In only two full days of public evidentiary hearings this week, the Trial Chamber heard the testimony of a single witness, Mr. Van Soeun, a former guard and messenger at Kraing Ta Chan Security Center. Defense motions concerning the International Co-Prosecutor’s continued disclosure of documents from the OCIJ investigations of Cases 003 and 004 into the case file for Case 002/02 resulted in the shortened week of hearings. This procedural issue was coupled with the International Co-Investigating Judge’s 3 March 2015 announcement of charges in absentia for two suspects in those cases under investigation. KRT Trial Monitor will summarize and analyze the announcement of these charges in a forthcoming separate report. This report, however, discusses the ongoing disclosures from the OCIJ investigations to Case 002/02, as the Chamber held a public trial management meeting for the Parties to note their impacts on the current trial segment and the upcoming order of the Case. Furthermore, this report summarizes the testimony of Van Soeun, alias Suon, who described his role at the prison, his knowledge of its administrative structure, and his observation of alleged atrocities at the Security Center. The report also analyzes the Trial Chamber’s lack of coherent instructions regarding the privacy afforded to victims of sexual violence, after the issue again was raised during Defense Counsel Victor Koppe’s examination of the Witness this week.
Read the report: KRT Trial Monitor No. 11 – Hearings on Evidence Week 8 (3-5 March 2015)
Khmer Rouge Trial Monitor 