The Khmer Rouge tribunal’s trial chamber yesterday announced the sequencing of upcoming Case 002/02, laid out to ensure that worksites and cooperatives, which affected the greatest number of lives, are attended to first.

The court eschewed elements of sequencing proposals from the defence and prosecution.

The co-prosecutors had suggested that the role of defendants Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan be dealt with first, followed by segments pertaining to each charge.

The defence teams had suggested that the case end on the role of the accused and begin with evidence of international and internal armed conflicts in Democratic Kampuchea, an “essential contextual topic”.

Yesterday, the chamber said leaving the role of the accused to the end “would allow for the most comprehensive assessment possible”.

But rather than beginning with the matter of armed conflicts, the trial will instead deal with cooperatives and worksites first, given these topics “have yet to be the subject of charges in a case heard before the ECCC Chamber and that affect a very large number of Cambodians and victims”.

Alleged crimes against humanity in the closing order related to worksites and cooperatives include enslavement, torture and imprisonment.

The trial will then deal with the treatment of the Cham, Vietnamese and former Khmer Republic officials, before turning its attention to security centres and internal purges, then forced marriage, the nature of armed conflict and, finally, the role of the accused.

Evidentiary hearings in Case 002/02 are expected to begin as early as the end of September or early October.

The tribunal yesterday also announced its first ever Latin American donor, with Chile contributing $10,000 to the national side of the hybrid court.

Court spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the national side still faces a $1.4 million shortfall for the rest of 2014, but UN fundraiser David Scheffer said last month he was confident that any kind of budget crisis would be averted.