ECCC, Case 002/02, Issue 37

Case 002/02

ECCC

Cambodia

English

This week the Trial Chamber continued to hear testimony on the treatment of the Vietnamese before adjourning for two weeks for the Christmas break. The week began with Witness Sin Chhem, a 79-year-old woman from Svay Rieng province, whose husband was a Commune Chief during the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime. Next the Chamber heard from Witness Ey Von, testifying on the same topic as last week’s Witness Oum Son, who allegedly witnessed the execution of multiple Vietnamese people at the Khsach Pagoda in Yieng Village in 1978, including one woman in particular named Chantha. Finally Witness 2-TCW-1000 took the stand to testify about events at Koh Tang and an alleged massacre of ethnic Vietnamese captive that occurred there. This Witness testified under a pseudonym due to the Trial Chamber’s prior ruling on the confidentiality of witnesses who have been introduced to Case 002/02 after the investigations into Cases 003 and 004. 2-TCW-1000 was originally scheduled to appear in Court in early 2016, however since his testimony was rescheduled to take place earlier, the Defense requested additional time to prepare for questioning. Therefore the Witness appeared for only three sessions this week for questioning by the Office of the CoProsecutors (OCP) and Lead Co-Lawyers for Civil Parties (LCLCPs). The two Defense Teams will question the Witness when the Chamber resumes on 5 January 2016.