Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 03/04/2009: Lawyer Jacques Vergès after the hearing of Khieu Samphan at the Pre-Trial Chamber
©John Vink/ Magnum

One more! The Pre-Trial Chamber of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal issued a second warning to Jacques Vergès, international co-lawyer for Khieu Samphan, the former head of State of Democratic Kampuchea, as it was made public on Thursday May 21st. The Chamber had already admonished the media savvy and boisterous French lawyer in a first warning dated from April 23rd. This time, the Chamber provided arguments for its decision in a document of 12 pages – referring in particular to jurisprudence drawn from cases tried by international courts – while the previous warning had only four pages...

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 26/11/2008: Curtains used for proceedings in camera, shown during a mock trial organised by the ECCC defence section for law students
©John Vink/ Magnum

Yet another morning with no hearing for the audience at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on Thursday May 21st. From the outset, the Trial Chamber announced its intention to hold a trial management meeting between the parties, to which neither the public nor the civil parties were admitted. Before lunch break, the curtains opened and the president of the court announced that the defence recognised as an expert American Craig Etcheson, who was on the stand since Monday, and did not contest his report, “Overview of the Hierarchy of Democratic Kampuchea”, which provides the basis for his testimony. On the previous days, the international co-lawyer of Duch had disturbed the substantial debate by contesting the amount of documents in connection with the expert's testimony that had been produced in the hearing as well as his current professional status...
 

Choeung Ek (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 20/05/2009: Re-enactment of atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, during “Hatred Day”, a ceremony initiated in 1984, stopped in 1991, and reinstated in 1999
©John Vink/ Magnum

On this May 20th, which celebrated Hatred Day, like every year, at the Choeung Ek mass grave site, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, the voice of expert witness Craig Etcheson was again barely heard in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and, already, it appears that the new schedule of proceedings outlined by the judges will not be respected. Although everybody was in place at 10.30am, when the hearing was planned to resume, it was not until 11am that the president of the court came and took his seat, alone, to announce that the hearing would not resume until early afternoon. The reason: the judges did not managed to reach a decision on the requests and objections submitted to them on the previous day. A group of villagers who had come specially to attend the morning hearing had to leave without seeing anything.

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 19/05/2009: Public consulting information leaflets on the ECCC, during the 17th day of hearing at Duch's trial
©John Vink/ Magnum

Expert witness Craig Etcheson, called to testify at Duch's trial regarding the implementation of the policy of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) at the S-21 detention centre, only had little say in court on Tuesday May 19th. The defence complained they were “taken by surprise” that the investigator with the office of the co-Prosecutors of the court moved away from the topics planned for his testimony. The intervention fazed the judges of the Trial Chamber, who suspended the hearing for three hours to examine the issue.

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 18/05/2009: The court buildings, located 20 kilometres from the centre of Phnom Penh, on the 16th day of hearing at Duch's trial. 
©John Vink/ Magnum

After two weeks of suspension, the trial of the former director of S-21, Duch, resumed with difficulty on Monday May 18th, with delay and bungles in the versions of the documents to be distributed for reading, concerning the positions of the defence team in relation to the chapters of the closing order relating to the implementation of the policy of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in the Phnom Penh detention and torture centre. By the end of the day, U.S. expert Craig Etcheson, investigator with the office of the co-Prosecutors of the court, started testifying on the structure of Democratic Kampuchea, which he has studied closely.