confidentiality

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 602

“The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia – ECCC – released an announcement yesterday, 3 March 2009, about a violation of the confidentiality of investigations, after there was information about confidential documents published by defense lawyers on their website.

“The announcement said that responding to clear and repeated violations against the instruction of the co-investigating judges, the co-investigating judges ordered defense lawyers to stop immediately their publication of documents related to investigations, except for documents that had been published already on the website of the ECCC, and take off those documents from the website of the defense lawyers, otherwise they will be punished for a new offense.

“In the meantime, the co-investigating judges sent copies of the documents of the warrant to the Professional Unit, which relates also to the Defense Protection Unit, to consider measures to be implemented.

“The announcement added that this decision was made based on Regulation 56.1 of the internal regulations of the ECCC, which states, ‘To protect all sides’ rights and interests, investigations must not be made public. All individuals taking part in investigations have to keep confidentiality.’ This regulation must by applied to all individuals joining investigations, especially to lawyers of all sides, and to all types of evidence. The internal Regulation (56.1) adds that only co-investigating judges have the authority to decide to publish information regarding investigations being conducted, or permit any media or any third parties to receive information about investigations.

“In the case that they do not abide by the different conditions defined by judges, Regulations 35 to 38 will be implemented. The co-investigating judges would like to explain the different reasons leading to this decision.

“Before there are public hearings, all procedures of the court always start with short or long investigations, depending on the extent of work. The confidential characteristic of this stage is crucial for the quality of the court process, especially to guarantee the protection of privacy of individuals, whose names are included in case documents, and to guarantee the presumption of innocence, and also the investigative efficiency.

“Co-investigating judges know that the stages of confidential investigations will not allow observers outside of the court to know much of the the process of that procedure. Thus, co-investigating judges try to limit the duration of investigations to make them as short as possible. The co-investigating judges recalled that in Duch’s case, the duration of the investigation was less than one year (the concluding warrant, sending the case for a hearing, with detailed clarifications about the different accusations, was published on 8 August 2008), which cannot be considered to be too long, looking at the complexities of the case. Likewise, the co-investigating judges try as much as possible to work speedily, so that the present investigation of a second case will proceed without delay.

“In order to promote public awareness as much as possible, the co-investigation judges reminded the public that every month, they produce bulletins, briefly describing the activities of different units of the ECCC . In addition, to guarantee the efficiency of all policies above, the co-investigating judges will make more publications than before about their different activities and publish more documents related to the investigations.

“The co-investigating judges would like to remind the public that though all decisions of the court might be opposed by appeals complaints, the respect for decisions has to be upheld.” Cheat Khmer, Vol.1, #30, 4.3.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Areyathor, Vol.15, #1382, 4-5.3.2009

• An American Man Was Found Dead on the Floor [in his house – police concluded his head was hit, but they do not know whether he hit himself or someone hit him – Phnom Penh]

Cheat Khmer, Vol.1, #30, 4.3.2009

• Co-Judges of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Release Search Warrant after Confidential Information Leaked
• Civil Society Wants that ASEAN Human Rights Committee Has Power
• [Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian] Ms. Mu Sochua Asks Micro-Finance Institutions to Suspend or Delay Seizing Houses and Land of Farmers [while they cannot pay interest to those institutions regularly, because they are affected by the dropping prices of agricultural products]

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #130, 4.3.2009

• [The former commander-in-chief] General Ke Kim Yan Will Become a Deputy Prime Minister
• It Was Discovered That Electricity Was Stolen at the Residence of His Excellency Oknha Sat Nary [by setting the electricity meters to run slowly; it is estimated that the state lost approx. US$250 per month, but the authorities have not accused anybody]

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #1887, 3.3.2009

• Those Who Earn Their Living by Transporting Tourists and the Boat Tourism Association Demonstrate against the Sou Ching Company [which sells tickets to tourists, and after tourists buy tickets from them, they will not allow them to visit the Tonle Sap Lake]
• Sweden Promises to Support Cambodia [in development and in other sectors – according to the visiting secretary-general of the Swedish Parliament, Mr. Anders Forseberge]
• The Thai Government Admits that to Arrest [ousted prime minister] Thaksin and Bring Him Back to the Country Is Difficult

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #356, 4.3.2009

• Kompong Som Residents Were Surprised Seeing Thousands of Body Guards Protecting the Prime Minister and His Family while Swimming at the Sea [on 13 and 14 February 2009]

Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6593, 4.3.2009

• Five Civil Society Organizations [the Human Rights and Complaints Reception Committees, the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, the NGO Forum, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union and CEDAW] Published a Statement about the ASEAN Human Rights: “Wanting to See This Committee to Have Full Power”

Rasmei Angkor, Vol.16, #1418, 4.3.2009

• The Elimination of Some Obligations for Foreigners to Buy Tickets to Visit the Visit Angkor Region Is Welcomed [before foreign tourists were required to buy three follow-up day tickets by which they had to visit three fixed follow-up days, but now they can choose any three days among the week and as for those who buy one week tickets, they can choose any week of the month]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4836, 4.3.2009

• US Ambassador for ASEAN Praises the Khmer Rouge Tribunal [Scot Marciel, Ambassador to ASEAN and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs]
• 77 Enterprises Are Accused at the Court for Not Respecting the Labor Law [by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training and 201 enterprises were fined]
• Cambodia Prepares to Transport 25 Tonnes of Battery Wastes to Belgium
• Goods Crossing the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port Drops by 40% during the Global Financial Crisis
• Rebels Killed Guinea Bissau President
• Donor Countries Promise to Provide US$5 Billion to Gaza [Saudi Arabia provides US$1 billion, the United State of America US$900 million, and the European Union US$436 million]

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.

And please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.

Back to top