JURIST - Paper Chase: Cambodia genocide judges begin two-week meeting to resolve rules differences

[JURIST] Judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website] who will preside over the Khmer Rouge genocide trials met Thursday to resolve remaining disputes between Cambodian and international jurists concerning the internal regulations of the tribunal. The meeting, announced [JURIST report] earlier this month, is expected to continue for the next two weeks. Once the internal rules of the tribunal are settled, judicial investigations of evidence can begin. The ECCC has also announced that tribunal investigators will be sworn in on June 13.

The draft internal rules [PDF text] proposed for the tribunal have been a source of intense controversy for months. A meeting of the judges in November failed to reach agreement, as did a subsequent meeting [JURIST reports] in January. A March meeting made progress [JURIST report], but still left unresolved details concerning fees and other procedural details. The legal fees dispute was finally resolved in late April [JURIST report].

The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2005, PDF] to investigate and try those responsible for the Cambodian genocide that occurred under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge [MIPT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] regime. The genocide resulted in the deaths of over 1.7 million people from maltreatment, disease and malnutrition. To date, no top Khmer Rouge officials have faced trial. Questions have been raised concerning exactly how many of the Khmer Rouge's top officials will face the tribunal, as several of those responsible for the genocide have recently died [JURIST report] and others are in failing health. AP has more.

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