Press Release
Friday, February 13, 2009 - Editor: Tiep Seiha
Co-Lawyers for Civil Parties requesting investigations for the crime of
Forced Marriage under the control of Duch
The Co-Lawyers for the Civil Parties at the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) have submitted a request to the Office of the Co-Prosecutors to start new investigations regarding the involvement of Mr. KAING Guek Eav alias DUCH in organizing forced marriages.
The Co-Lawyers for the Civil Parties present evidence from the case file that at least one mass wedding was organized in a re-education camp that was directly subordinated to Mr. KAING Guek Eav alias Duch. In order to fulfill the ECCC mandate and to ascertain the (full) truth, the Co-Lawyers for the Civil Parties demand for immediate and serious supplementary investigations.
In their submission they demonstrate that ordered mass weddings took place in the entire country under the Khmer Rouge leadership. It is estimated that around 400.000 men and women were married in group weddings that were carried out as widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population.
The lawyers suggest to include the crime of forced marriage in a supplementary Introductory Submission and to charge Mr. KAING Guek Eav alias Duch for forced marriages as rape, enslavement, forced pregnancy and the new crime forced marriage under crimes against humanity. The demand for new investigations will not delay the trial against the accused.
The crime of forced marriage has been recognized as a new, separate crime against humanity for the first time in an international(ized) tribunal by the Special Court of Sierra Leone in a landmark decision in February 2008. The Co-Lawyers for the Civil Parties strongly call the ECCC to take this request seriously and to follow the development in other international and internationalized tribunals, as to set an example to recognize the dimension of such gender-related crimes and their impact on society.
For further information
Silke Studzinsky, Co-Lawyer for Civil Parties (00855(0)12657014)
Hong Kimsuon, Co-Lawyer for Civil Parties, (00855(0)12945505)
Silke Studzinsky
Senior Legal Advisor
Cambodian Human Rights and
Development Association (ADHOC)
Lawyer before the ECCC
#3, Street 158 Oukhna Troeung
Kang, Beng Rang, Daun Penh
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
