Khmer Rouge case judge 'biased'

Lawyers for Cambodia's former foreign minister have called for the removal of the judge investigating his role in the Khmer Rouge era.
Ieng Sary is charged with crimes against humanity for his part in the deaths of as many as two million people in the late 1970s.
His defence team claims the judge at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, Marcel Lemonde, is biased.
The controversy is the latest in a series of problems to hit the tribunal.
'One-sided investigation'
The defence team's claims are based on a sworn statement by a former member of the investigating judge's staff.
Wayne Bastin accused his boss, Mr Lemonde, of instructing his team to concentrate on finding only incriminating evidence.
Under the rules of the tribunal, the investigating judges are supposed to be impartial - and should also seek out evidence which might exonerate defendants.
Mr Bastin admitted that Ieng Sary's defence team had encouraged him to make the statement.
But he insisted that he had enjoyed a good working relationship with Judge Lemonde - and only came forward because he felt "morally and ethically" obliged.
Ieng Sary's lawyers said the investigating judge had "trampled over" the rights of their client.
The tribunal's pre-trial chamber will now rule on whether Mr Lemonde should be disqualified.
It has already rejected two attempts to disqualify court officials on the grounds of bias.
Progress in the case against Ieng Sary and his three co-defendants has been slow.
But closing statements in the trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief are expected next month.

Mekong Delta at serious risk of rising sea levels, say experts

VietNamNet/SGGP (Hanoi)The Mekong is one of the three deltas on Earth that will suffer most from climate change. More than eight million people may lose their homes if sea levels rise by one meter, experts have recently warned.The unavoidable effects of climate change will create worse flooding and acute shortages of fresh water during the rainy season.Annually, 408 billion cubic meters of water flow from the upper Mekong River to the Mekong Delta region and through two main rivers of Tien and Hau, according to the Southern Irrigation Planning Institute.The flood season in Mekong Delta falls in June and July and ends in November and December, with a peak flow of 28,000 to30,000 cubic meters per second.“Farming areas, including Tram Chim, U Minh Thuong, Lang Sen, Tra Su, Ha Tien, Vo Doi, Bai Boi and Lung Ngoc Hoang will be narrowed,” said Le Anh Tuan, an official from the Climate Change Research Institute of Can Tho University.The peak flow of the Tien and Hau rivers is between 3,000 to 5,000 cubic meters per second in the dry season, leading to a lack of freshwater in the Mekong Delta.If forest exploitation and the change of land-use continue unabated, combined with an unchecked increased demand of freshwater in Thailand’s northeastern region, Laos and Cambodia, freshwater supplies in Mekong Delta will become drop even further.Seawater already flows 40 to 50 kilometers inland, penetrating deep into the Mekong Delta, especially in the dry season.Climate change will see an ever increasing encroachment of seawater inland, which will damage more crops and effect farm production.Reservoirs used to store freshwater and a dike system at river tributaries to control water flow and prevent sea water encroaching further inland need to be built soon, said Ky Quang Vinh, director of the Can Tho City Environment Survey Agency.

Cambodia to re-develop typhoon-hit region

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the government officials and relevant ministries to work together to restore the infrastructures in the Typhoon Ketsana-hit region.
The prime minister made the order at Friday's cabinet meeting. "We have to restore the agricultural infrastructures which were hit by the storm, and set up the top priorities for maintenance with our own financial abilities," Hun Sen said in a statement.
"We should ensure that no one died of hunger," he said, adding we have to facilitate to rebuild housings for victims to accommodate.
Hun Sen highly appreciated the local forces and officials who contributed to help victims timely, and thanked the charitable organizations and people for their help, according to the statement obtained here Saturday.
Nit Nhel, chief cabinet for National Disaster Management Committee told Xinhua that "so far we have not valued the cost of the damage. We have focused on offering shelters and foods for the victims, monitoring their health and other diseases.
"We played for a key role for coordinating other organizations in providing food because we want to provide for all victims," he said, adding the flood is starting to recede in some areas.
At the same time, Seang Soleak, spokesman for the Oxfam international in Phnom Penh said that "we are concerned about the food supply and its price for next year because many rice fields of local people were destroyed by storm and flood.
Now, the flood following the rise of water level of the Mekong River is affecting Kratie province and rice fields in Kratie could be affected, he said.
Last week, Ketsana storm hit Cambodia and killed at least 20 people in Kompong Thom, Preah Vihear, Siem Reap, Ratanakiri, and Mondulkiri provinces, and also destroyed hundreds of houses, roads, dam for agricultural irrigation, and thousands of hectares of rice fields.
On Thursday, Hun Sen said the government and the World Bank will study the impact and the bank will contribute for re-development of the region destroyed by the typhoon.

The Prince and Preah Vihear

Nationalism has clouded our view of the temple's ownership, argues one academic. But history has the simple answerOn 30 January 1929, Prince Damrong Rajanupab arrived at Preah Vihear as head of an official expedition from the Siamese court of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII). There to welcome him was the French commissioner for the Cambodian province along with the archaeologist Henri Parmentier, who was to act as guide for the expedition's trip up Panom Dongrek mountain to see its famed centuries-old Hindu temple.The prince and the commissioner exchanged speeches of friendship at a cheerful reception attended by the entourage of high-ranking Siamese noblemen, before listening to a lecture on Preah Vihear Temple given by the French archaeologist. Fluttering above this happy scene was the flag of France."This is recorded history - a history that must not be forgotten by Thai students," said historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, at a talk titled "The Contested Temple" given recently at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand."Prince Damrong accepted that Preah Vihear belonged to French Indochina," noted Charnvit, as he showed photographs of the prince and French commissioner posing together beneath the French flag. But the history that most Thai students are taught focuses on the loss of territory, he added, citing a Thai textbook for Grade 6 students."It asks us to remember the loss of territories beginning with Penang and ending with Preah Vihear Temple. But by ignoring Prince Damrong's visit in 1929, it effectively tells us to forget about the truth."This is history infected with nationalism."Charnvit went on to show how the "infection" reaches beyond schoolbooks and into tourism - a brochure welcoming tourists to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai talks about the "Losses of Territories and Survival of Siam", while Samut Prakan's Muang Boran [Ancient City] contains a replica of Preah Vihear.Nationalism and tourism go together, he concluded.The current case of Preah Vihear reflects the kind of "selective history" that stirs nationalistic feeling and leads to war-mongering threats to take back "lost territory", he said.Following Prince Damrong's visit, Preah Vihear was left in peace for over a decade. Then, in 1940 the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsongkram added the Hindu temple to its list of Thai archaeological sites.Though the addition was announced in the pages of the Royal Gazette, there is no evidence that Cambodia's French rulers noticed it. In 1954, the year after Cambodia won independence, Pibul sent Thai troops to occupy the area around the Preah Vihear site. But Thai history tends to ignore this event, preferring to focus on the claim made by King Sihanouk at the International Court of Justice in 1959, which in 1962 awarded the temple to Cambodia.Charnvit, now 67, recalled how nationalism was working on him the day he heard of the "loss of territory" brought by the court's judgement."It was a shock because all the news, all the PR from the military government, told us we were winning for sure," he said."We believed that Preah Vihear belonged to us. I was a 21-year-old student. I was so angry. I marched with about a hundred Thammasat University students up Rajdamnoen Avenue. I had a photo of King Sihanouk, which I tore apart, threw down on the street and trampled."Finally, Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, leader of the military government at the time, made an appearance on television to say the government had no choice but to accept the ruling of the court.Now, after almost half a century, the version of history that tells of the "loss" of Preah Vihear has been brought up to stir nationalism in Thailand once again, with nationalists saying they refuse to accept the International Court's 1962 judgement.Bad history creates false perceptions and false perceptions lead to conflict between neighbours, the historian said."Our history texts must be revised and corrected to reflect the truth. Only that way will we be able to live together peacefully in this age of regionalism and globalisation."

KRouge lawyer demands judge [Marcel Lemonde]'s disqualification in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH — The lawyer for a former Khmer Rouge leader on Friday filed a demand that the French investigating judge be disqualified from Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court for alleged bias.Michael Karnavas, attorney for ex-Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, said the motion was based on allegations that Marcel Lemonde told subordinates to favour evidence showing suspects' guilt over evidence of their innocence.The tribunal was set up to bring to justice the leaders of the genocidal late 1970s Khmer Rouge regime.Karnavas said Lemonde was "giving instructions to his investigators to game the process. In other words, to look primarily for evidence that supports the prosecution".The lawyer said he submitted his complaint based on a statement made by the former head of Lemonde's intelligence and analysis team, Wayne Bastin, at an Australian police station on Thursday.A copy of the statement obtained by AFP said Lemonde shocked subordinates in a meeting at his Phnom Penh home in August when he told them, "I would prefer that we find more inculpatory evidence than exculpatory evidence".Under the Khmer Rouge court's regulations, investigating judges are required to be impartial while researching allegations made by prosecutors. Defence teams are not permitted to make their own investigations."How is it that (Lemonde) can remain in the position in light of what we know now?" Karnavas said, adding that such behaviour was "outrageous".Speaking on Lemonde's behalf, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said he had no comment on the issue.Lemonde is currently investigating the court's second case, against Ieng Sary and his wife, former minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith, as well as Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea and ex-head of state Khieu Samphan.Heather Ryan, who monitors the court for the Open Society Justice Initiative, told AFP that the defence would probably need to demonstrate systemic bias for Lemonde to lose his job."An off the cuff remark made in private -- like what was quoted -- may not be significant," Ryan said.Under the court's internal rules, Lemonde's previous work on investigations remains valid even if he is disqualified from the tribunal.Lemonde also met controversy earlier this week when it was revealed he summoned six top government and legislative officials to testify against Khmer Rouge leaders, a move opposed by Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration.Final arguments in the court's first trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known by the alias Duch, are scheduled for late next month.But the tribunal, created in 2006 after several years of haggling between Cambodia and the UN, has faced accusations of political interference and allegations that local staff were forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs.Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia between 1975-79, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.