San Jose Cambodian community awaits justice

The ECCC expands the scope of crimes it will hear in Case 002 to include mass killings of 3,000 former military officers at the Tuol Po Chrey execution site in Western Cambodia.

The Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) rendered its decision on an immediate appeal by the Co-Prosecutors against a decision of the Trial Chamber denying, in part, to expand the scope of the first trial in Case 002.

Bay Area survivors of Cambodia's genocide are dismayed with Thursday's death of a Khmer Rouge leader before he could face justice at the hands of an international tribunal for his role in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s.

Six from the Bay Area will be legally represented and could provide testimony during the second international tribunal of Khmer Rouge leaders charged with crimes against humanity.

Three Khmer Rouge survivors will stay in Cambodia for one week to witness the first substantial hearing of the trial to date.

The passing of Ieng Sary and the dismissal of Ieng Thirith for mental unfitness—and the advanced age and poor health of the remaining two Khmer Rouge defendants (Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan)—make imperative the need for an efficient and exhaustive decision on the liability of Khmer Rouge era atrocities.

Co-founder of the Khmer Rouge, Ieng Sary, died before a verdict was reached in the trial against him and two other senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). His death at the age of 87 serves as a wake-up call to the UN backed Tribunal, which has been riddled with delays since its inception.

On September 13, 2012, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) dismissed Ieng Thirith from the second Khmer Rouge trial on grounds of mental unfitness. Ieng Thirith has been widely believed to have Alzheimer’s disease, affecting her memory and ability to confront evidence against her at trial.