David Cohen, Director

David is the director and founder of the WCSC, the Sidney and Margaret Ancker Distinguished Professor for the Humanities at U.C. Berkeley, Senior Fellow in International Humanitarian Law and the Director of the Asian International Justice Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the author of numerous publications and directs an international project on the WWII war crimes trials in Asia, the Pacific, and Europe. He has also monitored and reported on the East Timor trials before the Serious Crimes Panel in Dili and the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court in Jakarta. Currently, he is engaged in a comparative study of international criminal hybrid tribunals in East Timor, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and Kosovo and is writing a book on war crimes trials from WWII to today. David received his JD at UCLA’s School of Law, his PhD in classics and ancient history from Cambridge University, and an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Zurich.

Francis S.L. Wang, Senior Counsel

Professor Wang is the Emeritus Dean and Professor of Law at the Kenneth Wang School of Law, Soochow University, Suzhou, China. He is the co-founder and the Senior Counsel of the U.C. Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, as well as a Visiting Professor of Law and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Pacific – McGeorge School of Law. He serves as the Executive Director of The Wang Family Foundation. In the field of education he is one of the founders, a governor of the Board of Governors and the President – Elect of the International Association of Law Schools. He is a member of the Superintendent’s Advisory Board of the Napa Valley Unified School District, as well as on the Board of Advisors of the C.V. Starr East Asia Library at the University of California at Berkeley. He also serves as a Regent and Honorary Chair of the Board of Regents of Soochow University in China.

Professor Wang has testified before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Trade Commission and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office. He has published widely and lectures frequently in the United States and Asia on selected aspects of international law and related issues.

Laura W. Young, Senior Advisor

Professor Young is a Director of the Wang Family Foundation and has been an active advisor to the U.C. Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center from its inception. She is also the managing partner of the law firm of Wang & Wang, with offices in China and Taiwan, and teaches Chinese law and legal history at the School of Jurisprudence and Social Policy at University of California, Berkeley, and is on the faculty of the Kenneth Wang School of Law of Soochow University. She also teaches at Pacific/McGeorge School of Law. She is on the Advisory Board for the C.V. Starr East Asian Library. She is an editorial advisor for CCH’s China Watch and for CCH Employment Asia, and is the author of two books and many articles on law in Taiwan and China, including a regular column on China from 1996 to 2001 in West’s International HR Journal. She has published extensively on legal issues related to China and Taiwan in Juris Publishing’s Doing Business in China, the National Law Journal, Pearson’s China Law for Business, East Asian Executive Reports, IP Asia, Pro2Net Online News, and other publications. She is a member of the California Bar Association, the Taipei Bar Association, and is a registered attorney with the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Justice.

Penelope Van Tuyl, Deputy Director

Penelope Van Tuyl has worked closely with Professor David Cohen since 2006 on human rights and rule of law projects in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Europe. An American lawyer, Penelope received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and is admitted to practice in the state of California. Deputy Director of the Asian International Justice Initiative and the War Crimes Studies Center, Penelope oversees several of AIJI’s key projects in the region, including the annual Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the “Virtual Tribunal” project, and our regional trial monitoring program at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. She has authored and edited numerous reports and articles on international criminal law and procedure. She also lectures in the Rhetoric department UC Berkeley. Her research interests touch on substantive, procedural, and administrative aspects of international criminal practice; in particular, she focuses on Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE) liability, standards of pleading in international courts, and the institutional accountability mechanisms that are meant to support the effective and efficient administration of justice.

Mary Kristerie A. Baleva, Head of Programs for Cambodia, Asian International Justice Initiative

Mary Kristerie A. Baleva is a Filipino lawyer who serves as AIJI’s Head of Programs for Cambodia.  She oversees the KRT Trial Monitoring and Community Outreach Program, as well as the in-country Legal and Content Development Team of the Virtual Tribunal of the ECCC, a collaborative project between the ECCC, EWC, WCSC, and the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.  Kris studied law at the University of the Philippines and obtained her Master of Laws in Human Rights degree from the University of Hong Kong. Prior to her involvement in projects in Cambodia, she worked as a Director for Legislative Affairs in the Philippine Senate and as a corporate lawyer at SyCip Salazar Hernandez Gatmaitan Law Offices.

Aviva Nababan, Head of Programs for Indonesia, Asian International Justice Initiative

Aviva has a background as an educator, researcher, and interpreter. She is currently based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She has a Bachelor degree in Education and Masters degree in International Relations. Aviva has been involved in a number of projects related to transitional justice, such as a researcher for the Advisor to the Timor Leste-Indonesia Truth and Friendship Commission and the AIJI Monitoring Team for ECCC. Currently she holds the position of AIJI Head of Programs for Indonesia, coordinating the execution of the organization’s programs in the country as well as liaising with various governmental and non-governmental institutions as partners and stakeholders in AIJI/EWC’s activities. She has specific interests in research and programs related to transitional justice, reform of the administration of justice system including by mainstreaming human rights, the upholding and enforcement of freedom of religion, as well as youth empowerment.

Christoph Sperfeldt, Regional Program Coordinator, Asian International Justice Initiative

Christoph Sperfeldt is Regional Program Coordinator at the Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI), a joint program of the East-West Center and UC Berkeley’s War Crimes Studies Center. Prior to this, he was Senior Advisor with the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Cambodia. In this capacity, he worked from 2007 to 2010 as an Advisor to the Secretariat of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC) and from 2010 to 2011 as Advisor to the Victims Support Section of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Mr Sperfeldt holds a masters degree in Political Science from the University of Jena, Germany.

Leigh-Ashley Lipscomb, Adjunct Fellow, East Timor

Leigh-Ashley completed her PhD dissertation in Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her topic was “Narratives of Justice” and her project traces the historiography of justice in East Timor from the time of the Japanese Occupation of Portuguese Timor during WWII, through the period of Indonesian annexation until 1999, and the period of transitional rule by the United Nations until 2002. Leigh-Ashley has conducted research as an intern for the Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor in 2003 and served as the Dili Research Team leader for the Commission of Truth and Friendship between East Timor and Indonesia. She worked closely with David Cohen in the production of the Expert Advisor Reports to the Commission and in the production of the Commission’s own report, Per Memoriam ad Spem.

Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Adjunct Fellow, Cambodia

Michelle Staggs Kelsall is an Australian lawyer with a Masters in Public International Law/Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science. As former Deputy Director of the East-West Center’s Asian International Justice Initiative, she worked closely with Professor Cohen to foster the Initiative’s current programs and develop future projects and partnerships in the region. As well as co-directing Summer Institute 2009, she oversaw the Initiative’s regional trial monitoring and outreach programs at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia from her base in Phnom Penh. Based on the strength of her Masters research on the topic, Ms. Staggs Kelsall was invited to attend an experts’ panel at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the legacy of internationalized tribunals in 2006. Her co-authored article on sexual violence victims was selected by Judge Navanethem Pillay for publication in the International Journal of Transitional Justice’s Special Issue on Gender in 2007. Her current research interests include the legacy of internationalized tribunals, gender and human rights, and human rights in Southeast Asia.

Jennifer Easterday, Adjunct Fellow, Netherlands

Jennifer received her J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law. A member of the California State Bar, she applies her legal expertise and background in international human rights and international criminal law to monitoring and writing about the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She is the author of “Deciding the Fate of Complementarity: A Colombian Case Study,” (Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, Spring 2009) and numerous reports on the trial of Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

John Katsnelson, Intern Manager and Webmaster

John has been working closely with the WCSC since his time as an undergraduate in the UC Berkeley Rhetoric department. He now continues to support the WCSC by organizing the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship team and managing it’s web presence.

Current Undergraduate Student Researchers

Cynthia Or

Tiffany Wong

Andrea Xu

WCSC Trial Monitoring Team

Noyel RY is a Cambodian lead monitor who has considerable experience in the KRT field as a media practitioner. She used to work with the Center for Social Development, the Center for Justice and Reconciliation, and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Sovanna SEK is a Cambodian lawyer who has been working as a lead monitor for the KRT Trial Monitoring and Community Outreach Program since 2009. She also served as the Deputy Director of the in-country Legal and Content Development Team of the Virtual Tribunal of the ECCC in 2010. Sovanna had completed an internship at the Office Co-Prosecutors at the ECCC and served as an attorney-at-law at the Community Legal Education Center where she advocated the protection of land rights.

Cess PRINCIPE is a Filipino lawyer who received her degree from the University of the Philippines.  Prior to serving as a lead monitor of Case 002, Cess worked as a private practitioner litigating cases relating to women and children’s rights.

Faith Suzette DELOS REYES- KONG is a Filipino lawyer and lead monitor. Before joining the KRT Trial Monitoring Team, Faith was with the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, where she served for four years.

Juan Pablo STEIN is an intern-monitor who received his degree in International Relations (focusing on international law and development economics) from the Catholic University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. During his studies and after, he worked with leading regional finance teams of multinational companies, including Accenture and Microsoft.

Ramu NACHIAPPAN is a 4th year Bachelor of Laws student at the National University of Singapore. In 2011, he participated in the Oxford, Monroe E Price Moot Competition and has been engrossed in International Law ever since. He spent a semester in Georgetown University Law Center as part of his Student Exchange Programme. He is interested in Human Rights Law, particularly in the unique problems faced by women and children in Asia.

Kounila KEO is a Khmer monitor with a degree in Media and Communication from the Royal University of Phnom Penh.  She has been freelancing for Agence France Presse since 2009 and had worked as BBC Media Action’s Digital Manager.  When is she is not monitoring and writing news reports, she blogs about social issues and everything Cambodian at www.blueladyblog.com. A blogger since 2007, Kounila conducts workshops on social media for university students, artists and professionals.

Nora FUCHS is a Swiss trial monitor who received her Master of Laws degree from the Universities of Zurich and Neuchâtel, Switzerland and Oslo, Norway.  During her studies, she focused on international criminal law and international humanitarian law. Nora has completed an internship at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and has since been working for the Swiss Ministry of Defense.

Vidjia PHUN is a Cambodian trial monitor who holds a Master of Laws in Human Rights degree from the Central European University.  He teaches law courses at the Faculty of Law and Public Affairs of Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, where he also administers a legal clinic.  Vidjia was involved in the Human Rights Resource Center’s baseline study on rule of law in the ASEAN region, a report on which was published in 2010.

LEANG SOK is a Cambodian translator-monitor.  He has worked in the field of human rights with the Center for Justice and Reconciliation and the Center for Social Development, focusing on victims’ participation at the ECCC, as well as healing and reconciliation processes through transitional justice mechanisms.  He is currently a part-time lecturer of Cultural Anthropology at Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia. Leang has also been a professional translator/interpreter in local and international conferences in the country and abroad for the past six years.

Kimsan SOY is a Cambodian trial monitor who holds a Master of Laws degree in Public International Law from the Transnational Laws and Business University, South Korea. He was a pioneering member of the first Cambodian team to have participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in 2009.  This experience has encouraged Kimsan to conduct in-depth research and analysis on international human rights law and international humanitarian law, particularly on the issue of responsibility to protect.

Chayanich THAMPARIPATTRA is a Thai lawyer who received her Bachelor of Laws from Thammasat University. Chayanich has also studied the Australian legal system through an exchange program at the University of Queensland. Before coming to Cambodia, she spent more than two years as a consultant on International Labor Standards and Labor Laws for the International Labour Organization, during which, she also volunteered for local trade unions.

Daniel MATTES is an intern-monitor from the United States. He recently earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Stanford University in International Relations and Italian, with Honors from the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. In his final year at Stanford, he completed a thesis that analyzed the effects of Argentina’s trials of the military juntas on the longer-term quality of its judicial institutions. He has previously worked in the U.S. Congress, at an Italian NGO for international development, and as a research assistant to Dr. Helen Stacy on efforts to combat human trafficking in sub-regional multilateral organizations.

Havi MIRELL is an intern-monitor from the United States. She recently received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Stanford University in History and the Law, with Honors from the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. At Stanford, Havi focused primarily on human rights and international justice initiatives in Africa. Her honors thesis explored the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in its application to Zimbabwe’s blood diamond crisis. Havi has also worked as a researcher for the States in Transition Observatory at the Institute for Democracy in Africa in Pretoria, South Africa and as a research assistant to Stanford University Professor Terry Karl, relative to the impact of trials on historical consciousness and collective memory.

Alvin YAP is a Singaporean intern-monitor who recently graduated from the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. He was part of the team that represented Singapore at the 2012 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, after winning the Singapore National Round of the competition. He completed a research paper under the guidance of Prof. Simon Chesterman on the topic of sexual violence against men during armed conflicts.

Past WCSC Trial Monitors

Flavia WIDMER is a Swiss trial monitor who studied law at the Universities of Zürich and Neuchâtel, Switzerland. She graduated in 2011 with a Master of Laws degree. In 2008, Flavia spent one semester at the Chicago-Kent College of Law’s exchange program, focusing on International and Comparative Law (half of the LLM program). During her studies and shortly after, she worked for different business law firms in Zürich, Switzerland.

Samantha LEE is an intern-monitor from the United States.  She had recently completed her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations at Stanford University, where she focused on the politics of international human rights law and retrospective justice.  Sam has also served as a legal intern for the Greater Boston Legal Services Immigration Unit.  She is currently in Phnom Penh interning for the Asian International Justice Initiative.

Samuel GILG is a Swiss trial monitor who received his Master of Laws degree from the University of Zürich in 2009. He completed internships at a District Court and a District Attorney’s Office in Switzerland before joining the KRT Monitoring Team.

Annie Bird was a research apprentice for the War Crimes Studies Center from 2004-2005, during which time she monitored trials in East Timor with the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) on a WCSC grant.

Jack Bouboushian

Vineath Chou

Sibylle Dischler

Jennifer Easterday

Kiran Grewal

Florian Hansen

Nandini Iyer

Michelle Staggs Kelsall

Sara Kendall

Yvette Lim

Savorn Pheak

Kyra Sanin

Anna Stirnemann

Alison Thompson

Thea Wauters Thyness

Penelope Van Tuyl

Radha Webley

Sovanna Sek

Nget Sovannith

Romana Weber

Radha Webley

Binxin Zhang

Researchers, Volunteers, and Special Project Team Members

Kellie Adair

Angel Ryono

Sari Aziz

Diane Brown

Jess Brown

Chang Cai

Seyron Foo

Lindsay Harris

Ben Hoffman

Wenny Hsieh

Leslie Lang

Sun Lee

Stephanie Lowe

James Luong

Masumi Matsumoto

Sasha Pippenger

Amanda Powell

Erin Pulaski

Shalini Swaroop

Yuma Totani

Jasmina Viteskic

Lisa Wang

Qian Qian Wang

Elizabeth Weinberg

Lisa Xu

Dina Zenitha