Jacques Vergès: Day 1

In just his first day at the ECCC, and already Jacques Vergès is raising Cain.

THE controversial French lawyer defending the former president of the Khmer Rouge stormed out of Cambodia’s genocide tribunal yesterday – because thousands of pages of documents had not been translated into French.

Jacques Vergès is defending Khieu Samphan, 76, in his appeal against pre-trial detention on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

[...]

He told journalists that judges at the Phnom Penh hearing had asked Khieu Samphan to find a new lawyer. “This is a scandal,” he said. “This never happens, except in dictatorships.”

It seems unlikely that Mr Verges will be long for Cambodia with cracks like that. Fewer things ruffle Cambodian sensibilities like an uppity barang.