Definition of Genocide: A Critical Analysis of the Judgment of Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (Case 002/2)

The Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot carried terrifying crimes in Cambodia between 1975 - 1979 against ethnic groups. Official documents of that regime showed the systematic mistreatment and denied of the rights of these peoples as well as their sole existence; these documents later helped the international community to proof committing one of the most outrageous crimes: genocide. In 2018, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) issued a historical judgment in Case 002/2 convicting two Khmer Rouge leads for the crime of genocide. The judgment acknowledged two minority groups as the victims of genocide, namely the Vietnamese and the Cham. This paper analysis the judgment of Case 002/2 and the court's understanding of the elements of genocide and the protected groups. On one hand, this judicial ruling is important in recognizing the rights of the victims, and on the other, it represents a judicial precedent in the Far East where the repercussions of the genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority still exist. With the development of the international case law with regard to genocide, and the experience of previous courts, particularly the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, this paper examines the ECCC's contribution to international criminal law and transitional justice. Keywords: elements of the definition of genocide, Khmer Rouge, judge Ottara, separate opinion.