On Wednesday, 26 August 2009, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) reached a new milestone when the number of visitors in attendance of Case 001 against Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch exceeded 20,000.
As of 26 August 2009, 20,250 visitors had attended the Duch-trial since it commenced on 30 March. This makes a daily average of 311 visitors. The total number of visitors includes visitors from 11 Cambodian provinces (Kandal, Kampomg Cham, Kam Pong Speu, Kampong Thom, Phnom Penh, Kampong Chahnaing, Kratie, Siem Reap, Pursat, Takeo and Kampot). In addition, visitors from 22 other countries have attended the court proceedings.
During recent months, the Public Affairs Section has strengthened efforts to increase both outreach activities and visitor attendance at the court. Due to targeted effective outreach through the use of radio broadcasts, the court has been able to provide to a larger audience information about how to attend the court hearings. The ECCC is providing free bus transportation to the court from the provinces for groups of 30 or more that have expressed interested in attending the Duch-trial.
Five months into the Duch-trial, there is still a continued interest in visiting the court. All court days
up to 17 September are already almost fully booked with reservations from new visitors.
Hearing Dates (Weekly) Total Visitors (Weekly)
30/03/09 - 01/04/09 1,176
06/04/09 - 09/04/09 623
20/04/09 - 23/04/09 642
27/04/09 - 30/04/09 742
18/05/09 - 21/05/09 575
25/05/09 - 28/05/09 560
08/06/09 - 10/06/09 415
15/06/09 - 170/6/09 621
22/06/09 - 25/06/09 860
29/06/09 - 02/07/09 1,899
06/07/09 - 09/07/09 1,553
13/07/09 - 16/07/09 1,504
20/07/09 - 22/07/09 1,301
27/07/09 - 28/07/09 1,094
03/08/09 - 06/08/09 1,687
10/08/09 - 12/08/09 1,463
17/08/09 - 20/08/09 2,176
24/08/09 - 26/08/09 1,359
Grand Total as of Wednesday, 26 August 2009 20,250