01185908
002/19-09-2007-ECCC/SC
Doc No. F26/12
B.
31.
Applicable Law
Both the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia 60 ("Cambodian Constitution") and
the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure 61 ("CPC") contain prohibitions related to the use
of evidence obtained through physical or mental compulsion. Article 38 of the Cambodian
Constitution mandates that "[c]onfessions obtained by physical torture or mental pressure
shall not be admissible as evidence of guilt". Article 321 of the CPC establishes that "[u ]nless
it is provided otherwise by law, in criminal cases all evidence is admissible" and adds that
"[a] confession shall be considered by the court in the same manner as other evidence". By
way of an exclusionary rule, Article 321 of the CPC provides that "[ a] declaration given
under the physical or mental duress shall have no evidentiary value". Both the placement of
the exclusionary rule in a provision that deals generally with the admissibility of evidence
and the term "declaration", as opposed to "confession" (the term used in Article 38 of the
Cambodian Constitution), indicate that the prohibition in Article 321 of the CPC covers any
information obtained under duress, and not only statements by the accused.
32.
The ECCC's Internal Rules mirror Article 321 of the CPC in providing that, as a rule,
"all evidence is admissible", except where it is, inter alia, "not allowed under the law". 62
Specifically on point, Internal Rule 21 (3), incorporated under the heading "Fundamental
Principles", provides that:
No form of inducement, physical coercion or threats thereof, whether directed against the
interviewee or others, may be used in any interview. If such inducements, coercion or
threats are used, the statements recorded shall not be admissible as evidence before the
Chambers, and the person responsible shall be appropriately disciplined in accordance
with Rules 35 to 38.
As such, pursuant to Internal Rule 21(3) information obtained under duress is inadmissible
irrespective of whether it stems from the accused or another person. The purview of the
provision, however, appears limited to statements collected by the organs of the ECCC. The
Internal Rules thus do not contain a broad exclusionary rule akin to those of other
international criminal tribunals, which generally bar the admission of evidence that could
compromise the integrity of the proceedings. 63
Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia (1993), adopted by the Constitutional Assembly on 21 September
1993.
61 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Kingdom of Cambodia, promulgated by the King on 10 August 2007.
62 Internal Rule 87(3)( d).
63 See Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, A/CONF.183/9, adopted on 17 July 1998, Article 69(7)
("Evidence obtained by means of a violation of this Statute or internationally recognized human rights shall not
60
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