Brad Adams on the Meaning and Implication of the French Criminal Court Decision for the Rule of Law of the Commission of Inquiry for Cambodia, 10 September 2022

Those were very powerful testimonies from Cambodians who were affected directly and indirectly by this horrific grenade attack. Earlier this year there was a very important development in the grenade attack case which many people thought would just be another example of permanent impunity for Hun Sen and others who have carried out violence against so many Cambodians over the years. On December 30, 2021, a French Court issued arrest warrants for two senior Cambodian generals for the grenade attack which took place on March 30, 1997, and killed 16 people and injured more than 150. The court order states that a summons was issued for prime minister Hun Sen for his role in the attack, and the French government blocked its delivery citing the fact that Hun Sen was the head of the Cambodian government. The Judge, Sebene Cariss, is VP of investigations of the Tribunal Judiciary de Paris, the Judicial Court of Paris, and stated the arrest warrants had been issued on March 19, 2020. So more than two years ago, against General Huy Piseth, who is chief of prime minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit on March 30, 1997, and General Hing Bun Heang who’s the very notorious henchman of Hun Sen who has been responsible for a wide variety of human rights abuses over the years. He was the deputy chief of the unit at the time. And they were indicted, and had been issued arrest warrants for the role in planning and orchestrating the attack. Now the Cambodian government has never taken actions against those responsible for the grenade attack on Sam Rainsy and his supporters, even though there is substantial evidence that Hun Sen and his generals are behind the atrocity. And of course the reason they haven’t taken action is because the evidence would lead to Hun Sen and the people closest to him.

We’re calling on, and others have called on, the French government after these arrest warrants were issued, to request a European arrest warrant, which means that either Huy Piseth or Hing Bun Heang step foot in any EU country they would be subject to arrest. And an interpol red notice, which would mean that any country in which they traveled which is a party to the interpoil system, which is almost all countries in the world, would have an obligation to arrest them and turn them over to France for prosecution. Now, this case is unusual in that Sam Rainsy is a French citizen, so he could sue in a French court both on criminal and civil charges, and the French court had to act because of his citizenship of France.

Now, Hun Sen and some people have often said that Sam Rainsy wasn’t even present when the grenades were thrown, that’s not true. He was injured in the leg. I was there that day, and I saw the injury to Sam Rainsy, it was a relatively minor wound to his shin, but nonetheless, he was hit by fragments. In the case in Paris, I testified in 2015 and I presented direct evidence because I’ve interviewed many many people who were present at the attack, when I was working for the United Nations back in 1997 and have interviewed a lot of Cambodian government officials, many of whom said that Hun Sen was the person who ordered this attack.

So just read part of the judge's order, the French judge’s order, it says, “it appears from the information received that Huy Piseth and Hing Bun Heang, chief and deputy chief of the prime minister’s special bodyguards, organized and carried out the grenade attack on March 30, 1997, in Phnom Penh, with Sam Rainsy as the target. Huy Piseth deployed his men, heavily armed, and in combat gear, instructions were given to the men to position themselves in a line at a reasonable distance behind the demonstrators to facilitate the retreat of the grenade throwers, the CPP military compound, and prevent anyone from pursuing them. Hing Bun Heang recruited men to carry out the attack. Hun Sen’s bodyguard, the second battalion of the seventeenth president, actually this is a mistake I think it’s the seventieth, is commanded solely by Hun Sen, the Prime Minister himself, or by Huy Piseth. Huy Piseth told the FBI that he received a deployment order from the prime ministers’ office, in fact, he has made several statements to that effect. So, the French court was very clear in who they say is responsible for the attack. Hun Sen, Huy Piseth, and Hing Bun Heang. Arrest warrants were issued for Huy Piseth and Hing Bun Heang, they were not issued for Hun Sen because of Hun Sen’s position as head of government gives him some form of immunity. The court noted, “the lack of cooperation of the Cambodian authorities throughout this judicial investigation. This,” the court said, “is despite the fact that Cambodia has cooperated with the French justice system in a murder case involving a French family in Cambodia.” So the court said, not only was Hun Sen responsible but that he and his government refused to cooperate. Now, the judge actually tried to compel Hun Sen to appear. On February. 10, 2017, Judge Cariss issued a summons to Hun Sen to appear in court. But in August of 2017, about 6 months later, the french ministry, which he says in his order, the french ministry for french and foreign affairs, the judge said Hun Sen in his capacity of head of the government in Cambodia held absolute immunity from jurisdictions, is preventing him from being tried in France, and being subjected to any measure of constraint. Such as a summons to appear for possible indictment. So I think it’s fair to conclude that without immunity Hun Sen would also be facing indictment in France for this really horrific attack.

I just want to tell you what I saw, and what people who were there saw, on the attack. We saw the bodyguard unit, in full riot gear, present at the demonstration. And this was the first time they ever appeared at a demonstration. Previously, banned demonstrations were met with a police presence. Not the bodyguard, and not members of the military. And many witnesses reported to me and others that the people who threw the grenade afterwards ran towards Hun Sun’s bodyguards for protection. Bodyguards were lined up at the West end of the park, in front of the residential compound that the people often referred to as the CPP compound, because that’s where Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, and many other senior CPP leaders have had houses. Witnesses told the UN and FBI that the bodyguards allowed the assailants to escape into the compound, where presumably they were protected, and then left with protection. The bodyguards actually even stopped people in the crowd that were chasing the grenade throwers at gunpoint from chasing them any further, threatening to kill them. Now the other thing that is very interesting is that the police who had previously maintained a high profile at opposition demonstrations were not present when the grenades came off. Hun Sen has promoted Hing Bun Heang, and many others over the years that have made serious human rights abuses. And this just shows the extent of the impunities that Hun Sen and the people around him have. I also mentioned that in 1997, the state department published its annual report, it characterized the attack as a terrorist attack. This wasn’t just murder and attempted murder, according to the US government, this was an act of terrorism. So, even though the French court didn’t use that term, the US government has called it terrorism. Also worth noting that the Washington Post published a front page story in 1997, saying that “in a classified report, the FBI tentatively blamed responsibility for the blast, and the subsequent interference with the investigation on personal bodyguard forces employed by Hun Sen, according to four US government sources familiar with the report’s contents. The agents involved reportedly have complained that additional formants in Cambodia are too frightened to come forward. So, US had concluded that Hun Sen was behind it, and that the Cambodian authorities were threatening witnesses to try and stop them from giving testimony. 

So, what are the prospects for this case? What we have now is a French arrest warrant for two very senior Cambodian generals. They should be arrested if they land on European soil. They should be arrested if they travel internationally, and they should be brought to Paris to stand trial. This is a case where justice has been greatly delayed, but we’re starting to see that justice cannot be permanently denied. I’ve also been asked, what other ways are there to hold people accountable for serious human rights abuses in Cambodia? And, the other very common way of trying to hold senior generals, other officials accountable, is through something called universal jurisdiction.  Now, this case in Paris is not universal jurisdiction because Sam Rainsy is a French citizen, and so he has the right to be heard in the French court. Universal jurisdiction is basically a concept that means that countries have passed laws, and not all countries have, just some, that say that violation of international human rights law, even if the perpetrator, and the victim, and the act, happened in some other country, can be held liable. These laws usually only have jurisdiction over very serious crimes, such as murder, torture, terrorism, etc. This is, these cases are very complicated. They require a lot of preparation, but the idea is if the evidence is there, and in so many cases in Cambodia there is every strong evidence, and one of the perpetrators steps into the country that has a universal jurisdiction law, that person would be subject to arrest and prosecution in that country. These cases are not frequent, but we have had cases where, for instance, a general from Uzbekistan, a very senior general, has been arrested. There’s a case in Germany of a, there’s a very important Syrian human rights abuser who has been arrested in universal jurisdiction, and there are other cases.  

I’ve also been asked why the French Court issued this decision in this case, when so many other major human rights abuses have been unanswered. And the very simple answer is Sam Rainsy brought this case. This is a case filed by a French citizen, Sam Rainsy. I think that this case sends a message, an important message, to Hun Sen and his henchman, that people will not forget. The serious human rights abuses they’ve committed, back to the 1980’s with the killings of the Thai border, with the violence during UNTAC, the grenade attack, the violence during the July 1997 coup, all the killings in the 1998 elections and subsequent elections, killings of environmental activists, journalists, members of Parliament, including my friend Om Rasaday who was killed, by CPP thugs. These cases are being remembered, and there can be venues in which they can be prosecuted. So I think it’s important and this French case shows we will not give up the fight against impunity, and for justice. And I expect at some point, both Huy Piseth and Hing Bun Heang to end up in a French court.  

The next thing that will happen in this case, is that the case will go to trial, I’m told next year in 2023, with or without Hing Bun Heang and Huy Piseth. Obviously, our goal is for both of them to stand trial in court, to receive a fair trial, they can present witnesses in defense, they will have their own counsel. And for the facts to come out, for the French court to judge them impartially. And I believe if the French Court does that, they will be found guilty.