Centre for Human Rights to submit amicus curia brief in Kaing Guek Eav case

The McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP) has been invited by the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to submit an amicus curiae brief to the Court in the case of Kaing Guek Eav alias "Duch", accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes as a leader of the Khmer Rouge.

The decision of the five judge pre-trial chamber of the ECCC, dated 25 September 2008, invites the CHRLP to file a brief on the doctrine of joint criminal entreprise and its application to the 1975-1979 period during which the crimes are alleged to have been committed.

Members of the Centre are currently working on the brief, to be submitted by late October 2008.

About the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia

In 2001, the Cambodian National Assembly passed a law to create a court to try serious crimes committed during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime. This court is called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (Extraordinary Chambers or ECCC).

About Kaing Guek Eav

Born around 1942, Kaing Guek Eav, better know as “Duch”, was a teacher of mathematics who joined the Communist Party of Kampuchea in 1967. In the early 1970s, he was put in charge of security for the Communist Party north of Phnom Penh. Documents dating from October 1975 connect Duch with Tuol Sleng – a Khmer Rouge prison camp. Duch is alleged to have overseen the systematic interrogation, torture and execution of hundreds of Cambodian people who were suspected of being “ennemies of the revolution.” Out of an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only twelve known survivors.

On July 31, 2007, Duch was formally charged with crimes against humanity and detained by the ECCC.