Saturday, 16 August 2008

Not All Tribunal Complaints Valid: Official

Keat Bophal, head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal's Victims Unit, and spokesman Reach Sambath.

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
15 August 2008

The Victims Unit of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has received around 1,800 complaints from purported victims of the regime, but not all of them are within the jurisdiction of the special courts, tribunal officials said Thursday.

"Those who want to file a complaint must make a charge for the period between April 1975 and January 1979," said Keat Bophal, chief of the Victims Unit, as a guest on "Hello VOA." "That is the jurisdiction of the court."

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath, who was also a guest, said some of the complaints were not valid, such as a complaint that France had cut Cambodian land from neighboring countries.

Keat Bophal said those with complaints about the regime, within the jurisdiction of the courts, could call the unit, at 023 214 290.

The tribunal was designed to help facilitate reconciliation, in part by providing a means by which victims of the regime could file against defendants, five of whom are so far in jail.

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