Khmer Rouge trials

[The Infidel]

I watched this documentary a while back and it is truly sad what the young kids were forced to do for The Khmer Rouge.

You can see that they are deeply disturbed now as grown adults. In this movie they are forced to face what they did, and its ugly.

The old men are all dying off and its a shame they wont face justice for their crimes. Maybe in the after life they will pay.

Its on netflix.

S21:The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine - YouTube

 

[waltky]

Time and money not working in trial's favor...

Fears grow over Khmer Rouge trial
Mon, Jun 25, 2012 - Health and funding woes are threatening a flagship Khmer Rouge trial, experts say, kindling fears that the elderly defendants may never answer for the worst of Cambodia’s “Killing Fields” era.

The three most senior surviving leaders of the brutal regime stand accused of some of the gravest crimes in modern history for their roles in up to 2 million deaths in the late 1970s. Worried the octogenarians would not live to see a verdict, judges at a UN-backed court in Phnom Penh split their complex case into smaller trials, saving the most serious atrocities for later proceedings. However, seven months into their slow-moving first “mini trial”, concern is mounting that the court — faced with a worsening funding crunch and fresh fears over the accused’s health — will be unable to finish the entire case. “This is it, this is the trial. Nobody believes there’s going to be a second phase,” said Anne Heindel, a legal advisor to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge atrocities.

Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the communist movement dismantled modern society, abolished money and religion and forced the population to work in huge labor camps in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia. “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, ex-Cambodian foreign minister Ieng Sary and former Cambodian head of state Khieu Samphan deny charges including war crimes and genocide. The first trial segment focuses mainly on the forced evacuation of city people to rural work sites, listed as a crime against humanity. Yet for most Cambodians, far greater horrors than that took place under the 1975 to 1979 regime, including torture, mass purges and forced marriages — events the court may never shed light on. “I’m not happy. The truth is not being revealed,” prominent Khmer Rouge survivor, Chum Mey, 82, said.

His comments were echoed by Heindel, warning against settling for a “narrow judgement” that does not “tell the story of what happened under the Khmer Rouge.” “It would greatly diminish the legacy of this court,” she said. The prosecution has twice asked judges, so far in vain, to widen the scope of the first trial by including more crimes, such as the killings of thousands of perceived “enemies” shortly after the evacuations. “We believe that it is important that if this trial is the only trial against the accused that it is viewed to represent the most horrendous and prevalent crimes committed,” co-prosecutor William Smith said.

Their demands took on greater urgency after Ieng Sary, 86, who has heart problems, was hospitalized for five days for bronchitis last month, forcing hearings to be postponed for a week. Since opening statements began in late November last year, the court has held trial hearings on 78 days. On Thursday it adjourned for almost a month. The court’s funding problems are another major obstacle, according to observers. The tribunal, paid for by voluntary contributions from donor nations, has cost more than US$160 million since it was set up in 2006 and faces a US$22 million budget shortfall this year. Observers blame much of the donor fatigue on the court’s controversial investigations into possible new Khmer Rouge cases, which are dogged by claims of government interference.

More Fears grow over Khmer Rouge trial - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

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

 

[waltky]

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: Court: 3,000 Cambodians killed at one site - UPI.com

 

[waltky]

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: Women testify about Khmer Rouge crimes - UPI.com

 

[daveman]

Wil Chomsky be on hand to testify?

Character witness for the defense.