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A Cambodian cabinet minister has said that
the Cambodian government could "terminate" the Extraordinary
Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) if it "illegally"
attempts to charge former King Norodom Sihanouk with crimes
committed during the Communist Khmer Rouge's control of Democratic
Kampuchea from 1975-79, according to Cambodia Daily Monday.
Sihanouk was the symbolic head of state
for the regime of Pol Pot until he was forced out of office in
1976.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said
that because the ECCC operates under Cambodian law, it may be
disbanded if it attempts to violate the immunity granted to Norodom
Sihanouk by Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the Cambodian
constitution.
The now-retired king resumed office again
in 1993 and then stepped down in 2004 in favor of his son; he has
not been questioned or investigated by the ECCC, but last month a
letter from the US-based rights group Cambodian Action Committee
for Justice and Equality called for Sihanouk's immunity to be
stripped so that he could be charged. The government immediately
issued a statement rejecting the idea, emphasizing that the issue
was "clearly and definitively excluded at the time of the former
king's retirement."
The UN-backed ECCC was established in 2001
to investigate and try those responsible for the Cambodian genocide
that occurred between 1975-1979 and resulted in the deaths of
approximately one-third of the Cambodian population.
To date, no top Khmer Rouge officials have
faced trial. Last month, the ECCC brought its first charges against
Kaing Khek Iev [TrialWatch profile; JURIST report], better known as
"Duch", who was in charge of the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom
Penh.
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