Victims of the Khmer Rouge had their first, historic day in court this month at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). On February 8, Theary Seng, who is quickly becoming the poster child for the genocide that ravaged Cambodia in the late 1970s, stood to address a man she believes was responsible for the deaths of her parents and 1.7 million other Cambodians: Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's right-hand man and most trusted deputy, who is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. "For us, the graveyard was our playground," she said. Like the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ECCC gives remarkable scope for victim participation. At the Khmer Rouge court, victims can sign on as civil parties to a given case, which gives them the right to access case files, object to certain judicial decisions and have an attorney speak on their behalf during court hearings. It also makes them eligible to receive reparations. So far, four victims—Theary Seng, Chum Mey, who survived the notorious Khmer Rouge S21 torture prison, and two who remain anonymous—are civil parties in the trial against Nuon Chea.

Chea, however, has yet to be tried. Seng was speaking at his first pre-trial hearing, during which judges debated his provisional detention. The defense was not pleased and the day before had objected to civil party participation at the pre-trial hearing. The prosecution and civil party lawyers urged the ECCC judges not to restrict victim participation. Chea's defense lawyers argued that victims should only participate in proceedings in which they have a vested interest. At the ICC, much ink has been spilled over this issue, which was finally resolved in favor of victim participation in the preliminary stages (though with access limited to public documents) [IJT-41].

Meanwhile, the tribunal is scrambling to handle a mounting pile of victim complaints—more than 500 and counting—as the Victim's Unit gets off to a slow start. Its director is not scheduled to start work until February 18. Furthermore, the debate over how to pay victims' lawyers is growing increasingly churlish. The court's new budget estimate includes $699,500 for the Victim's Unit. That money would cover five case managers, but does not provide for legal aid staff. At the same time, $5.74 million has been budgeted to cover legal fees for defendants, at an average cost of $717,533 per case. Hisham Mousar, who has been monitoring the court for the local rights group Adhoc, calls that discrepancy "a little bit unfair".

A chance to get a genocide charge

For now, Cambodian civil party attorneys are being paid with $105,000 from DED, the German aid organization. International lawyers have volunteered to work for victims pro bono, though none have yet taken up a case. Andreas Selmeci, who coordinates DED's programs on the Khmer Rouge tribunal, said he is especially keen to see groups like the Cham Muslims, who historians say were targeted for persecution, get involved in the trial. The help of a lawyer will be beneficial because "it's important to use every chance to get a genocide charge into discussion".

The court itself is now trying to scrape together additional funds for victim legal assistance. "We very much understand the importance of being able to provide support, even if it is modest," says Gabriella Gonzalez-Rivas, deputy head of the Victim's Unit. Still, even if the money does come through, there is little chance that Cambodian lawyers working for victims will make anything near the $6,000 a month their international counterparts bring home. Indeed, Selmeci worries that paying Cambodian victims' attorneys anywhere near that much would distort the nation's legal aid community—to the detriment of the legal system as a whole. "But we want those lawyers to still be available to poor and marginalized Cambodians," he said.

Ny Chandy, Theary Seng's lawyer, knows he makes far less than the lawyers flanking Nuon Chea across the courtroom, but he is okay with that. He says, "I want to defend victims to find justice."