New formal charges issued against Khmer Rouge cadre

By Julia Wallace

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

A UN-backed tribunal dealing with crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s has issued new formal charges against the head of the regime’s navy, according to a court statement.

Meas Muth was charged Monday with a broader array of crimes than he was accused of in March, including genocide and the crimes against humanity of rape, forced labor and enforced disappearances.

He was also re-charged with several war crimes, and with the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination and persecution, among others.

Meas Muth had previously been charged in absentia with crimes against humanity and war crimes after he refused to heed a summons to appear before a judge at the tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

Two warrants were subsequently issued for his arrest, but Cambodian judicial police ignored them both.

The case against Meas Muth is politically controversial, with Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, openly critical of the ECCC’s decision to investigate the crimes of lower-ranking Khmer Rouge cadres.

Because of this, no Cambodian court staff will participate in the investigations against Meas Muth and three other ex-Khmer Rouge officials who worked at the regional or district level.

According to Monday’s statement, the two arrest warrants issued against Meas Muth have both been rescinded, due to his voluntary appearance before Investigating Judge Michael Bohlander.

It was unclear why the suspect changed his mind and decided to appear before the judge a year after the original summons was issued.

However, Monday’s hearing took place in the northwestern province of Battambang, with Judge Bohlander traveling from the ECCC’s headquarters in Phnom Penh to meet Meas Muth on his home turf.

According to Meas Muth’s lawyer, Michael Karnavas, the only reason the hearing took place in Battambang was the suspect’s poor health.

Karnavas told Anadolu Agency that no deal had been struck to charge his client, attributing the new charges to the appointment of Judge Bohlander -- a German judge who joined the court in August, replacing Mark Harmon, who had served in the position since 2012.

The Cambodian investigating judge, You Bunleng, is not participating in the case.

“We now have an international co-investigating judge who understands his role and by all accounts is conducting himself accordingly,” Karnavas said.

“The national co-investigating judge, to our knowledge, was not opposed to this summons and the charging of our client. So the results of today’s hearing were due to a change of circumstances, not because of some deal.”

Lars Olsen, a spokesperson for the tribunal, told Anadolu Agency that he could not discuss details of the charges, including why they were more extensive this time around.

“The decision to rescind certain charges and bring additional charges is based on the judicial investigation, which is confidential,” he said.

When asked whether rescinding an arrest warrant was common protocol at the ECCC, he responded, “Each case is separate with its own individual circumstances.”

Karnavas also characterized the expansion of the charges as “not unusual.”

“An investigative judge has the authority to re-characterize the alleged crimes,” he said. “Charging crimes and ultimately proving them are vastly different.”

The reign of the ultra-Maoist regime saw around 1.7 million people – including Cambodian Muslims and Buddhists -- killed through execution, starvation and overwork.