The Khmer Rouge tribunal turned testy yesterday, with Victor Koppe, co-lawyer for Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, going toe-to-toe with former S-21 chief Kaing Guek Eav throughout his time on the witness stand.
Mr. Koppe covered a variety of topics yesterday during Case 002/02 against Khmer Rouge leaders Khieu Samphan and Mr. Chea, asking Mr. Guek Eav, also known as Duch, about Vietnamese-backed coup attempts against Pol Pot and the arrest and torture of Khmer Rouge commanders.
Since he started questioning last week, Mr. Koppe has traded subtle barbs with Mr. Guek Eav over his penchant for long-winded, off-topic answers, but yesterday, things came to a head.
Mr. Koppe, continuing with his underlying effort to disprove Mr. Guek Eav’s testimony by pointing out holes in his memory and inconsistencies in his testimony, attacked the witness on an issue that he has been hinting at this week: that Mr. Guek Eav’s testimony should not be believed precisely because of his consistent claim that he was not involved in some of the more unsavory aspects of the S-21 detention center.
After repeated denials and verbose obfuscations on a previous question, Mr. Koppe lost a bit of his cool and openly asked Mr. Guek Eav how he could be trusted to testify about the atrocities committed at S-21 if, as Mr. Guek Eav has said repeatedly, he spent most of his days secluded while reading confessions from prisoners.
Mr. Guek Eav did not even know how many men were in his cadre, Mr. Koppe told the court.
Mr. Guek Eav shot back a vehement response, telling Mr. Koppe: “The head of S-21 was not a stupid person! The chief of S-21 knew everything.”
The back-and-forth continued in the afternoon, with Mr. Koppe verbally sparring with not only Mr. Guek Eav, but Assistant Prosecutor Dale Lysak as well.
The court president and others criticized Mr. Koppe for some of the questions posed to Mr. Guek Eav about his own testimony or quotes from unverified sources.
Mr. Guek Eav also received his fair share of criticism from Judge Claudia Fenz for his claim that any document not provided to him before his testimony must be “full of inconsistencies.”
When asked a series of questions about a list of prisoners at S-21 and whether some had escaped or been released, Mr. Guek Eav angrily complained that the question had not been presented clearly.
“Do not confuse people. We are here to find the truth for the court and the Cambodian people,” he said to Mr. Koppe.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26380/duch--koppe-trade-barbs-at-tribunal/