The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has made significant progress recently, according to the last monitoring report from the Open Society Justice Initiative, including hearing testimony related to genocide against Cambodia’s Cham and ethnic Vietnamese populations in the second trial of defendants Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

The court also brought charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Yim Tith, a suspect in Case 004, which is one of the two outstanding cases against second tier Khmer Rouge leaders that have been opposed by the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In addition, the accused in Case 003, Meas Muth, appeared personally for charging on a revised and shortened list of crimes. His appearance rendered moot the outstanding arrest warrant that Cambodia’s Judicial Police had ignored.

However, the report also notes that the court’s progress must be balanced against its failure to hold oral arguments in the appeal of the Case 002.1 judgment against Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

Click here to download a copy of the 6-page report from the Open Society Foundations website.

The Justice Initiative has been monitoring the work of the tribunal since before it began operations in 2007, as part of its work to ensure accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.