Cash-strapped Khmer Rouge court seeks funds

DPA/Phnom PenhA delegation made up of Cambodian and UN officials from the Khmer Rouge tribunal is to leave Phnom Penh to visit other South-East Asian countries to try to secure funding for the cash-strapped court.The trip came two days after David Scheffer, a UN expert on funding for the tribunal, met with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An to discuss the jointly run UN-Cambodian court’s ongoing financial difficulties.One of the worst financial problems of the tribunal, which is prosecuting war crimes cases from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, is a $2.9mn shortfall from the money budgeted for the tribunal by the Cambodian government, government spokesman Eka Tha said.Eka Tha said the delegation would visit five of Cambodia’s fellow members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, including Thailand and Singapore, to seek donations.The tribunal is now hearing its second case, in which two senior Khmer Rouge leaders, Brother Number Two Nuon Chea and former head of state Khieu Samphan, are being tried on a litany of charges, including genocide and crimes against humanity.Legal teams were due to deliver closing statements in October with a verdict expected next year in the case involving a regime under whose rule 1.7mn to 2.2mn people died from execution, disease, starvation and exhaustion, according to tribunal estimates.The court has been plagued with problems since its inception in 2009, including the death or ill health of defendants and constant funding shortages.Its Cambodian staff have called multiple strikes this year over unpaid wages, and last month, more than 10% of local staff were fired to save money.Tribunal observers have said the international community is cautious about funding the national side of the tribunal because of allegations of government interference and corruption.Some of the biggest donors to the international component of the court include Japan, Germany, France and the US.