In 2009, Lyma was admitted to the Bar Association in the Kingdom of Cambodia to represent Civil Parties before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
Since 2009, Lyma has engaged pro bono practice as International Civil Party Counsel at the ECCC, where, together with national and international co-lawyers, she successfully appealed the first mass victim admissibility appeals internationally, resulting in a broadened definition of “harm” with the court admitting nearly 2000 Civil Parties in Case 002. Lyma was the first International Civil Party Lawyer given access to the case file in the very politically contentious Cases 003 and 004.
National and International Civil Party Counsel before the ECCC (2013)
Lyma examining KAING Guek Eav (alias “Duch”, convicted in Case 001) during his evidence in Case 002 about the Khmer Rouge administration and the roles of NUON Chea, KHIEU Samphan, IENG Sary and IENG Therith in the regime) (2012).
Lyma’s admission to the Bar Association in the Kingdom of Cambodia, 2009. With National Civil Party Co-Lawyer, NY Chandy and Human Rights Officer, OENG Jeudy at Phnom Penh Court of Appeal
Lyma has appeared at the hybrid court in proceedings panning nearly a decade, including at Preliminary Legal Arguments, evidence proceedings during the Case 002 trial concerning the elimination of the ethnic Vietnamese population in Cambodia in the 1970s, and in
Achievements and Legacies of the Khmer Rouge Trials
This article, from Journal the Australian Feminist Law Journal, Volume 44, 2018, Issue 2, contains an edited transcript of a panel discussion held in Melbourne in December 2017, involving four speakers from different cross-sections of the tribunal, each with significant professional experience at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The panel reflected on the personal and professional lived experiences of Christoph Sperfeldt (outreach and NGOs), Helen Jarvis (tribunal’s establishment and Victims Unit), William Smith (Prosecutions), Wendy Lobwein (Victim and Witnesses Unit) and Lyma Nguyen (Counsel for Civil Parties) from more than 10 years of the court’s operation, offering unique insights into the legacy of the court’s establishment, historical and procedural record, outreach to victims, legal representation of participating victims (civil parties), and supporting witnesses across different cultural and legal contexts.