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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000316 
 
CORRECTED COPY  //TO CORRECT PARA CLASSIFICATION MARKINGS// 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, D, P, DRL, IO, S/WCI 
TOKYO PASS TO AMBASSADOR WILLIAMSON 
USUN FOR M. SIMONOFF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KJUS PHUM CB
SUBJECT: KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL "FRIENDS GROUP" MEETS FOR 
FIRST TIME IN A YEAR: SOLID JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE MEETS 
EXTERNAL SHOCKS 
 
REF: A. PHNOM PENH 297 
     ¶B. PHNOM PENH 264 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000316  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES A.I. THEODORE ALLEGRA FOR REASONS 1.4 
(B, D) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  In its first meeting in a year, the 
"Friends Group" of donors at the Extraordinary Chambers in 
the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) focused May 6 on the 
substantive work of the court and the array of administrative 
challenges the court faces to meet external problems.  The 
judicial proceedings were reported to be going smoothly, with 
one trial under way and another planned.  The Friends Group 
-- which includes donors and the UN and Cambodian 
administrators -- heard about investigations into Khmer Rouge 
atrocities hampered by historic KR policies of mass 
relocation and records destruction.  The court's hybrid 
nature has led to significant language interpretation 
difficulties, and its inclusion of victims as civil parties 
means more management tasks.  While international media 
attention was phenomenal for Duch's trial (the S-21 torture 
center head), the court's sustained reach to either local or 
international audiences was reported as weak.  Perennial 
budget difficulties -- labeled by the UN deputy as a 
"constant threat of bankruptcy" -- are a chief impediment to 
tackling these external shocks effectively.  The Charge urged 
the UN and Cambodian partners to urgently settle on an 
anti-corruption mechanism (Ref B) once and for all.  In the 
meantime, as the French co-chair underscored, it is time for 
the ECCC to put an end to looking backward at past acts of 
corruption and instead look ahead to the real challenges 
facing the court in order to maintain the international 
standards expected of it.  Deputy Prime Minister Sok An 
indicated to Charge in a separate May 6 meeting that he was 
seeking a way forward in stalled negotiations with the UN on 
the anti-corruption mechanism.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Cases Going Well, but Face External Setbacks 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Cambodian Acting ECCC Director Tony Khranh began 
the Friends Group meeting with an impressive account of the 
judicial progress over the past year.  In addition to opening 
the first case against Duch in February, the judges held 
their fifth plenary in March, the Supreme Court Chambers 
assembled for the first time, and the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) 
has rendered over 50 procedural and final decisions, reported 
to form "a firm foundation for the jurisprudence of the 
ECCC."  The PTC will also rule on an appeal to prosecute 
additional suspects in early June (Ref B).  The first case 
will likely extend until September, according to the 
administrators.  In the second case against four senior Khmer 
Rouge leaders, the evidence is amassing, but investigations 
in the provinces were slow and sometimes faced significant 
difficulties in tracking down witnesses.  ECCC Deputy 
Director Knut Rosandhaug opined that the second case would 
not have a closing order (indictment) until near the end of 
the first quarter of 2010, and the actual trial would not 
start until mid-2010. 
 
¶3.  (C) The court was still short-staffed in the 
interpretation section by one third of the required staff, 
especially French interpreters.  Since most Cambodians now 
choose English as a second language, the court had to revert 
to a relay system (Khmer to English to French and vice versa) 
to provide on-the-spot interpretation to the international 
lawyers on the defense teams.  Given that the proceedings 
were digitally recorded and a written transcript was provided 
later, the effect on the fairness of the proceedings was not 
considered to be material.  Nonetheless, the ECCC was working 
to upgrade this area, notwithstanding the difficulties in 
recruiting posed by an unpredictable future budget.  Donors 
also heard that document translation needs were being met for 
the investigation teams, and that the second case did not 
have significant backlogs. 
 
Talented Recruits Balk, Question If Jobs Will Remain 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000316  002 OF 003 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶4.  (C) ECCC Chief of Personnel M. Rong Chhorn reported 
that the court was operating efficiently with 252 Cambodian 
staff members, less than the 321 positions allocated.  He 
noted that this efficiency would continue as the court 
re-allocated filled positions to meet current needs as they 
were identified, and that UN staff has helped to choose 
Cambodian national staff since early 2008.  Chhorn also 
stated that some highly talented Cambodian nationals selected 
for positions did not accept the jobs because they questioned 
whether the court would still be operating in a year's time. 
Rumors of the court's budget difficulties were having an 
impact on the recruiting, he concluded.  (NOTE: When informed 
of this difficulty later that evening, Deputy Prime Minister 
Sok An appeared surprised to learn of it. END NOTE.) 
 
¶5.  (C) The court's financial report showed that both the 
UN and the Cambodian sides had sufficient funds until the end 
of 2009.  The Cambodian side reported the budgeted cost of 
operations from 2006 to the end of 2009 as $19.1 million but 
would spend only the amount of $18 million by year's end. 
Given the savings realized of $1.1 million in 2008, the 
Cambodian side could operate until the end of the year 
without additional donations.  Nonetheless, the Cambodian 
side requested that the UNDP release the $885,000 in funds 
frozen since last year.  UNDP's Jo Scheuer noted that the 
UNDP could not release the funds absent a credible 
anti-corruption mechanism, adding that three communications 
to DPM Sok An on this matter had not yet been answered.  The 
UNDP remained open to further discussions on the matter, he 
said. 
 
Bankruptcy and the Need for an Anti-Corruption Mechanism 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶6.  (C)  With "bankruptcy just around the corner" during 
most of its operating life, ECCC Deputy Knut Rosandhaug urged 
the donors to pay more attention to the court's operating 
budget for the sake of a smoothly operating judicial process. 
 The Charge, noting the sense of urgency that this precarious 
financial situation raised, urged both sides to tackle afresh 
the anti-corruption measures and reach an agreement in as 
expeditious manner as possible on such a mechanism.  While 
most other donors nodded in agreement, none spoke up to add 
points of their own to the Charge's presentation on this 
issue. 
 
Victims and Civil Parties 
------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C)  Victim Units Head Keat Bophal reported that 94 
civil parties to the Duch case were represented by 4 groups 
of lawyers.  However, she said the real difficulty remained 
with the 3500 forms presented to the court by victims in the 
second case.  So far, 37 lawyers had presented themselves in 
the second case, and more would join, all of whom would be 
formed into three teams.  Bophal said that it might not be 
until September before all the victims in the second case 
were properly registered at the ECCC.  The French Ambassador 
noted that the court had not yet provided for handling of 
foreign victims.  (NOTE:  We know of one U.S.-registered 
lawyer in the second case who has several clients from among 
the Cambodian refugee community in the U.S.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶8.  (C)  The UN's Rosandhaug referred to an ongoing debate 
among the judges about how to handle the civil parties who 
were allowed to participate as a means to better incorporate 
Cambodian victims into the court's proceedings.  The 
Australian Ambassador emphasized the importance of the 
meaningful participation by the victims.  The Charge stressed 
that NGO's could play a vital role in facilitating 
participation of victims and civil parties.  Bophal agreed 
that intermediary organizations could help provide quality 
information to the victims and assist their participation in 
the court's proceedings. 
 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000316  003 OF 003 
 
 
Public Relations 
---------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Cambodian ECCC Public Affairs officer Helen Jarvis 
touched on the international media attention at the beginning 
of the Duch trial (240 journalists attended) and noted that 
local television and radio picked up the proceedings some of 
the time.  In addition, a video streaming feed is available 
on-line (http://www.cambodiatribunal.org) and DVD's of each 
day's proceedings are made available, usually within 24 
hours.  The court had the largest public gallery among 
international tribunals, with 494 seats.  Ironically, 
Cambodia's digital backbone could not sustain the 
videostreaming very effectively, but it works well in most 
modern-equipped nations, she said.  The modern courtroom 
facilities, with computer hookups at every desk and the 
ability to present evidence electronically from a 
state-of-the art case management system, was also noted. 
Nonetheless, most donors appeared to expect more in terms of 
public outreach from the court, as expressed by the 
Australian Ambassador who remarked on the public's "high 
expectations." 
 
¶10.  (C)  In wrapping up the presentations, the French 
Ambassador noted that the anti-corruption mechanism must be 
resolved soon.  Only by solving this problem could the donors 
and staff of the ECCC squarely face the challenges of the 
court's judicial proceedings, especially since perennial 
budget worries gave the court a constant sense of emergency. 
(A text of the ECCC Cambodian national side's remarks has 
been sent to the Desk.) 
 
Sok An on the KRT 
----------------- 
 
¶11.  (C) The evening of May 6, Sok An met Charge to review a 
human rights case about to enter the courts (Ref A), but 
spent more than half of the time talking about the corruption 
allegations in the ECCC.  Sok An indicted that he was upset 
about international press coverage of allegations against 
former ECCC Director Sean Visoth, who reportedly ran a salary 
kickback scheme at the ECCC.  (NOTE:  Sean Visoth has since 
left the court in a politically expedient maneuver by the 
Cambodians, and is off the ECCC payroll.  END NOTE.)  Sok An 
reviewed past UN dissembling during the 1997-2002 
negotiations on a UN-Cambodian agreement to form the ECCC, 
and painted the current tactics of UN/OLA ASYG Peter 
Taksoe-Jensen in that light.  He pitched his own most recent 
offer to Taksoe-Jensen (sent to donors on April 10) -- 
referring to the principles of confidentiality and anonymity 
-- and noted that he had received Taksoe-Jensen's last 
written proposal via an April 17 letter.  But most of all, 
Sok An expressed exasperation with the process and a clear 
disinclination for negotiation by letters back and forth. 
Charge noted S/WCI Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Clint 
Williamson's upcoming visit and recalled how previous USG 
officials had helped Cambodia break through stalled 
negotiations. 
 
¶12.  (C) COMMENT:  We agree that the good work of the KR 
Tribunal has too much at stake to ignore the many 
administrative challenges it faces or to under-fund the 
court's operations.  Getting a credible anti-corruption 
mechanism in place must remain a top priority so that all can 
re-focus energies on the real and pressing needs of the 
court.  Sok An seemed very tired of the negotiation process 
and very eager for creative and specific advice on how to 
move forward on that issue.  We believe that Sok An thrives 
on personal interactions and that Amb. Williamson's visit is 
a perfect opportunity to engage creatively on how to break 
the current deadlock.  We are seeking two meetings with Sok 
An -- at the beginning and end of Amb. Williamson's visit -- 
to pursue just such an effort. 
ALLEGRA