The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) issued the first trial judgment today in a series of legal proceedings relating to the two surviving senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge. The case pertained to events beginning in 1975 and the accused, now both in their 80s, have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
I worked as a legal officer analyzing the evidence and the legal charges filed against the accused in 2009. Even then, I wasn't sure if this day would come. The advanced age of the defendants could have led to the premature conclusion of the entire proceedings, which occurred when the case was closed against a former co-accused, Ieng Sary who died in 2013, and his wife Ieng Thirth, who was declared unfit to stand trial in 2012. Today's judgment is perhaps the most remarkable demonstration of the value of persistence in attaining international justice globally: justice delayed is still justice.
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