Tribunal’s Civil Parties File for Compensation

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 September 2009

Four civil parties to the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal filed for reparation Wednesday, requesting free medical care, the erection of a memorial and the dissemination of an apology from the regime’s former prison chief, Duch.

“The joint filling from all four civil party groups also requested the final judgment from the Trail Chamber specific to reparation to victims” said Hong Kimsoun, a civil party lawyer for two groups. Reparation could include “a memorial, or to build a school or hospital,” he said.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is coming to the end of his trial, the tribunal’s first, on atrocity charges related to the death and torture of 12,380 people.

Chhum Mei, 79, who survived Duch’s Tuol Sleng prison, said he wanted to see a memorial built benefitting people like him. He also needs money to hold a ceremony for his wife and relatives, he said.

Tribunal spokesman Dim Sovannarom said it remains unclear where money for such reparations could come from.

Tribunal judges have already determined that individual financial compensation will not be allowed, though collective and moral reparations are possible.

The courts can order reparations for a group of victims, for example, or they can order the publication of a judgment in the mass media at the expense of a convicted person. The court can also order a memorial built or the establishment of mental health clinics for victims.

Meanwhile, defense lawyers for Duch on Thursday rejected a request to submit more documents to civil parties, claiming the deadline had passed.