Mr. Khieu Samphan was
taken into the custody of the ECCC today. The
Defence Support Section has assigned two lawyers
selected by Mr. Khieu Samphan from the ECCC List of
Lawyers. They are Dr SAY Bory of the Cambodian Bar
and Mr Jacques VERGÈS of the Paris Bar.
Dr Say is the most senior
member of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of
Cambodia , and was the first President of the Bar on
its creation in 1995. He was a member of the
Constitutional Council from 1998 until 2004 when he
returned to private practice. He also acts as legal
advisor to H.M. King Sihanouk the King Father.
Mr. Jacques Vergès has
been a member of the Paris Bar since 1955. In the
1960s he defended a number of cases before French
military tribunals arising out of the conflict in
Algeria . In 1987 he represented Klaus Barbie before
the Lyon cour d'assises on charges of crimes against
humanity from of the Second World War. He has
represented a number of other high profile clients
before domestic and international tribunals.
The Co-Lawyers have been
provisionally assigned whilst the Defence Support
Section assesses whether Mr Khieu Samphan has
sufficient freely available assets to pay for his
legal team for the next two years.
