Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trials

waltky · Sep 16, 2012

Fakin' it to get out of trial...

Cambodia genocide defendant freed due to illness
Sep 16,`12 -- Cambodia's war crimes tribunal set free a former leader of the Khmer Rouge on Sunday, upholding a decision that has outraged survivors seeking an explanation of the mass killings committed more than 30 years ago.

Eighty-year-old Ieng Thirith, who has been declared mentally unfit for trial, was driven out of the U.N.-backed tribunal's compound by family members. She made no comment to reporters. The Sorbonne-educated Shakespeare scholar served as social affairs minister during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule, during which an estimated 1.7 million people died of execution, medical neglect, overwork and starvation. The tribunal initially announced its decision to free Ieng Thirith on Thursday, saying medical experts had determined there was no prospect for her to be tried due to a degenerative mental illness that was probably Alzheimer's disease. Prosecutors then delayed her release by filing an appeal demanding that conditions be set to restrict her freedom.

On Sunday, the tribunal's supreme court said it had accepted the appeal, which is expected to be heard later this month. In the meantime, it set three provisional conditions on her movement. The tribunal said Ieng Thirith must inform the court of her address, must turn in her passport and cannot leave the country, and must report to the court whenever it summons her. Ieng Thirith was the Khmer Rouge's highest-ranking woman and also a sister-in-law of the group's top leader, Pol Pot, who died in 1998. She is accused of involvement in the "planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges," and was charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, homicide and torture.

Three other senior Khmer Rouge leaders are currently on trial, including her husband, 86-year-old Ieng Sary, the regime's former foreign minister; 85-year-old Nuon Chea, its chief ideologist and No. 2 leader; and 80-year-old Khieu Samphan, a former head of state. The tribunal said earlier that Ieng Thirith's release does not mean the charges against her are being withdrawn and is not a finding of guilt or innocence. It plans to consult annually with experts to see whether future medical advances could render her fit for trial, although that is considered unlikely given her age and frailty.

Survivors of the Khmer Rouge called Ieng Thirith's release shocking and unjust. They said they have waited decades for justice and find it hard to feel compassion for her suffering. "It is difficult for victims and indeed, all Cambodians, to accept the especially vigorous enforcement of Ieng Thirith's rights taking place at the (tribunal)," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a group that researches Khmer Rouge atrocities. In a statement Sunday, he noted the irony of Ieng Thirith receiving "world class health care." As social affairs minister she was "personally and directly involved in denying Cambodians even the most basic health care during the regime's years in power," he said. The long-delayed tribunal began in 2006 - nearly three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge - following years of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations. The lengthy delays have been costly and raised fears that the former leaders could die before their verdicts come.

Source
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waltky · Oct 10, 2012

3,000 killed in one field alone...

Court: 3,000 Cambodians killed at one site
Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Some 3,000 Cambodian provincial officials were shot to death and buried in mass graves in 1975 as the Khmer Rouge came to power, court documents reveal.

A court official read the documents Tuesday in the trial of three former top leaders of the Khmer Rouge, the Phnom Pehn Post reported. Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary are on trial for their roles in the deaths of former Lon Nol civil servants, police and soldiers in a bid to create a homogeneous society.

The document said the provincial officials were summoned to an assembly in April 1975 where members of the Khmer Rouge told them they would be integrated into the new government. However, the officials were later taken into the countryside in groups of 30 and 40, their hands tied behind their backs, shot and buried in their uniforms in mass graves.

The evidence showed the three defendants had an understanding of the policy of targeting specific groups. Another party document revealed in court said only two classes of people -- peasants and workers -- would be allowed to exist in the new order. Nuon Chea was scheduled to testify Wednesday about the killing field site.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...at-one-site/UPI-93321349879427/#ixzz28w01yCjD
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waltky · Oct 11, 2012

Khmer Rouge rape victims tell their stories at trial hearing...

Women testify about Khmer Rouge crimes
Oct. 11,`12 (UPI) -- Women who had been raped, forced into marriage and beaten under the Khmer Rouge told their stories at a hearing in Cambodia.

About 400 people were in the audience Wednesday for the second Asia-Pacific Regional Women's Hearing, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

Chum Ly Ly, 62, described being beaten by her village unit chief until she was forced into a marriage. When that husband left her, she was once more at the mercy of the unit chief. She was also raped by guards, something she never talked about until recently.

A coordinator from the Cambodian Defenders Project said Ly Ly was inspired by tell her story by hearing other women testify last year. "She hid her story for a long time," Doung Savorn said. "All the stories just came out when we prepared her to talk."

Savorn said the Khmer Rouge leaders charged with war crimes have not specifically been charged with violence against women.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...ouge-crimes/UPI-38201350000159/#ixzz2931lUcRe
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waltky · Oct 14, 2012

Was ousted from power by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge...

Former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk Dies
October 14, 2012 Chinese state media reports that Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk, one of Southeast Asia's defining leaders, has died in Beijing. He was 89. King Sihanouk led Cambodia to independence, but war and his role in the murderous reign of the Khmer Rouge marred his life and times.

Flamboyant monarch, politician, film and music maker, King Norodom Sihanouk brought his ancient kingdom through independence from France, war and genocide to form a fragile democracy. Sihanouk, born in 1922, was an only child whose parents were estranged. He was educated in Saigon and Paris, and came to the throne as a shy student of 19 in 1941. In October 2004, in fading health, he abdicated in favor of his son, Norodom Sihamoni. Another of Sihanouk's sons, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, spoke in 2002 of his father's artistic gifts and broad interests. "He has made 21 movies. But not only is my father a filmmaker, but he is a great politician, even unique and also great French cuisine amateur, great musician, composer. No one can imitate my royal father," he said. Sihanouk quickly developed into a flamboyant, tough politician whose support came mainly from the people in the provinces.

He ruled his kingdom off and on more than 60 years, and was an important symbol for his people, who witnessed one of the most tragic genocidal reigns of the 20th century. Author and commentator on Cambodia, David Chandler says Sihanouk was a powerful link between ancient traditions and modern times. "He brought Cambodia into the world, whereas the French had kept it cocooned and isolated for 90 years . But (he) was also a figure of the old Cambodia," he said. While Cambodia was still under French rule in 1947, he issued a constitution promising parliamentary government. Cambodia gained partial independence within the French Union in 1949, but Sihanouk campaigned for the total independence that came peacefully in November 1953.

Two years later, Sihanouk abdicated the throne to his father, while remaining head of the government. In that position, Sihanouk held a monopoly on power for the next 15 years in what became known as the "Sihanouk Era." On the world stage, Sihanouk was a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was meant to serve as ballast in the Cold War between the Sino-Soviet bloc and the West. Sihanouk, however, failed to fend off insurrections by both communist rebels and from within his own government. During the Vietnam War, rebels backed by China and other communist governments built strength, and the North Vietnamese army also frequently crossed into Cambodia as they fought the United States. Eventually, he was overthrown.

Carl Thayer, a U.S. expert on Southeast Asia, explains. "He was overthrown when he was overseas begging Moscow and Beijing to stop their support for it (the Vietnam War)," he said. Stripped of his power, Sihanouk fled to China in 1970 where his agitation against the new government started an internal conflict that paved the way for the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge. After the Khmer Rouge swept into Phnom Penh in early 1975, Sihanouk aligned himself with the radical communists, believing it was a key to power. But by 1976, he was sidelined and fearing for his life. The Khmer Rouge fell in early 1979, after Vietnam invaded. But Sihanouk's name was soiled by his association with the movement, which took the lives of almost two million Cambodians. Cambodia's civil strife continued after Vietnam withdrew its troops in 1989, and in 1991, warring factions agreed to a cease-fire and signed a U.N.-backed peace agreement. The deal enabled Sihanouk to return to Phnom Penh in 1991 from exile. He regained his throne in 1993, and became a central figure the country's political development over the past decade. Norodom Sihanouk was one of Southeast Asia's defining leaders during some of the most turbulent years of the 20th century.

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reedak · Oct 15, 2012

waltky said: ↑

Was ousted from power by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge...
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Now ousted from this world by the Grim Reaper...

waltky · Oct 16, 2012

A king who guided his country to independence, but also aligned himself with the notorious Khmer Rouge...

Cambodia's Former King Leaves Mixed Legacy
October 15, 2012 The passing of Cambodia's former King Norodom Sihanouk has ended an ambitious and controversial era for an influential monarch. A mixed legacy remains from a king who guided his country to independence, but also aligned himself with the notorious Khmer Rouge.

Sihanouk was chosen by France in 1941 to be a puppet leader for its colony. The young king became a unifying force pushing for independence, however, which he achieved in 1953. He then abdicated his throne for politics and effectively served as the countrys ruler for the next 17 years. Milton Osborne is a visiting fellow at Sydney's Lowy Institute and an author of two books on Sihanouk. "In Cambodia, there's something of a belief that the period of Sihanouk time, as it's referred to in Cambodia, was a sort of golden age. People tend to forget the period when he was ready to unleash fearsome pursuit of those he saw as his enemies," said Osborne.

Khmer Rouge era

Those enemies included Cambodia's communists who would later become the Khmer Rouge. During the Vietnam war, Sihanouk failed to stop Vietnam's communist forces from crossing into Cambodia, leading to U.S. bombings. He was deposed in a 1970 military coup and fled into exile in China and North Korea. Sihanouk's desire to regain power led him to align himself with his former enemies, the communists. This political shift led to foreign alliances that continued for the rest of his life. Benny Widyono was a U.N. representative to Cambodia in the mid 1990s and author of the book "Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge, and the U.N. in Cambodia." "During that period when he was still with the Khmer Rouge, his two friends were [North] Korea and China, and he spent a lot of time there, said Widyono.

Palace in Pyongyang

The Cambodian kings ties to North Korea were such that leader Kim Il Sung built him a 60-room palace in Pyongyang. He gets the treatment of a real king there in his palace there in North Korea and he even gets, has a present from the [North] Korean government to have his bodyguards. These are all very burly North Koreans, you know, very no-nonsense bodyguards. And, until all the time he has these North Korean bodyguards with him," said Widyono. The Khmer Rouge returned Sihanouk to Cambodia where they used his image as a way to gain legitimacy. Afterward, he was placed under arrest in the palace. During this time, Sihanouk could only watch as the Khmer Rouge went on to starve, work, and murder as many as 2 million Cambodians. In 1979, he fled again to China as Vietnam invaded Cambodia, ending the Khmer Rouge regime.

Constitutional monarchy

United Nations-sponsored elections helped return Sihanouk to the throne under a constitutional monarchy. But he had little power, while his son, Norodom Ranariddh, shared a dual prime minister position with Hun Sen. Sihanouk never regained the influence he once had in Cambodia, which Widyono said was a lifelong disappointment for Sihanouk. "When I was there in Cambodia he complained to me, when I was the ambassador of the U.N., he complained to me that he is their king that reigns, but does not rule because it's really Hun Sen and Ranariddh, the two prime ministers, who have the power. So, he feels like he is always this goal of him to be the leader of a prosperous Cambodia has eluded him all his life," said Widyono. Hun Sen ousted Ranariddh in 1997, becoming the sole power in Cambodia.

Sihanouk remembered
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waltky · Oct 23, 2012

Atrocities comin' out at trial...

Khmer Rouge abuses recalled at trial
Oct. 23,`12 (UPI) -- A former Lon Nol soldier has told a court in Cambodia he was forced to collect human waste and spread it on fields with his own hands.

Chum Sokha, who was 20 at the time Phnom Penh fell in 1975, testified Monday in the trial of top Khmer Rouge officials, the Phnom Penh Post reported.

Sokha, one of the parties in a civil suit against the leaders, said he did the work for six months in a rural cooperative. He had buried his uniform when the Khmer Rouge came to power, but Sokha said his father was taken away when his military connections became known and he was never seen again.

Sokha became emotional on the stand, prompting objections from attorney Andrew Ianuzzi, who is representing Nuon Chea, the party's chief ideologist.

Ianuzzi said Sokha's grief was outside the scope of the trial, and the judge asked witnesses to keep descriptions as limited as possible.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...ed-at-trial/UPI-58761351011073/#ixzz2AB2DuVm5
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waltky · Jan 20, 2013

Khmer Rouge trials have run out of money...

Cambodia Khmer Rouge tribunal staff going unpaid
Jan 18,`13 -- About 300 Cambodian staff members at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal trying former leaders of the Khmer Rouge have been working since December without pay, and face the prospect of not getting paid this year unless foreign aid donors contribute more funds, a tribunal official said Friday.

Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that $9.3 million is needed for salaries and daily operating costs in 2013 for the Cambodian component of the operation. All functions of the tribunal have Cambodian and international personnel operating in tandem but with separate budgets.

The tribunal is tasked with seeking justice for atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge during their four years in power in the late 1970s. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the radically communist regime from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions. The tribunal spent $141.1 million from 2006 through 2011. It expects total costs of $230.7 million by its projected conclusion in 2013, and has warned that it faces severe budgetary shortfalls. The salary delay has demoralized the Cambodia staff, said Neth Pheaktra.

On Friday the tribunal announced that Japan has contributed $2.5 million to the U.N., or international, component of the tribunal, which is also short of funds but not quite as desperate. Japan is the biggest contributor to the tribunal with $79.13 million in total, while France, Germany and Britain are also major donors. The statement said Japan considers it important for the tribunal to proceed "in a fair, efficient, and expeditious manner, given the advanced age and frail health of the persons charged and in order to achieve the long overdue justice for the people of Cambodia."

The age and infirm health of the defendants has raised concerns they may not live long enough to hear a verdict on the changes against them. They are the 81-year-old former head of state, Khieu Samphan, the 86-year-old ideologist of the group, Nuon Chea, and 87-year-old Ieng Sary, former foreign minister. The three have been charged for crimes against humanity and other offenses. Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were hospitalized this week suffering from fatigue and shortness of breath and acute bronchitis, respectively.

Source
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waltky · Mar 4, 2013

Will Pol Pot's regime escape justice due to lack of money to try them?...

Cambodia Khmer Rouge tribunal staff go on strike
4 Mar.`13 Cambodian translators angry that they have gone without pay for three months stopped working at the U.N.-backed genocide trial of former Khmer Rogue leaders on Monday, a new setback for an international justice effort that has been hobbled by conflicts with the Cambodian government.

Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that about 30 Cambodian staff members from the translation section announced they were going on strike just before the court was to hear testimony from a foreign expert. Testimony that had been scheduled to be given this week and next has been postponed until the dispute can be resolved, he said. Neth Pheaktra said local staff members who worked at the tribunal have not been paid since December because the countries that have agreed to fund the tribunal have not contributed on time. Foreign workers involved in the trial are paid through a separate budget.

In this Oct. 19, 2011 file photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, court officers of the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal are seen through windows during a hearing of former Khmer Rouge top leaders in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodian translators angry that they have gone without pay for three months stopped working at the genocide trial of former Khmer Rogue leaders on Monday, March 4, 2013, a new setback for an international justice effort that has been hobbled by conflicts with the Cambodian government. Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that about 30 Cambodian staff members from the translation section announced they were going on strike just before the court was to hear testimony from a foreign expert.

The court has appealed to donors for more money, Neth Pheaktra said, but he added that it was unclear when the workers might be paid. The tribunal, which formed in 2006, is tasked with seeking justice for atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge during its four years in power in the late 1970s. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the radically communist regime from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and execution.

Three former leaders have been on trial since November 2011, charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and other offenses: Khieu Samphan, the 81-year-old former head of state, Nuon Chea, the 86-year-old chief ideologist of the group, and Ieng Sary, 87, the former foreign minister. A fourth defendant, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, was deemed mentally unfit and set free. The defendants' age and infirm health has raised concerns they may not live long enough to hear a verdict. Just one person, chief Khmer Rouge jailer Kaing Guek Eav, has been convicted by the tribunal so far; he is serving a life sentence.

More http://news.yahoo.com/cambodia-khmer-rouge-tribunal-staff-strike-073341544.html
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waltky · Mar 11, 2013

Justice delayed by tribunal strike...

Khmer Rouge Genocide: Justice Delayed may be Justice Denied
March 10, 2013 - Under Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge, Meas Mut and Sou Met, now two-star generals in their 80s, are said to have hauled prisoners to S-21, a torture center that symbolized the horrors of a regime that wiped out nearly a quarter of the population.

Another soldier, Im Chaem, now a Buddhist nun in her 60s, is suspected of running a forced labour camp where fellow Khmer Rouge cadres Ta An and Ta Tith oversaw massacres in the ``Killing Fields'' revolution of 1975-79. Those allegations, contained in cases known as 003 and 004 at a UN-backed tribunal, are plunging Cambodia into soul searching over how far to pursue war-crimes accusations against former commanders, some of whom now occupy senior roles in government. They are also fuelling criticism of the United Nations over whether its cash-strapped joint Cambodian tribunal will ever deliver justice for victims of the ultra-Maoist regime that tore Cambodia apart and was responsible for up to 2.2 million deaths.

The European Union, the second-biggest donor after Japan, has called on Cambodia to come up with more funding for the tribunal, where some workers went on strike last week after going for more than two months without pay. Cambodia says it has given more than its fair share and has appealed for bigger donations. The tribunal's new American judge, Mark Harmon, said last month he wanted to reopen case 003 involving former Khmer Rouge navy chief Meas Mut and former air force chief Sou Met. That puts him on a collision course with authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been accused of interfering to limit probes that could implicate powerful politicians. Meas Mut and Sou Met are now advisers to the Defense Ministry.

A Cambodian gestures outside the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) courtroom during the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Jan. 10, 2012.

Hun Sen, a close ally of China which was a key supporter of the Khmer Rouge during the ``Killing Fields'' years, has vowed to prevent new indictments and has said he would be happy if the United Nations left Cambodia. He was himself a Khmer Rouge fighter before defecting to Vietnam, which invaded Cambodia and toppled Pol Pot's regime in 1979. Almost every Cambodian alive lost a family member under the Khmer Rouge. Many fear the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC), which began work in 2006 after an agreement between the Cambodian government and the United Nations to try those most responsible for the killings, will fail to bring justice. The court, dogged from the outset by allegations of corruption, political interference and profligacy, had spent $175.3 million by the end of last year and handed down just one conviction - that of S-21's former prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who was jailed for life for the deaths of more than 14,000 people. He has repeatedly said he was ``just following orders''.

Now on trial in the court's second case, known as 002, are the only remaining members of the inner circle of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998: chief ideologue Nuon Chea, 86, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 87, and head of state Khieu Samphan, 81. They may not live to hear the verdicts. Ieng Sary and Nuon Chea have been in and out of hospital for years. Most of the suspects live in isolation away from the capital and have not talked about the accusations in public. While Hun Sen's government has done little to stop case 002, it has reason to be concerned with 003 and 004: some government officials occupied Khmer Rouge positions similar to those held by the suspects.

Case Remains Open
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reedak · Mar 11, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Justice delayed by tribunal strike...

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However long justice is delayed or denied, one thing is very certain: the Grim Reaper will have the final say.

How the Grim Reaper Works
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/grim-reaper.htm

reedak · Mar 11, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Khmer Rouge trials have run out of money...

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Whether the trials have run out of money or not, life is running out steadily like a battery for all mortals....

reedak · Mar 11, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Will Pol Pot's regime escape justice due to lack of money to try them?...

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They can escape from the "net" of justice, but they can never escape from the scythe of the Grim Reaper...

Death (personification)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(personification)

reedak · Mar 11, 2013

waltky said: ↑

A king who guided his country to independence, but also aligned himself with the notorious Khmer Rouge...

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Well, he can align himself with them once again in the netherworld...

gabriel1 · Mar 12, 2013

America aligned itself with the Khmer rouge at one time also

waltky · Mar 13, 2013

Co-founder of Khmer Rouge dies while on trial...

Khmer Rouge insider Ieng Sary dies while on trial
Mar 13,`13 -- Ieng Sary, who co-founded Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge movement in 1970s, served as its public face abroad and decades later became one of its few leaders to face justice for the deaths of well over a million people, died Thursday morning. He was 87.

His death came during the course of his trial with two other former Khmer Rouge leaders by a joint Cambodian-international tribunal. Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, confirmed his death. Ieng Sary founded the Khmer Rouge with leader Pol Pot, his brother-in-law. The communist regime, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, claimed it was building a pure socialist society by evicting people from cities to work in labor camps in the countryside. Its radical policies led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Ieng Sary was foreign minister in the regime, and as its top diplomat became a much more recognizable figure internationally than his secretive colleagues. In 1996, years after the overthrown Khmer Rouge retreated to the jungle, he became the first member of its inner circle to defect, bringing thousands of foot soldiers with him and hastening the movement's final disintegration. The move secured him a limited amnesty, temporary credibility as a peacemaker and years of comfortable living in Cambodia, but that vanished as the U.N.-backed tribunal built its case against him.

The Khmer Rogue came to power through a civil war that toppled a U.S.-backed regime. Ieng Sary then helped persuade hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals to return home from overseas, often to their deaths. The returnees were arrested and put in "re-education camps," and most were later executed, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group gathering evidence of the Khmer Rouge crimes for the tribunal.

As a member of the Khmer Rouge's central and standing committee, Ieng Sary "repeatedly and publicly encouraged, and also facilitated, arrests and executions within his Foreign Ministry and throughout Cambodia," Steve Heder said in his co-authored book "Seven Candidates for Prosecution: Accountability for the Crimes of the Khmer Rouge." Heder is a Cambodia scholar who later worked with the U.N.-backed tribunal. Known by his revolutionary alias as "Comrade Van," Ieng Sary was a recipient of many internal Khmer Rouge documents detailing torture and mass execution of suspected internal enemies, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

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reedak · Mar 14, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Co-founder of Khmer Rouge dies while on trial...

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As I have pointed out earlier, the Grim Reaper is the final arbiter for all mortals, regardless of who they are.

I am sure that all people wish they will never become the chosen people of the Grim Reaper. Unfortunately, when the final hour arrives for his chosen victim, he will approach silently and finish him off with one stroke of his scythe.

It's not uncommon for people, even the young and seemingly healthy, to die in their sleep.

Well, just pray that we can see the beautiful sunrise every morning.

My friend died in her sleep???
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100125221832AAv7a4B

Can People Die in Their Sleep?
http://www.wellsphere.com/complemen...article/can-people-die-in-their-sleep/1068727

Clue to why some die during sleep
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4745341.stm

Why some people die in their sleep - study
http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=7978

gabriel1 · Mar 14, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Fakin' it to get out of trial...

Cambodia genocide defendant freed due to illness
Sep 16,`12 -- Cambodia's war crimes tribunal set free a former leader of the Khmer Rouge on Sunday, upholding a decision that has outraged survivors seeking an explanation of the mass killings committed more than 30 years ago.
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faking? you have inside knowledge?

waltky · Mar 14, 2013

gabriel1 wrote: faking? you have inside knowledge?

gabriel...

... Granny says go blow yer horn.

mutmekep · Mar 14, 2013

I wonder if those on trial were children back in the late 60's and early 70's , given the Khmer Rouges ideology that children are new unspoiled people that should be used as an instrument to destroy urban bourgeois it is possible that some of those "criminals" committed their crimes at the age of 8.

waltky · Mar 25, 2013

mutmekep: The reason some of the defendants are dying off is that they were contemporaries of Pol Pot and are in their late 70's to 80's...

Khmer Rouge leader fit for trial
Tue, Mar 26, 2013 - KILLING FIELDS:The Khmer Rouge regime wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodias population through starvation, overwork or execution from 1975 to 1979

Pol Pots former deputy Nuon Chea is fit to continue with his trial for war crimes and genocide, medical experts told Cambodias Khmer Rouge court yesterday following the death of a co-defendant. From a physical point of view, I felt he is well enough to continue with the trial, John Campbell, a geriatrician from New Zealand, told the UN-backed tribunal. Another expert who examined the physical and mental conditions of the 86-year-old Brother No. 2, British forensic psychiatrist Seena Fazel, said his mental health and cognitive function is currently good. Nuon Chea, the most senior surviving leader of the hardline communist regime which oversaw the Killing Fields era in the late 1970s, is currently on trial alongside former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, 81.

The death on March 14 of regime co-founder Ieng Sary at the age of 87 intensified fears that the remaining two co-defendants may also die before verdicts can be reached in their trial, which began in June 2011. Nuon Chea has suffered a number of illnesses, including high blood pressure, acute bronchitis and back pain. One of the questions we asked ourselves is would we be surprised if this person was not alive in six months? I have to say in Nuon Cheas situation, we would not be surprised, Campbell said. Life is very unpredictable at age 86, especially with the underlying problems that he has. Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan deny charges including war crimes and genocide from their roles in a regime blamed for the deaths of up to 2 million people.

Ieng Sarys widow, Ieng Thirith, the regimes former social affairs minister, was freed in September last year after being deemed unfit for trial due to dementia. Led by Brother No. 1 Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodias population through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia from 1975 to 1979. Fazel said that Nuon Chea has a clear understanding of the consequences of a verdict in this trial. He explained that if he was found guilty, one possibility was life imprisonment, he said, adding that Nuon Chea believed that he would not receive capital punishment because it wasnt part of the national law.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/03/26/2003558050
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waltky · May 31, 2013

Kinda late for apologies, don't ya think?...

Khmer Rouge leaders apologize to victims' families
May 30, 2013 Former leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge being tried by a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal apologized Thursday to families of victims of the regime's atrocities, bringing a rare emotional note to a trial dominated so far by the detailed recounting of names and dates.

Khieu Samphan, the head of state of the 1970s communist regime, and Nuon Chea, the group's main ideologist, were responding to questions posed by the so-called civil parties, who are representing the victims' families at the trial. The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who ruled Cambodia from 1975-79, are generally held responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions. Both men have issued expressions of regret before for the killings, but they have denied legal responsibility and insisted they served with the best interests of their country and its people in mind. They have also not hesitated to cast blame on their former colleagues and other parties.

The two men are charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture, though their current trial focuses on the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh, the capital, when the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Their statements Thursday were notable chiefly for the context they were responding directly to the family members who had testified in emotional detail to the manner in which they lost their loved ones to Khmer Rouge brutality.

Hundreds of former Khmer Rouge victims' bone and skulls are displayed in a memorial at Choeung Ek "Killing Field" in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, May 20, 2013. Cambodian Buddhist monks, nuns, civil servants, students attend the annual Day of Anger events to remember the atrocities and killings committed under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

Because prosecutors must try to prove the defendants bore responsibility for the actions, much of the testimony has sought to draw a legalistic line showing their knowledge through a chain of command. Thursday's testimony touched on the moral implications of one of the most shocking historical episodes of the 20th century. "I feel extremely sorry for the disappearance and extremely brutal killing of your father," Khieu Samphan told Yim Roum Doul, claiming, however, that he did not know at the time about "the atrocities committed by the military commanders and leaders." "I did not know the great suffering of our people," he said, adding that the perpetrators "must be brought to justice."

He said he joined the Khmer Rouge not to kill fellow Cambodians but with the "determination to protect our country and to develop our country." "But unfortunately it turned out to be a complete disaster," he said, describing those responsible as "the most stupid persons on earth." In testimony earlier this week, Khieu Samphan did not neglect to point the finger at other parties whom he believed contributed to the Cambodian holocaust. He spoke to one civil party about the American B-52 bombing during Cambodia's 1970-75 civil war, and the resultant death and destruction. Some scholars suggest that the bombing polarized and radicalized Cambodian society, contributing to the hash policies implemented when the Khmer Rouge took power.

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waltky · Jun 7, 2013

Head Khmer Rouge torturer sent to public prison...

Duch transferred to public prison
Fri, Jun 07, 2013 - TORTURER-IN-CHIEF: Kaing Guek Eav was convicted last year of overseeing the extermination of thousands of men and women during the Khmer Rouge regime

Cambodias war crimes court yesterday transferred the Khmer Rouges torturer-in-chief to a public prison to serve out his life sentence for the slaughter of about 15,000 people, officials said. Kaing Guek Eav, a former math teacher better known as Duch, was convicted last year of overseeing the extermination of thousands of men, women and children at a notorious torture jail in Phnom Penh.

He was taken from detention at the purpose-built UN-backed court where he has been held since 2007 to a local prison in Kandal Province, according to a court statement. Duch is being held in a separate cell from other prisoners for his own safety, General Department of Prisons director-general Kuy Bun Sorn said. Duch is a criminal of a genocidal regime ... for those who lost their relatives under the Khmer Rouge regime, how could they not express their anger against him? he added.

The 70-year-old was found responsible for torture and murder at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21, in Cambodias capital during the communist regimes brutal 1975 to 1979 rule. It is the end of his life journey with the Khmer Rouge. He ends up in jail for life, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge atrocities. Comrade Duch begged for forgiveness during his trial for crimes committed under his command at the jail, where prisoners were tortured into denouncing themselves and others as foreign spies. Last week, the Khmer Rouges former No. 2 Nuon Chea for the first time expressed remorse for the actions of a regime blamed for the deaths of up to 2 million people in the late 1970s.

The regime former head of state Khieu Samphan also expressed a sincere apology in court on May 30 and said that he was not aware at the time of the great suffering of the Cambodian people under the regime. Nuon Chea, the most senior surviving leader of the Killing Fields era, is currently on trial alongside Khieu Samphan, 81. Both deny charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Led by Brother No. 1 Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for one of the worst horrors of the 20th century, wiping out up to 2 million people through starvation, overwork and execution. Regime co-founder Ieng Sary died in March at the age of 87, escaping a court judgement over his role in the regimes reign of terror and adding to doubts about whether other top leaders would live to face verdicts.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/06/07/2003564202
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waltky · Jun 8, 2013

Cambodia's version of lyin' to the FBI...

Cambodia criminalises Khmer Rouge atrocity denial
7 June 2013 > Cambodia's parliament has approved a bill which makes it illegal to deny that atrocities were committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

The move comes amid political in-fighting in the run-up to elections. Anyone found guilty of denying or playing down the crimes could face up to two years in prison. About 1.7 million people, about one-third of the population, are thought to have been killed, or died of over-work, starvation or torture from 1975-1979.

Prime Minister Hun Sen proposed the law after an opposition leader apparently blamed Vietnam for some of the deaths and reportedly said that the infamous S-21 torture prison "was staged". The lawmaker maintains that the recording of his words was doctored. The Vietnamese invasion in January 1979 shattered the Khmer Rouge's leadership in Cambodia.

'Election-related'

The bill was drafted within a week and passed unanimously but in the absence of all opposition politicians. They were expelled from parliament after forming a new party, the Cambodia National Rescue party. The party said it was "disappointed" by the move because the expulsion of its lawmakers had left parliament without a quorum, the Associated Press news agency reported. Critics say the denial law runs the risk of being used as a weapon against the political opposition.

Human Rights Watch's Asia director Brad Adams said Prime Minister Hun Sen's advocacy of the law was "entirely election-related". "It's a tool to try to intimidate the opposition but also to galvanise his side, to demonise the opposition as unfit to govern, and to show that he's in charge, to show the country that he can completely dominate the opposition - and make them squirm," he said.

The Khmer Rouge regime fell in 1979, and the process of trying its senior figures has taken many years. The only former Khmer Rouge leader to have been successfully prosecuted was chief jailer Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in running the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands of inmates were killed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22812565
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waltky · Sep 2, 2013

Another staff strike in Khmer Rouge trials...

Strike hits Cambodian war crimes court
Mon, Sep 02, 2013 - DISASTER FOR JUSTICE: Another setback stalls the besieged UN-backed crimes court, leading to fears that the aging Khmer Rouge leaders will not live to pay for their crimes

About 100 staff at Cambodias war crimes court for former Khmer Rouge leaders went on strike over unpaid wages yesterday in a fresh blow to the UN-backed body. The tribunals 250 Cambodian workers, including judges and prosecutors, have not been paid since June, amid cash shortages and delays that led UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to appeal for international donors to step in. Tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that staff had officially confirmed they would not return to work until the salary issue was resolved. If translators, interpreters and other sections do not work, it means that the work of the court will be stalled, he said.

The tribunal has been frequently short of cash since it was set up in 2006 to push for justice for the deaths of up to 2 million people under the fanatical communist regime in the late 1970s. Two defendants Khmer Rouge Brother No. 2 Nuon Chea, 87, and former head of state Khieu Samphan, 82 are currently on trial for their roles in the regime. Both deny charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Heather Ryan, a trial monitor at the Open Society Justice Initiative, said the strike could be a disaster for the court, raising the possibility of a halt in hearings at a crucial point in the current trial. The court cannot function without key Cambodian staff particularly translators, interpreters, judges and prosecution staff, Ryan said.

The court was forced to suspend proceedings for about two weeks in March after a strike over unpaid wages. The Cambodian side of the hybrid tribunal whose top donors include Japan, the EU and Australia urgently needs around US$3 million to cover operational costs through to the end of this year. Ban on Wednesday warned that the very survival of the court is now in question. Led by Brother No. 1 Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodias population through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia during their 1975 to 1979 rule.

So far the UN-backed court has achieved one conviction, sentencing a former prison chief to life in jail for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people. The trial has been hit by a string of high-profile resignations amid allegations of political meddling, as well as concerns about slow progress due to the octogenarian defendants ill health. Regime co-founder Ieng Sary died in March at 87, escaping a court judgement over his role in the regimes reign of terror, and adding to doubts about whether other top leaders would live to face verdicts.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/09/02/2003571176
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