Badly hampered tribunal could end up letting leaders of genocidal regime go unpunished for their crimes Tourists visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The recent death of Ieng Sary, foreign minister of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, has raised the specter of one of the most brutal crimes of the 20th century going virtually unpunished as the remaining two survivors are in their eighties and in frail health The old axiom of justice delayed being justice denied acquired particular poignancy on March 14 with the death of Ieng Sary, foreign minister of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Ieng Sary was 87. He had been admitted to a hospital in Phnom Penh days earlier with heart problems, high blood pressure and other ailments. Sary was one of the five most senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge on joint trial for committing Crimes Against Humanity involving the deaths of almost two million people (more than three million by some accounts), most of … [Read more...] about Time running out for Khmer Rouge justice
Khmer rouge
Khmer Rouge genocide: justice delayed may be justice denied
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 labor 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 … [Read more...] about Khmer Rouge genocide: justice delayed may be justice denied
Cambodia mourns worst tragedy since Khmer Rouge reign
Nine Vietnamese-Cambodians among 351 dead as festival-goers panic … [Read more...] about Cambodia mourns worst tragedy since Khmer Rouge reign
Khmer Rouge “Brother No. 2” charged with war crimes
Khmer Rouge "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's top surviving henchman, was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity on Wednesday by the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal. A court spokesman said the octogenarian communist guerrilla had been placed behind bars in the compound of the $56 million court after a short hearing before Cambodian and international judges. Nuon Chea looks on at the cremation of his brother Pol Pot's first wife Khieu Ponnary on July 3, 2003 in Cambodia's remote northwestern province of Pailin … [Read more...] about Khmer Rouge “Brother No. 2” charged with war crimes
Khmer Rouge ideologue says defended Cambodia from invaders
The Khmer Rouge revolution in the 1970s was aimed at freeing Cambodia from colonialism and protecting it from invasion by Vietnam, the party's ideologue, Nuon Chea, told a court on Tuesday, opening his defense against a charge of genocide. The testimony marked the first time a leader of the Khmer Rouge has defended the motives of the ultra-communist regime since the U.N.-backed court started to try cases last year related to the bloody "Killing Fields" revolution that wiped out a quarter of the population from 1975-1979. Former President Khieu Samphan, ex-Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes as well as genocide. Nuon Chea, the first defendant to take the stand, denied all the charges. "My position in the revolution was to serve the interests of the nation and people," he said. "Oppression, injustice compelled me to devote myself to fight for my country. I had to leave my family behind to liberate my … [Read more...] about Khmer Rouge ideologue says defended Cambodia from invaders