Justice at last

FE Team | Published: July 28, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Tadahiro Ohkoshi talks to Motoo Noguchi, one of the international judges
As a human, I asked how such a courteous, gentle people could commit such hideous atrocities. And as a lawyer, I found it astounding that despite the heinous nature of these crimes, not one person had ever been held 'criminally responsible for them." Motoo Noguchi still remembers vividly how he felt after visiting Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh and also seeing the infamous Killing Fields, where much of the savagery occurred. Noguchi is now an international judge at the Cambodian War Crimes Tribunal, which was established in July 2006.
"There is certainly the view that it has taken far too long to convene this tribunal, but surely it is still better than nothing," he adds calmly. "However late it may be in coming, it is important that justice be done."
But behind his gentle tone lies a fierce anger toward those untried crimes, and the strong sense of justice of a person of law.
Cambodia is a Southeast Asian country located on the Indochina Peninsula. Civil war in Cambodia intensified from the late 1960s almost as a sideshow to the Vietnam War, then at its height. In 1975 the Communist Party of Cambodia, known as the Khmer Rouge, seized power. Under their leader, the notorious Pol Pot (1925?-1998), the Khmer Rouge set about implementing their programme of radical reforms. They abolished the national currency, confiscated personal property, and relocated almost the entire urban population to work as forced labour in agricultural areas. The regime was both ruthless and brutal, torturing and killing huge numbers of civil servants, doctors, teachers, engineers and anyone else judged to be a member of the intelligentsia. During the terrible years until the Pol Pot regime was overthrown in 1979, as many as 1.7 million innocent Cambodians-one quarter of Cambodia's total population-were either massacred or died of starvation, malnutrition, disease, fatigue, or torture. These atrocities were among the worst crimes of the 20th century.
Even after Pol Pot's regime ended, the country was mired in a prolonged period of civil war. A peace agreement was finally reached in 1991, and Cambodia started on the path to national reconstruction under the guidance of the United Nations (UN). When the domestic situation in Cambodia had stabilised, in 1999 the UN recommended to the Cambodian government that a special tribunal be established to bring to justice the perpetrators of the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. It took more than five years of talks between the UN and Cambodia until an agreement was signed in June 2004. The Cambodian War Crimes Tribunal was finally established in July of this year, with a Japanese national, Noguchi, sworn in as one of the international judges.
Born in 1961, Noguchi studied law at the University of Tokyo before becoming a public prosecutor in 1985. His career as a public prosecutor saw him involved in numerous difficult cases. Since 2004 he has worked to train specialists in criminal law in developing countries as Professor of the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI). He also served as a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, in his capacity as Senior Attorney of the International Legal Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His experience in international justice and the legal systems of developing nations has earned him great acclaim, and led to his appointment as a key figure in passing judgment on the perpetrators of the atrocities in Cambodia.
The Cambodia trials are divided into the first instance, to be overseen by three Cambodian and two foreign judges, and the second instance, overseen by four Cambodian and three foreign judges. Noguchi will be one of the international judges at the second instance. It is widely believed that around ten of the top Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried. Pol Pot died in his jungle hideout in 1998 without ever being brought to justice.
It has taken a long time for the Cambodian War Crimes Tribunal to begin, but Noguchi regards it as of international significance. "There is, of course, great interest among the Cambodian people in this opportunity to settle this tragic part of their nation's history. But the War Crimes Tribunal is not only for the people of Cambodia; it also sends a strong message to the international community that those who are responsible for such atrocities will be brought to justice in the end. It shows clearly that there is no escape, no matter how much time has passed." â€” Japan Plus