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Lawyer for Khmer Rouge leader adds to tribunal's woes
Conflict within the defence team surfaced yesterday when Khieu Samphan's other lawyer, Cambodian Say Bory, urged the Frenchman to tone down his provocative style.
- AP
- Published: 00:45 April 25, 2008
Phnom Penh: A French lawyer known for his provocative style and infamous clients has taken centre stage at the tribunal for Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge leaders, challenging the judges and adding to the woes of an already troubled court.
The aggressive stance taken by Jacques Verges at an appeal by former Khmer Rouge President Khieu Samphan for release from pretrial detention augurs possible new hurdles for the tribunal, plagued over the past few years by political wrangling and corruption scandals.
Conflict within the defence team surfaced yesterday when Khieu Samphan's other lawyer, Cambodian Say Bory, urged the Frenchman to tone down his provocative style.
"If he doesn't, it could be the end for him - and then what would happen to the case?" Say Bory said. "I want this to move forward."
The long-delayed UN-assisted tribunal seeks justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution as a result of the communist Khmer Rouge's radical attempt to build a classless society when it held power in 1975-79.
But the spotlight in a pretrial hearing on Wednesday was on the 83-year-old Verges, who triggered a delay with an outburst over the court's failure to translate thousands of pages of documents into French.
Verges is every bit as controversial as the people he defends, going back five decades to Algerian freedom fighters accused of terrorism. He was the subject of a documentary film last year, Terror's Advocate. His past clients include Nazi Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie and French collaborators, Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal, various Palestinian hijackers, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and serial killer Charles Sobhraj.
He has also looked after the interests of Saddam Hussain and several brutal African dictators.
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