KRT lawyers after Hun Sen

Request will likely be met with displeasure.

LAWYERS for the former Khmer Rouge chief ideologist Nuon Chea have requested judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal interview Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Father Norodom Sihanouk as part of investigations into their client’s role in the 1975-79 regime.

In a court document dated Tuesday and obtained by the Post Saturday, lawyers argued that the prime minister, along with National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Cambodian People’s Party President Chea Sim should be under investigation in the case “given their former ranks within DK”.

“The above-named individuals are likely in possession of documents and information relevant to the pending judicial investigation,” it said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has stated publicly that any attempt to subpoena King Father Norodom Sihanouk would earn the immediate dismissal of the ECCC. How the prime minister will react to requests that he take the stand remains to be seen. It’s unlikely to be positive. Far from trying to ascertain the truth, the request to interview Hun Sen and other government officials appears specifically designed to put the U.N. and the Cambodian government on an irreversible collision course. Once again the elephants are fighting.