A/HRC/4/95
page 12
Unit including the issue of how defence lawyers will be qualified; and the role of the
co-prosecutors and its impact on the voting procedure. There was no opportunity to address in
detail important issues such as the role of victims and civil party rights. As a result, the draft
internal rules were not adopted in whole, or even in part. Until the rules are adopted, the formal
proceedings of the Chambers cannot progress.
35.
In accordance with the Agreement between the United Nations and the Royal
Government of Cambodia concerning the prosecution under Cambodian law of crimes
committed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea, the internal rules had been drafted on
the basis of Cambodian procedural law (including the draft Penal Procedure Code, which, when
adopted, will replace current criminal procedure), with modifications where there were
omissions or uncertainty in Cambodian procedural law, or where existing law failed to comply
with international standards. The discussions raise concerns regarding the content of the draft
Code. The office will continue to follow the adoption process closely.
D. Impunity
36.
In October 2005, former Special Representative Peter Leuprecht completed a report
tracing forms and patterns of impunity that successive Special Representatives and other experts
working under United Nations auspices have recorded since the early 1990s. The office
translated the report into Khmer and transmitted it to the Government in December 2005. The
report became public in February 2006. Its aim is to promote dialogue on the nature and impact
of impunity and the adoption of measures to end it.
37.
The office in Cambodia continued to follow several unresolved cases of concern,
including cases that were cited in the report. The case of Chea Vichea has already been
mentioned. Another case is Ros Sovannareth, Steering Committee member of the same trade
union, who on 7 May 2004 was shot and killed in Phnom Penh. His case is also before the ILO
Committee on Freedom of Association. A 22-year-old paratrooper, who has denied guilt, was
convicted of his murder in February 2005 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The trial was
marked by serious breaches of procedural rules and basic standards of fair trial. The defendant
immediately appealed. No date has yet been set to hear the appeal. The office has been
informed that progress has been hampered by lack of judges, prosecutors and clerks.
38.
The office continued to follow developments in other high-profile contract killings which
took place in Phnom Penh during the run-up to the 2003 National Assembly elections and the
political deadlock that followed before a new Government formed in July 2004. They include
Sam Buntheon, Director of Vipasona Meditation Center, a monk and teacher who was shot dead
on 6 February 2003 by two gunmen and died two days later. No one has been arrested for this
crime. Om Radsady, a senior adviser of the Funcinpec party, was shot on 18 February 2003 and
died later that day. Two men, arrested shortly thereafter, confessed to the murder, claiming it
was unintentional and that their motive was to rob the victim of his mobile phone. The Phnom
Penh Municipal Court sentenced them to 20 years’ imprisonment for illegal possession of a
weapon, robbery, and voluntary manslaughter in October 2003. The case raised several
concerns, including the quality of the investigation and the trial, whether the suspects acted
alone, and whether the motive of mobile phone robbery was credible as it contradicted
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