts veterans Claudia Fenz, of Austria, and Agnieszka Klo­nowiecka-Milart of Poland.

Annan put forward one nomination for the post of international co-investigating judge: Frenchman Marcel Lemonde. According to in­formation found on the Internet, Le­monde is the chief of the Appeals Court in Bastia, Corsica.

The Supreme Council of Magi­s­tracy will choose among American Paul Coffey, the former US Justice Department chief prosecutor of or­ganized crime, and Canadian Rob­ert Petit for co-prosecutor positions.

Nominated for the pre-trial chamber, which decides disputes be­tween the co-prosecutors and be­tween the co-investigating judges, are Australian Rowan Downing and Katinka Lahuis of the Netherlands.

“I can’t comment on any of the nominees because I don’t know any of them,” Documentation Cen­ter of Cambodia Director Youk Chhang said.

“The UN selection system has been transparent so I trust it. I hope that Cambodia can use it as a mod­el and adopt it for the selection of Cambodian judges,” he said.

The Supreme Council of Magi­s­tracy is now expected to announce the three Cambodian trial judges, four appeals court judges, co-prosecutor, co-investigating judge and three pre-trial judges, trial press officer Reach Sambath said.

Reach Sambath said that next week the government and UN will sign a supplemental agreement to the 2003 tribunal agreement detailing security and safety arrangements for the tribunal staff.

He said six major donors to Cam­bodia out of 27 countries have agreed to release Untac-era funds to fill the tribunal’s $9.6 million budget shortfall. Three major countries have asked for more time to decide, he added.

 

Related Stories

Latest News