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| |  | | Ieng Sary | | | context : | Cambodia  | | judgement place : | Cambodia | | status : | Investigations underway | | particulars : | Sentenced to death in absentia on 19 August 1979 by the People’s Revolutionary Tribunal; Officially pardoned by King Norodom Sihanouk on September 14, 1996 ; charged by the ECCC for crimes against humanity and war crimes; arrested on 12 November 2007 | | position : | Former deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Khmer Rouge government |
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| | | | TRIAL BEFORE THE PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL
After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, Ieng Sary disappeared along with Pol Pot. He was indicted in absentia by the People’s Revolutionary Tribunal established by the Cambodian decree-law n°1 and adopted by the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Council. The Tribunal had jurisdiction to try for the crimes of genocide committed by the “Pol Pot-Ieng Sary Clique”.
The definition of genocide as contained in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was therefore redefined to include the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge regime.
The adopted text listed the following acts committed by the Khmer Rouge as practises from which the Court should determine the existence of genocide: the planned massacre of groups of innocent individuals, the forced evacuation of urban and rural areas for the purpose of gathering the inhabitants and submitting them to forced labour in conditions that lead to their mental and physical destruction, the eradication of religion, the destruction of political, cultural, and social structures and the destruction of social and family relations,
During the trial, which took place despite the absence of the accused from August 15 to 19 1979, the Court contemplated 8 charges:
1 – Execution of a systematic mass murder plan of the population: indiscriminate extermination of almost all the officers and soldiers of the former government, extermination of intellectuals, mass murder and destruction of all persons and organizations allegedly opposed to their regime.
2 – Mass murder of priests and believers, abolition of religions, systematic extermination of national minorities for the purpose of assimilation whether they be opponents to the regime or not; extermination of foreign residents.
3 – Forced evacuation of the population of Phnom Penh and of other liberated cities and villages; destruction and disruption of social and familial structures; bloodshed and creation of lethal conditions.
4 – Rounding up the population into “communes” and disguised concentration camps, where labour and living conditions led to mental and physical destruction and where mass murdered was prevalent and where people died in great numbers.
5 – Mass murder of young children, persecution and indoctrination of youth, transforming youth into cruel and emotionless bandits.
6 – Undermining of the structures of the national economy, abolition of culture, of education, and of social services.
7 – After having been overthrown by the revolutionary forces, Pol Pot and Ieng Sary continued to oppose the revolution and committed numerous crimes, slaughtering those who refused to follow them.
8 – Throughout their four years in power, Pol Pot and Ieng Sary used the most barbarous method of torture and killing.”
(Trial Watch translation, see Links ‘Jugement de Pol Pot et Ieng Sary’ in French)
The Tribunal found Ieng Sary guilty of genocide and on July 19 1979 sentenced him in absentia to death.
The trial was generally considered to have had insufficient judicial guarantees and was not recognised by the international community.
In August 1996, the deputy Prime Minister Hun Sen granted Ieng Sary amnesty.
On September 14, 1996, Ieng Sary was pardoned by a Royal Decree from King Sihanouk and obtained amnesty from prosecution under the Cambodian law of July 14, 1994 outlawing of the Democratic Kampuchea group (cf. links “Pardon for Ieng Sary”).
TRIAL BEFORE THE ECCC
On July 18 2007, prosecutors for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC, see ‘spotlight’) announced that they had delivered the files of five suspects susceptible of being tried for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity to the Chambers. The co-investigating judges of the ECCC are currently examining the files.
On November 12, 2007 Ieng Sary was arrested along with his wife, Ieng Thirith, on a warrant issued by the Co-Investigating Judges of the CEEE that charges him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | also known as : | | | Frère numéro trois, Van | | | last time seen : | | | Phnom Penh, Cambodia | | | period of charges : | | | 17.04.1975 - 07.01.1979 | | | judgement period : | | | 15.08.1979 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
Genocide
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 10.07.2008 |
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