This morning’s proceedings featured Accused Nuon Chea’s much anticipated closing statements regarding charges against him in Case 002/01. Nuon Chea asserted that his role as Deputy Secretary of the CPK was only to teach cadre and military members CPK principles that included how to “love, respect, and serve the people,” not to mistreat or kill them. Duch’s assertion that Nuon Chea was involved in the management of S21 was motivated by Duch’s bitterness because he was sentenced to life and wanted the same punishment for Nuon Chea, the Accused put forth. Further, the Accused denied the accusation that the Khmer Rouge meant to install a “slave state,” asserting rather that it sought to free people from poverty through the worksites after the country was devastated by US bombing and destruction by Lon Nol government. Nuon Chea flagrantly blamed crimes on incompetent local cadres and Vietnamese infiltrators within the party ranks whose tactics of “depriving people of food and killing people” weakened the Party, facilitating the 1979 Vietnamese invasion. Nuon Chea apologized to the public, victims, and their families, standing by his position that he is morally responsible for the loss of CPK control over the DK regime. However, he denied any legal responsibility, and noted he has failed to receive a fair trial for the past two years due to a biased Chamber that did not treat the Prosecution and Defense equally. He closed by respectfully requesting the Chamber acquit him of all charges. International Defense counsel Victor Koppe used remaining time to lambast the term slave state,” which he claimed Civil Parties and Prosecutors employed like a flashing “neon sign” during their closing statements. Koppe claimed the term, which is not an accurate description of the DK, is also out of scope of the crimes of Case 002/01. The Defense lawyer further deconstructed rebuttals put forth by the Prosecution regarding CPK policy intentions and their control over Zone leaders. Koppe particularly focused on the “elephant in the room,” which he claimed was the failure of the Chamber to summon Heng Samrin as requested by Nuon Chea. Koppe argued this failure by the Chamber proved that the denial of his client’s fair trial rights is severe enough to warrant dismissal of the charges against him related to Tuol Po Chrey. The afternoon sessions will see Khieu Samphan’s lawyers’ closing rebuttals followed by the statements of the Accused. Follow our live account of the proceedings at https://twitter/KRT_Monitor.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 06:17:07 +0000
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