KI Media: “Trial of Cambodia’s former Khmer Rouge leaders before genocide tribunal set for late November” plus 24 more

Trial of Cambodia’s former Khmer Rouge leaders before genocide tribunal set for late November

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:42 PM PDT

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia's war crimes tribunal will begin its long-awaited full-scale trial of the top surviving leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime late next month, the panel announced Tuesday.

The four defendants, including the group's chief ideologist and the No. 2 leader behind the late Pol Pot, have been indicted on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.

The U.N.-backed tribunal is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or torture during the communist Khmer Rouge's 1970s rule.

"Many Cambodians have waited more than 30 years for this day, where those accused of being part of the Khmer Rouge leadership who designed the policies that allegedly lead to crimes throughout Cambodia are being put on trial," tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said

The tribunal said substantive proceedings will begin Nov. 21 in the trial of Nuon Chea, the group's chief ideologist and No. 2 leader; Khieu Samphan, the group's head of state; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs.

In its first trial, the tribunal sentenced former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav in July last year to 35 years in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other offenses.

A week of procedural hearings in the second trial was held earlier this year.

The tribunal announced last month that it will seek to expedite proceedings by conducting the trial in segments according to separate charges.

It said the first part would consider charges involving the forced movement of people and crimes against humanity and that later proceedings would focus on other charges including genocide. There is concern that the defendants, all in their 70s or 80s and in poor health, could die before justice is done.

Earlier this month, the tribunal's German judge responsible for indictments resigned, alleging government interference in the investigation of new cases.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has openly opposed expanding the trials by adding indictments of other former Khmer Rouge figures, some of whom have become his political allies.

UN Torture Expert Dodges on Libya, Manning & Cambodia ECCC, O'Brien 1-WayTalk

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:39 PM PDT

By Matthew Russell Lee
Inner City Press

UNITED NATIONS, October 18 -- With the UN's Human Rights (Third) Committee considering a proposal introduced by Thailand which would reign in Special Rapporteurs and Representatives under charges of double standards, UN Torture expert Juan E. Mendez on Tuesday notably took sides.

Mendez was asked, by Inner City Press, about charges that Libya's Transitional National Council is engaging in torture.

Mendez replied that while he had -- rightly -- called on Gaddafi's forces not to torture, since Gaddafi's fall he has "not received any complaint that I could act upon, even though we did early on when Gaddafi very much in charge call on his forces" call for compliance, since then "I haven't received any complaint."

But the charges against the TNC are made by, among others, Amnesty International. Does AI not file its complaints with Mendez? Or in Mendez unable to read the newspapers and begin an inquiry? Who complained to him about Gaddafi, leading to his public call?

Likewise, while Mendez was blocked from visits complying with international law with Bradley Manning, charged with providing information to Wikileaks, Mendez on Tuesday said he has had "productive communications" with the US.

Long-time UN official Mendez, whose jobs have included advising on the prevention of genocide, also seemed to go soft on the UN of Ban Ki-moon when Inner City Press asked him about the widespread criticism of Ban and his top lawyer Patricia O'Brien for failing to stand up for the independence of the UN funded Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Mendez said, "I have read about some concerns [about] the role of UN [but] nothing that I have read falls under my mandate as special rapporteur on torture." Well, the cases being blocked concern not only genocide but also torture under the Khmer Rouge. So will no one in the UN system be willing to speak about errors in Ban's handling of Han Sun and the ECCC?

Patricia O'Brien, who has refused to answer any questions from the press because, Ban's spokesman has said, as chief counsel it would hurt her work, has now written a defensive letter to the editor of the New York Times. One way communication is apparently okay: just not any questions. So it goes in today's UN.

Anuksavery kh-tom Sbov - Poem in Khmer by Chhany Chham

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:31 PM PDT

Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:27 PM PDT

"We are all CPP, we are now without land. CPP wants our votes and now we are landless"

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:25 PM PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xzrMw750m0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjCm4tian4I

Cambodian MP nixes Bukit Aman’s denial

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:17 PM PDT

SRP MP Mu Sochua (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Anifah Aman

October 18, 2011
Stephanie Sta Maria
Free Malaysia Today

Mu Sochua says three maids from her country did die from abuse by their Malaysian employers.

PETALING JAYA: Cambodian opposition MP Mu Sochua is challenging a statement by Bukit Aman that the reports about three Cambodian maids being abused to death are false.

Cambodian Ambassador Princess Norodom Arunrasmy recently disclosed that the embassy received daily complaints of abuse and that three maids had died within a week.

Mohd Bakri Zinin of the Bukit Aman Crime Investigation Department said yesterday that only two Cambodian deaths had been recorded since 2004 and that the two were male factory workers killed by compatriots.

But Sochua today rejected Bakri's statement and asserted that three Cambodian maids did die recently.

"Cambodia's Community Legal Education Centre is very much in touch with these cases," she told FMT by email. "They have met family members and at least one was flown to Kuala Lumpur to identify her niece's body."

Sochua did not reveal the family's identity, but she was probably referring to teenager Choy Phich, who was found dead at the back of her employer's house in Penang on July 17.

Police ruled that the girl died of pneumonia, but Sochua has refused to believe this. On Aug 11, she arrived in Malaysia to seek the truth behind Choy Phich's death and call for a freeze on the recruitment of Cambodian maids for Malaysia.

That call has been successful. Last weekend, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a temporary ban on the export of maids to Malaysia.

For Sochua, a well-known figure in the Sam Rainsy Party and a former Women's Affairs Minister, the ban is the triumph of a two-year battle that intensified in the last year as more distraught parents and reports of abuse turned up at her office.

She said she approached Hun Sen in Parliament last Friday during a coffee break and he immediately told her that he had heard her recommendations and supported them.

"He asked one of his deputies to call the Minister of Labour right there and then to issue a suspension of Cambodian maids to Malaysia," she said.

"I had reported to him cases of deaths, abuse, psychoses and separation from children. But he added his own concerns of exploitation by companies through publicity and recruitment.

"What Malaysia must do now is form an independent committee with the participation of NGOs to look into cases of death and abuse not just of Cambodian workers but of all migrant workers."

Independent committee

Responding to the Cambodian ban, Malaysian Foreign Minister, Anifah Aman, said Putrajaya would apologise to Cambodia if the allegations of abuse were proven.

Human Resources Minister S Subramaniam said the government would contact Phnom Penh to try to have the ban rescinded.

Neither of these responses has been palatable for Sochua.

"Many parents can testify and they want their loved ones to be honoured," she said. "An apology is the least that can be done.

"With all due respect to Anifah, this is accountability. He must also form an independent committee because cases of death and rape cannot be dealt with through an apology. And I hope neither of them pushes for a reversal of the ban."

Sochua also hit out at the Malaysian Ambassador in Phnom Penh, Mohd Hussein Tahir Nasruddin, for ignoring her letters to him on the issue.

"I asked for a meeting and never got an answer," she said. "This is pure lack of responsibility and arrogance, which must be corrected."

She said Malaysia must do the following before Cambodia should even consider lifting the ban:

• Sign a memorandum of understanding based on the International Labour Organisation's Convention 189.
• Putting in place a mechanism to end debt bondage
• Stop the practice of confiscating maids' passports
• Fully investigate and prosecute previous rape and abuse cases

"Malaysia must fulfil its commitment to the human rights of migrant workers," Sochua said. "Right now Cambodia's Ministry of Labour is meeting with recruitment agencies, but there must also be input from NGOs and an immediate meeting with Malaysian officials.

"My biggest concern is the lack of political will in developing a memorandum of understanding that guarantees the rights and protection of Cambodian maids. Without that, corrupt officials will still be protected if they are part of the recruitment agencies."

Her fear may already have come true. There have been reports that two labour recruitment companies sent at least 25 maids to Malaysia yesterday in defiance of the ban.

Sochua will return to Malaysia on Nov 8 to discuss protection issues for all migrant workers, in particular domestic workers.

"I want to get Malaysian officials, NGOs and parliamentarians to push for Malaysia to practice responsibility and accountability when it concerns migrant workers and human rights," she said.

"I will be meeting some of the victims and I will be finding solutions."

ទិវាខួប២០ឆ្នាំ នៃកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងសន្តិភាព គ្រោងរៀបចំឡើងនៅវត្តខេមររង្សី ក្រុងសាន់ហូស្សេ - 20th Anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements in San Jose

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:55 PM PDT

Protest blocked by security guards

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 07:05 AM PDT

Tuesday, 18 October 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About 250 villagers who turned out in Preah Vihear province's Srayong commune to protest against alleged land-grabbing by rubber firm Siladamich Company yesterday found themselves blocked by company security guards and police, though arrests threatened a day earlier failed to materialise, villagers said.

Villager representative Meas Ren, 50, said their path had been blocked by three company security guards, four police officers, two military police and Srayong commune chief Sat Ty, who told villagers they had no right to protest because the 454-hectare plot in question is part of a 9,000-hectare land concession granted to Siladamich.

Meas Ren added that she believed police had hoped to arrest a village representative but had not due to the disparity in numbers.

Meas Ren said that the confrontation, which began at approximately 12:00pm, was defused when Kulen district governor Chum Poy met with villagers.

He told them he had ordered company staffers to stop clearing the villager's rice paddies and that he would ask the company to provide that land to villagers, something Meas Ren said directly contradicted earlier statements by commune chief Sat Ty.

"The Strayong commune chief threatened us that, even though we protest until we die, we cannot get that land back,"she said.

District governor Chum Poy told the Post yesterday that he has no power to find a resolution for the villagers, and that his only duty is to coordinate discussions between the villagers and company as the land is an economic concession from the central government.

Srayong commune chief Sat Ty, commune police chief Chan Satya and representatives for Siladamich Company could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Lakeside families face summonses

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 07:02 AM PDT

Boeung Kak lake residents protest yesterday at a site where homes were destroyed last month in Village 22, Daun Penh district. Photo by: Mai Vireak

Tuesday, 18 October 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Eight families whose homes were demolished at Boeung Kak lake last month appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene in their case yesterday amid the rubble of their former homes and a flurry of summonses they say are intended to silence their dissent.

The families, who on October 4 filed a complaint against real estate developer Shukaku Inc, owned by Cambodian People's Party Senator Lao Meng Khin, said they have received separate summonses to appear for questioning today and Wednesday in the Shukaku case, while the company has not been asked to appear.

Additionally, two of the families have received summonses to answer to defamation charges filed by lawyer Suong Sophal – a man they say they have never heard of.

Speaking at a news conference at Boeung Kak, Tep Vanny, one of those summonsed in both the Shukaku and Sophal cases, said the summonses are a "trick" intended to delay finding a resolution in the ongoing land dispute in the capital.

"[They] use the court system to threaten villagers [involved in the land dispute] to stop them from expressing themselves," she said. "They should to stop this trick."

Six of the families are already the subject of a complaint by Srah Chak commune chief Chhay Thirith, who claimed the families had insulted and intimidated him.

Heng Mum, a housewife among those hit with dual summonses, said that she had never heard of lawyer Soung Sophal, but suspected that if he were filing a complaint against the villagers, he was likely involved in the demolition of their homes.

Suong Sophal could not be reached for comment.

Thai Soldiers Rush to Reinforce Bangkok Flood Walls

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:59 AM PDT

A soldier offers to take care of an evacuee's dog during an evacuation at Nawa Nakhon industrial estate on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, October 18, 2011. (Photo: AP)

October 18, 2011
Ron Corben, VOA News

Thai soldiers and government workers in Bangkok are racing to reinforce the capital's northern flood defenses with 1 million more sandbags.

Officials said early Monday that the flood threat to the city had passed. But authorities have discovered new weaknesses in barriers erected north of the city, where an industrial estate was inundated Monday. They say they have until Wednesday evening to shore up the flood walls.

The flooding has also affected millions of people in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. More than 300 people have died in Thailand, where the flooding is described as the worst in 50 years. Vietnam on Tuesday said the death toll there has reached 55.

Government officials were on the front lines north of Bangkok Tuesday, urging soldiers and workers to improve their efforts.

An official told workers in one location they needed to make the barrier higher.

Government officials say the impact of the flooding on the nation's economic growth will be severe.

Commerce Minister Passagorn Pousiri said he was unwilling to estimate the exact cost, but economists put the figure as high as $7 billion.

Cambodian officials say their economy will also suffer, with growth expected to be reduced this year by 6 to 7 percent.

A Chinese embassy official was in hard-hit areas of Cambodia Tuesday, helping to distribute relief supplies.

He Le Ping said China and Cambodia are good friends and must help one another in times of hardship.

Fifty-two-year-old Hieng Lay was among the lucky recipients of the Chinese aid.

He said his family needs rice, medicine and cooking oil.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Trial of Khmer Rouge leaders to start in November, court says

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:54 AM PDT

Oct 18, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - The long-awaited opening arguments in the trial of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are to start November 21, the UN-backed court said Tuesday.

The presentation of evidence would follow from November 28, the trial chamber said.

'This is the case that a lot of Cambodians have been waiting for,' tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said. 'It is the case of those who are accused of being the leaders and of implementing the policies that allegedly led to the crimes for which they are being tried.'

The four elderly defendants denied charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for their alleged roles in the deaths of up to 2.2 million people under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime.

The four are Nuon Chea, who is known as Brother Number Two and was the deputy to the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot; head of state Khieu Samphan; foreign minister Ieng Sary; and his wife, social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.

The accused are aged 79 to 85 and suffer from various health problems.

Psychiatrists recently concluded an assessment of Ieng Thirith, who is believed to have Alzheimer's disease. A decision to determine her fitness to stand trial was expected in the coming weeks.

The court has long described the second case it is to hear as the most complex of its type since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg, Germany.

In September, the tribunal said it had separated the complex array of charges against the defendants, effectively dividing their trial into a series of smaller hearings.

The division allows the court to rule on individual charges as the trial proceeds rather than delivering a single verdict for each defendant after a number of years.

Also this week, the head of the UN's Office of Legal Affairs, Patricia O'Brien, is to arrive in Cambodia to meet with government officials, donors and tribunal staff amid unprecedented upheaval at the troubled court.

O'Brien's visit follows the October 9 resignation of an investigating judge, Siegfried Blunk.

Blunk, a German national, said he quit to avoid the perception of political interference after Cambodian government officials said Phnom Penh would not permit further prosecutions after the tribunal's second case.

On October 14, Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said O'Brien would address the topic of political interference and other unspecified issues.

The Office of Legal Affairs has come under increasing pressure to mount an investigation into the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges.

In its first case, the court last year sentenced the regime's security chief, Comrade Duch, to 30 years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Duch has appealed his conviction.

The Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities as it advocated a rural, agrarian society. The tribunal said the movement was responsible for up to 2.2 million deaths from execution, overwork, starvation and disease.

Cambodia jails Frenchman for 7 years for child sex

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:51 AM PDT

18/10/2011
AFP

A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced a middle-aged Frenchman to seven years in prison for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, her lawyer said.

Juan Ordonez Camacho, 50, was arrested in the southern seaside town of Sihanoukville in January and accused of sexually abusing the teenager on numerous occasions in 2010, the victim's lawyer Nuon Phanit told AFP.

Preah Sihanouk provincial court ordered Camacho to be deported after serving his jail term, he added.

"We are satisfied with the conviction. The court has provided justice for my client," Nuon Phanit said.

Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003 to try to shake off its reputation as a sex predators' haven. Dozens of foreigners have since been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries.

Khmer Rouge – November trial date

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:49 AM PDT

18 October 2011
By International Justice Tribune
By Robert Carmichael in Phnom Penh

The trial proper of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders would start on November 21, with evidence presented from November 28, the United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal said Tuesday. The case against the four has been described as the most complex since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg after World War II.

The elderly defendants deny charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. They stand accused of responsibility in the deaths of up to 2.2 million people during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

Tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen explained the significance of Case 002, as it is known in court parlance.

"This is the case of those who are accused of being the leaders and of implementing the policies that allegedly led to the crimes for which they are being tried," he said.

The defendants are: Nuon Chea, who is known as Brother Number Two and was the deputy to the movement's late leader Pol Pot; head of state Khieu Samphan; foreign minister Ieng Sary; and his wife, social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.

The four are aged between 79 and 85, and suffer from a number of health problems. Ieng Thirith, who is believed to have Alzheimer's disease, may yet be found unfit to stand trial.

Last month the tribunal said it had decided to separate the charges against the defendants – who will be tried together – effectively dividing the case into a number of smaller hearings.

Judgements along the way

That decision means the court can hand down judgements as the trial proceeds, rather than delivering a single verdict after the full trial, which would likely take years with the risk of defendants dying prior to its conclusion.

"Although the Trial Chamber has recently separated proceedings in Case 002 into a series of smaller trials," the court said in its Tuesday statement, "the first trial will provide a general foundation for all allegations against the accused, including those which will be examined in later trials."

The announcement of the start of Case 002 will be a welcome fillip to the tribunal, which in recent months has limped from crisis to crisis, mostly centred on the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges (OCIJ).

The OCIJ, whose role is to assess the evidence against suspects before recommending whether or not to proceed, has been accused of deliberately undermining its own investigations into the final two cases at the behest of the Cambodian government.

Phnom Penh has long given its support to the court's first two cases, but has also long pronounced itself against the last two – known as Cases 003 and 004 – claiming Cambodia risked being plunged back into civil war should they proceed.

Each of the five suspects in Cases 003 and 004 is alleged to be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

Legal meetings

Later this week Patricia O'Brien, who heads the UN's New York-based Office of Legal Affairs, which oversees the international side of the hybrid tribunal, is scheduled to meet government officials, donors and tribunal staff in Phnom Penh.

O'Brien's visit follows last week's surprise resignation of the controversial German co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk, who said government statements against Cases 003 and 004 could be construed as political interference and had made his position untenable.

In a letter published on the New York Times website on Tuesday, O'Brien said she would discuss the issue of political interference "as a matter of urgency" as well as "the facts regarding concerns about other aspects of the (tribunal's) work."

The tribunal is meant to be free from interference from any quarter, but given its structure – with Cambodian and international staff in equivalent positions throughout – it has long been seen as vulnerable to influence.

Violating duties

Last month tribunal observers called on Blunk to quit, saying an array of decisions emanating from the OCIJ, which he headed along with Cambodian judge You Bunleng, were legally dubious.

Human Rights Watch said the two judges had "egregiously violated their legal and judicial duties."

HRW added its voice to a range of domestic and foreign tribunal observers and survivors who want a comprehensive UN investigation of the OCIJ, something the world body has so far resisted.

HRW said the UN must investigate "numerous credible allegations of judicial misconduct" against the two judges or risk destroying the tribunal's credibility.

In its first case the court last year the court sentenced the Khmer Rouge's security chief, Comrade Duch, to 30 years after finding him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the deaths of more than 12,000 people. Duch has appealed against his conviction.

Cambodian's Khmer Rouge trial to start next month

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:44 AM PDT

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's genocide tribunal will begin its long-awaited full-scale trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders late next month.

The U.N.-backed tribunal announced Tuesday that substantive proceedings will begin Nov. 21 in the trial of Khieu Samphan, the group's head of state; Nuon Chea, who was leader Pol Pot's No. 2 and the group's chief ideologist; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs.

The tribunal is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or torture during the communist Khmer Rouge's 1970s rule.

The defendants have been indicted for crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.

The U.N. and the Khmer Rouge Trials

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:42 AM PDT

October 18, 2011
Letters to the International Herald Tribune

The op-ed "Justice delayed and denied" (Views, Oct. 14) by James A. Goldston mischaracterizes the position of the United Nations in relation to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Mr. Goldston states that in response to a judge's resignation from the E.C.C.C. on grounds of perceived political interference, the secretary general "... simply thanked the judge for his service, announced that he was working to secure a replacement, and restated his strong support for the work of the E.C.C.C. In other words, business as usual." This is not correct. In a statement made on Oct. 10, the United Nations noted the reasons given by the judge for his resignation, reiterated that the E.C.C.C. must be permitted to proceed with its work without interference from any entity, including the royal government of Cambodia, and indicated that the United Nations would continue to monitor the situation at the E.C.C.C. closely.

In line with that statement, I will travel to Phnom Penh next week to discuss the issue of political interference as a matter of urgency and to gain the best possible understanding of the facts regarding concerns about other aspects of the work of the E.C.C.C. The United Nations is naturally concerned by these matters and will strive to ensure that any action it may take would not undermine its longstanding support for the independence of the judiciary in Cambodia and elsewhere.

Patricia O'Brien, New York

Under secretary general for legal affairs, United Nations

Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy's press conference on 17 Oct 2011

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:39 AM PDT

Click the control below to listen to the press conference:

Click here to listen or download the audio program in MP3

PRESS RELEASE: Trial Chamber Announces Date for Opening of the Substantiv​e Hearing in Case 002

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:26 AM PDT

One worker at the Generation factory beaten up

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:44 AM PDT

ពត៌មាន

ប្រធាន សហជីព សេរី កម្មករ ប្រចាំ រោងចក្រ ជេនណឺរេសិន ម្នាក់ ត្រូវបាន អ្នក បកប្រែ ចិន របស់ ថៅកែ វាយ យ៉ាងធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ

 Please contact with Mr. Chea Mony

អរគុណ
--
Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC)
Social Justice is the Foundation of Peace


Address: House No.16A, Street 360, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 3,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh


Tel/Fax: +855 0 23 216 870
Mobile: +855 0 12 941 308
http://www.ftuw.org/ http://ftuwkc.webs.com/
------
Unofficial translation from Khmer

A leader of the FTUWKC at the Generation factory was severely beaten up by the Chinese translator of the factory owner.

Bangkok Leader Calls for Sandbags as Floods Besiege Capital

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:41 AM PDT

By Daniel Ten Kate and Suttinee Yuvejwattana

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra appealed for more than a million sandbags to prevent flooding in the Thai capital as a "huge amount" of water from northern dams threatens to deluge inner parts of the city.

"Every minute is critical from now on," he told a televised press briefing late yesterday in which he asked for 1.2 million sandbags. "We urge the government to give those bags now. Otherwise, it will be too late."

Sandbag shortages are widespread, with the price jumping 15-fold to 75 baht ($2.44) each, Sean Boonpracong, a spokesman for the government's Flood Relief Operation Command, said by phone today. A "lack of accurate information from the field" makes the situation unclear, he said, adding that inner Bangkok doesn't face an immediate threat.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is seeking to spare Bangkok from the country's worst flooding in 50 years after heavy monsoon rains forced officials to release large amounts of water from northern dams. The disaster has killed more than 300 people and swamped at least 930 plants employing more than 300,000 workers, according to government data.

Thailand's Cabinet today agreed to widen the 2012 budget deficit by 50 billion baht to fund flood reconstruction, Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala said.

'Surrounded by Water'

Sukhumbhand, whose opposition Democrat party was defeated by Yingluck's party in national elections three months ago, said flooding may occur in suburban parts of northern Bangkok, including areas near Don Mueang airport, which handles mostly domestic flights and where the government has set up a flood relief center. Levies must be built urgently along canals in nearby Rangsit to prevent floods, he said.

"At the moment we are surrounded by water," Jate Sopitpongstorn, a spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, said yesterday by phone. "What we are afraid of over the next two or three days is whether the sandbags we put in place will be able to hold."

Four eastern districts in Bangkok, a city of 9.7 million people with an area twice the size of Singapore, are flooded with about half a meter (1.6 feet) of water, Jate said. Waters would rise slowly if temporary levies are breached, he said.

City officials are monitoring flood defenses along the Chao Phraya river, whose banks are lined with hotels including the Peninsula and the Shangri-La, as well as the Bank of Thailand. Bangkok sits near the bottom of the river basin, a low-lying area the size of Florida in which water drains from Chiang Mai in the north down to the Gulf of Thailand.

No Rate Cut

The Bank of Thailand will likely hold interest rates at a meeting tomorrow as reconstruction efforts and a "powerful stimulus" from Yingluck's campaign pledges offset concerns about slowing economic growth, HSBC Holdings Plc economist Frederic Neumann wrote in a note.

The central bank will "assess the situation again and see how flexible we can be" after the waters recede, Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told reporters in Bangkok yesterday, after saying last week the floods may cause damage of 120 billion baht and force the central bank to cut its forecast for economic growth this year. Bank of Thailand policy makers have increased borrowing costs for seven straight meetings.

The disaster may reduce economic growth by as much as 1.7 percentage points this year, Thirachai said yesterday, without specifying a reference point. The ministry on Sept. 28 cut its 2011 growth forecast to a range of 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent from a June forecast of 4 percent to 5 percent.

China, Malaysia

China and Malaysia may be the most vulnerable to supply chain disruptions stemming from the floods for office machinery, including hard-disk drives, Santitarn Sathirathai, a Singapore- based economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, wrote in a note yesterday. Thailand accounts for 60 percent of global production of hard-disk drives, the note said.

Yingluck apologized after floods swamped part of Navanakorn Pcl's industrial zone in Pathum Thani on Bangkok's outskirts, which employs 180,000 workers at 227 plants, including a hard- disk drive plant operated by Toshiba Corp., according to Toshiba's website.

About 30 percent of the industrial zone is flooded, and officials are negotiating with local residents to open five water gates to help drain floodwaters, Pracha Promnog, head of the flood center, said today.

A total of 419 Japanese companies have shut down operations in the six worst-affected industrial estates, according to data from the Japan External Trade Organization's Bangkok office. Others have been forced to idle plants because of supply-chain disruptions, according to Jetro.

At least 315 people have been killed and 8.8 million more affected as monsoon rains and floods have swept across 61 of Thailand's 77 provinces over the past three months, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said yesterday. Floodwaters are still present in 27 provinces.

--With assistance from Supunnabul Suwannakij, Anuchit Nguyen and Yumi Teso in Bangkok. Editors: Tony Jordan, John Brinsley

Tibetan nun 'dies in fire protest' near China monastery

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 01:21 AM PDT

The Kirti monastery has been the scene of repeated protests in recent months

Vietnamese monk self-immolation in the 60s

18 October 2011
BBC News

A Tibetan nun has set herself on fire near a restive monastery in western China, in the ninth such incident in recent months, reports say.

The Free Tibet group said the 20-year-old nun, Tenzin Wangmo, died on Monday in Sichuan province's Aba county.

A witness told Radio Free Asia (FRA) that she called for freedom for Tibet before she set herself on fire.

Aba county is home to the Kirti monastery, the scene of repeated protests against Beijing's rule.

Seven monks from the monastery, which lies in an ethnic Tibetan area of Sichuan province, have set themselves on fire there in recent months. An eighth monk set himself on fire in another part of Sichuan province.

China has since jailed three monks accused of assisting in one self-immolation and maintains a heavy security presence in Aba town.

'Protests growing'

Reports said the young nun set fire to herself after midday.

"A nun killed herself by setting her body on fire," Aba Jigme, a resident, told RFA. "But she died on the spot after calling for freedom for Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama."

He said she chose to do it away from the centre of town because of the heavy Chinese security presence.

On Wednesday the Tibetan exile community is to hold a prayer ceremony for those who have set themselves on fire.

In a statement, Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said that unrest in Tibet was "escalating and widening".

"The acts of self-immolation are not taking place in isolation, protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing," she said.

Free Tibet also reported that two Tibetans were shot by Chinese troops during a protest outside a police station in another part of Sichuan province on 16 October.

Their condition was not known and it was not clear why they were shot, the group said.

This report cannot be confirmed. Foreign media cannot gain access to restive ethnic Tibetan areas and Chinese state media often do not report these incidents.

US, China Donate Flood Aid to Cambodia

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:29 AM PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZPyD5O6B0o

Boeung Kak Lake residents' press conference

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:21 AM PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR8FJhJBAno

Comfrel Press Release on the result of Voter Voice Workshop in O Saray,Tram Kark,Takeo

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:10 AM PDT

Dear All,

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the political agenda set by communities at the remote commune Osaray, Tramk Kark District, Takeo Province.

Please see the attached file for the release in Khmer.

Thank you for your cooperation and attention.

COMFREL


http://www.box.net/shared/rbl43cdixqnj958aj7dz

Safeguarding Judicial Independence in Mixed Tribunals by Mark Ellis

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 12:03 AM PDT

"I was an early supporter of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Consistent with my belief that we must fight impunity through accountability, I believed in the ECCC's overall mission, including its ability to help bring justice to victims, and accuracy to the historical record. However, as the ECCC's activities increased, my confidence in its judicial process started to decrease. I observed a growing number of problems that made me question the very legitimacy of the Court." - Mark Ellis

http://www.box.net/shared/s7a55p8eh5m7vl1m06o5

KRT’s ‘deficiencies’ decried

Posted: 17 Oct 2011 11:50 PM PDT

Tuesday, 18 October 2011Vong Sokheng and Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Khmer Rouge tribunal judges are accused of taking bribes, lacking appropriate legal education and playing to political power in a damning report released yesterday.

"The early concerns about the deficiencies within the Cambodian domestic judicial system permeating the ECCC proceedings have come to fruition," international law expert Mark Ellis said in his nearly 50-page report.

"The allegations relate primarily to lack of training and professional expertise on the part of the judges, executive interference in judicial selection and proceedings, and corruption among court officials and government employees," Ellis wrote.

The national component of the tribunal has been a point of tension between the Cambodian government and the United Nations since talks to set up the tribunal began in 1997.

The UN sent a group of experts to Cambodia in 1998 to investigate the feasibility of a court to try Khmer Rouge leaders. Those experts ultimately concluded that the national judicial system was riddled with deficiencies, many of which stemmed from the fact that the judiciary had been decimated by the Khmer Rouge regime, leaving very few qualified judges and lawyers.

According to a 2004 World Bank report, only one-sixth of Cambodia's 117 judges at the time and just one of the country's nine Supreme Court judges had law degrees.

Ellis's report raises concerns about many of the current tribunal judges, including Trial Chamber president Judge Nil Nonn, who in a 2002 media interview admitted to taking bribes from parties in court cases.

Pre-Trial Chamber Judge Ney Thol does not hold a law degree and Trial Chamber reserve Judge Thou Mony twice ruled against Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the men accused of union leader Chea Vichea's 2004 assassination – both are widely believed to be innocent.

Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng was appointed by the government, a clear violation of the separation of powers between the executive and judiciary, according to the report, which points out that You Bunleng delayed signing documents to commence investigations into cases 003 and 004 in 2010.

In addition to inadequate training and questions about judicial independence, Ellis's report points to an alleged kickback scheme as adding to the tribunal's crisis of credibility.

"Cambodian ECCC personnel also have filed complaints alleging that [they] are compelled to kickback part of their wages to Cambodian government officials in exchange for their position," he said.

Neak Pheaktra, national press officer at the tribunal, told the Post yesterday: "We will not comment on the report, because the most important work now for the tribunal is to prepare for the open hearing on reparations and on fitness to stand trial of the accused in Case 002.

"As the co-prosecutors and the co-investigating judges have reiterated again and again, they will continue to work independently and will not bow to any pressure or political interference," he said.

Cambodian Bar Association president Chiv Song Hak would not comment on the report, but noted the tribunal's successes in cases 001 and 002.

"If Cambodian judges did not have a very good legal education, how could they work with the international judges?" Chiv Song Hak said. "Because the national judges and the international judges can work together, it means they have enough knowledge to be at the ECCC."