Case of Ieng Sary

Ieng Sary and his brother Pol Pot were leaders in the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Democratic Kampuchea in the late 1970s. This regime committed numerous crimes against humanity, including the genocide of certain minorities. The regime was eventually ousted. The new government convicted Ieng Sary of genocide in absentia and sentenced him to death. However, the sentence was never carried out. The area later became known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, which abolished the death penalty. In 1994, Cambodia passed a law specifically imposing criminal charges on any former members of the Democratic Kampuchea group, i.e., former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, for the human-rights atrocities committed while the group was in power. In 1996, the Cambodian royal government gave “amnesty” to Sary “for the sentence of death” and an “amnesty for prosecution” under the 1994 law. Several years later, Cambodia and the United States created the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to prosecute international crimes that had occurred in Democratic Kampuchea under the Khmer Rouge regime. The documents creating the ECCC (1) noted that Sary had been given “a pardon” by the Cambodian government and (2) stated that the ECCC would determine the applicability of any prior amnesty or pardon to the cases before it. The ECCC’s prosecutor charged Sary with multiple international crimes. Sary challenged his detention, arguing that the amnesty granted by the Cambodian government meant that he was immune from prosecution for the ECCC’s charges. The coinvestigating judges determined that the amnesty grant did not provide Sary with immunity for the ECCC’s charges. The pretrial chamber then reviewed the matter.