Making Booklets of Closing Order of Case 002

Freely Available for Trial Hearings and High Schools

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PRESS RELEASE

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PHNOM PENH, 15 June 2011:  The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia would like to request that the Extraordinary Chambers (ECCC) makes freely available nicely-bound booklets of the Closing Order of Case 002 in the Khmer language for the victims and visitors to the ECCC for hearings of Case 002 beginning on June 27 against the four surviving most senior Khmer Rouge leaders of Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith., to victim associations, non-governmental organizations engaging victims, and high schools and public universities.

In light of the US$200,000,000 already spent on this ECCC since its establishment, there can be no excuse of lack of funding for something as relatively inexpensive as printing and binding costs of these booklets in comparison to the educational benefits for the victim population at large of 14,000,000. As we know, education needs reinforcement. If the ECCC is only herding people into the Tribunal for numbers’ sake without arming them with timely, corresponding educational materials, a great opportunity will have been lost. The victims will have traveled so far only to sit through the parsing of long-winded legal arguments; if this is their only experience, it may create a negative impact due to frustration at the incomprehensibility of the trial proceedings if the trial proceedings are not complemented and supplemented with materials they can absorb later at their leisure by themselves or through the assistance of another.

In addition to its own outreach efforts, the ECCC must also take advantage of the existing networks of educational institutions, NGOs and victims associations in the dissemination of these materials.

Related, the content of the Closing Order in Khmer must be not more restrictive nor limited in internet access than the English and French versions. On 16 December 2010, AKRVC president Theary C. SENG emailed ECCC Public Affairs chief, the late Reach Sambath, and legal officer Lars Olsen to inform them that, unlike the English version, the Khmer-language of the Closing Order was not yet online, even though it had been three months since its public release by the Office of Co-Investigating Judges. To their credit, the matter was immediately rectified. However within the last several weeks, since the upgrading/updating of the ECCC’s website, the Khmer version again is not available online.

Also, upon reading both the Khmer and English version, Ms. Seng notices that more names and information were redacted from the Khmer version than the English. This matter should be re-assessed by the relevant judicial officials.

A great opportunity is presented by the Tribunal to engage the victims in a very meaningful way in helping to answer the repeated questions of “Why?” We, at the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, look forward to receiving this very important substantial historical document which can shed light into our very dark past as we follow the trial proceedings.

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For further information, please contact:

- Ms. Theary C. SENG, AKRVC founder and president at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or +855.12.222.552

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The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia—the first association based in Cambodia to be registered with the Ministry of Interior and the first to be recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and independent of any political or religious affiliation—is a network of survivors of the 1975-79 killing fields who are joined in the fellowship of suffering, in the demand for justice, and in the work for a just peace. The members of the Victims Association are from overseas and spread across the provinces and capital of Cambodia, coming together as a result of the public forums conducted by its Founder, and now its president Ms. Theary C. SENG and Victims Outreach Manager Mr. SOK Leang since 2007. They include widows and orphans; former child soldiers and former prisoners; hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; well-known actresses playwrights, authors and journalists; as well as teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers, inter alia. Among the other members of the Victims Association is the Civil Parties of Orphans Class, a special grouping pre-dating the AKRVC founding when introduced officially in the Pre-Trial Chamber hearing of Nuon Chea in Feb. 2008, and since officially recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and a party to the Extraordinary Chambers Case File No. 002 against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

www.akrvictims.org