I crimini commessi dai khmer rossi in Cambogia: inadeguatezza della repressione penale giudiziale "domestica" e coinvolgimento delle Nazioni Unite

The author analyses the path towards the prosecution of crimes committed in Cambodia during the period of “Democratic Kampuchea” as an example of transitional justice. The solution adopted after a long and complicated negotiation between the Cambodian Government and the U.N. is the establishment of a peculiar ad hoc court, the “Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia”. This court can be considered a “mixed” court, since judges are both Cambodian and International (i.e. designated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations), among other things (such as applicable laws and procedures). The establishment of a “mixed” court is part of a new trend in International justice, considering what is happening in the last decade in places such as Sierra Leone, Kosovo and East Timor. According to the author, the major advantage of the Cambodian compromise is that international involvement can help to reach the goals of truth, justice and reconciliation in fragile political situations (such as the Cambodian one), where normal internal courts would risk to be put under an unbearable political pressure. At the same time, “mixed” court allow territorial States to maintain a certain degree of sovereignty, which is coherent with the provision of article 17 of the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court