Judges at war crimes court demand retraction in sensitive case

May 18, 2011, 11:05 GMT

Phnom Penh - Investigating judges at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia on Wednesday ordered the international prosecutor to retract a statement that highlighted alleged deficiencies in their investigation of a politically-sensitive case.

In a statement German judge Siegfried Blunk and his Cambodian counterpart You Bunleng said it was against the law for prosecutor Andrew Cayley to provide information to the public about the tribunal's third case and gave him three days to comply.

Cayley's comments last week seemed to confirm long-standing rumours that the investigating judges had done little work on a case that the Cambodian government has repeatedly said it would not allow to go to trial.

Cayley had said he would ask investigating judges to do more work on the case file.

But on Wednesday Blunk said the international prosecutor had breached confidentiality by publicly stating what further investigative action he wanted to see undertaken.

And he said Cayley's decision to name the crime sites involved in Case Three was contrary to the tribunal law.

The investigating judges did not specify what penalty they would try to impose if the three-day deadline was missed.

Cayley's deputy, William Smith, said prosecutors were considering whether to appeal the order.

'We have a difference of opinion as to whether the statement (by Cayley) was justified or not,' Smith said Wednesday.

Last week, Cayley, a British national, said Case Three needed 'a substantial amount' of investigation.

He pointed out that during the 20 months the investigating judges had the file, they had failed to interview the suspects or even notify them they were under investigation. They had also neglected to interview numerous witnesses.

'And [there are] a number of other steps, including investigation of crime sites also originally named by the prosecution in the introductory submission, which haven't been investigated at all,' Cayley said.

Tribunal observers have long feared the investigating judges are trying to shelve the tribunal's third and fourth cases, which would suit the Cambodian government and, some believe, the United Nations itself.

The order against the international prosecutor comes at a critical time for the court as it prepares for its second case against four senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders this year.

Cases three and four involve five unnamed former Khmer Rouge, who between them are thought to be directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

But the investigating judges have refused to make public any details about either case, including which crime sites were under investigation, leading to accusations that they have deliberately excluded victims.

In its first case, the tribunal last year convicted the Khmer Rouge's head of security, Comrade Duch, of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

More than 2 million people are thought to have died under the movement's rule of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

Read more about Germany