Khmer Rouge Tribunal Judge Quits After Court Fails to Pursue Further Cases

American jurist Mark Harmon, International Co-Investigating Judge for a Cambodian court set up to try crimes against humanity from the Khmer Rouge era, resigned on Tuesday amid growing controversy over the failure of Cambodian authorities to arrest two former Khmer Rouge officials for whom warrants had been issued by the court.

His resignation, for which he cited “personal reasons,” followed the resignation in May 2012 of his predecessor on the court, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who had also sought to pursue the two cases in investigations that were openly opposed by the government.

“It is with considerable regret that I have tendered my resignation, for strictly personal reasons, with effect as of the date upon which my successor has been sworn into office,” Harmon said in a statement released on July 7.

“It was an honor to have been selected to serve as the International Co-Investigating Judge in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and to have had the privilege, along with my international and Cambodian colleagues, to pursue justice on behalf of the many victims who suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge,” Harmon said.

Efforts blocked

The Extraordinary Chambers, a U.N.-Cambodian war crimes tribunal, was set up in 2006 to bring to justice Khmer Rouge cadres responsible for the deaths from starvation, overwork, and execution of about two million Cambodians from 1975 until the regime was ousted by Vietnam in 1979.

Stymied by infighting, political interference, and funding shortages, the tribunal has handed down only three guilty verdicts so far during the nearly ten years of its work.

According to recently declassified court documents, Harmon over the last year had several times sought the arrest of former Khmer Rouge navy chief Meas Muth and district commander Im Chaem in Cases 003 and 004, the Cambodia Daily said in a July 7 report.

But Harmon’s Cambodian counterpart on the tribunal, National Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng, had repeatedly blocked his efforts, the Daily said.

While acknowledging that arrest warrants in the two cases sought by Harmon had been “issued, but not executed,” Lars Olsen, legal officer for the tribunal, told RFA’s Khmer Service on Tuesday that Harmon’s resignation was “completely unrelated to developments” in the cases.

“This resignation was based on personal reasons only,” Olsen said, adding, “Judge Harmon will stay in office until his replacement has been appointed.”

Reported and translated by Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.