Former Khmer Rouge soldiers gather in Pailin, Cambodia. (AP Photo/David Longstreath) Global National (Canada)
Sunday, April 16, 2006
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Thirty-one years ago this week the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia unleashing one of the darkest chapters in human history.
Nearly two-million people were killed in the genocide that followed but only now will the leaders of the former regime face a war crimes trial.
It doesn't take long to find evidence of Cambodia's brutal past and it's struggle to come to terms with it.
Human remains still litter the Killing Fields outside the capital Phnom Penh.
But it's the concession stands and the children drifting through mass graves begging for money - which makes this tragic place even more surreal.
The site has been sold to a Japanese company to develop its tourist potential.
Notions like justice it seems have been an after thought.
A quarter-century since the end of Khmer Rouge regime, no one has yet been tried for the deaths of almost 2 million people.
Between 1975 and 1979 most of the country's educated people were systematically killed transforming Cambodia into what was supposed to be pure peasant society.
Of the 17-thousand tortured here at Tuol Sleng prison - only seven came out alive.
Chum Mey is one of those survivors.
"For 2 years was chained in this cell and tortured."
His wife was shot - his children disappeared.
Chum Mey was also a genocide survivor and wants answers for the massacre.
"I want to know who's responsible, he says, this can't happen again."
Now Chum Mey and millions of other Cambodians may finally see justice served.
They have chosen a site of the tribunal where former leaders of the Khmer Rouge Rouge will face charges and be tried for war crimes.
It's due to start in 2007 and is expected to last 3 years.
Both Cambodian and international judges are being chosen and up to ten senior Khmer Rouge officials could face charges.
But there will be no death penalty and Helen Jarvis of the U.N. taskforce says time is now a factor.
"As time goes on fewer and fewer people who either deserve punishment or who want to see justice remain with us."
Infamous Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 and others like his deputy Nuon Chea are well into their 70's.
They fled to northern Cambodia after being ousted from power where - backed by China - were free to wage a guerilla war until the 1990's.
But like the Nazis the Khmer Rouge left behind detailed records of their atrocities.
Prosecutors will soon use these files in their official investigation.
Mass mailing are going out across the country inviting hundreds to testify and thousands more to observe the trial.
Youk Chhang of the Genocide Documentation centre says the trial may serve as a coping method for those who faced the unimagineable terror.
"The upcoming tribunal will not bring anything back that we have lost but its a closure."
Chum Mey hopes to tell his story to the court.
At 75 time is precious.
But after waiting half his life, Cambodia is finally taking its first steps towards justice.
Nearly two-million people were killed in the genocide that followed but only now will the leaders of the former regime face a war crimes trial.
It doesn't take long to find evidence of Cambodia's brutal past and it's struggle to come to terms with it.
Human remains still litter the Killing Fields outside the capital Phnom Penh.
But it's the concession stands and the children drifting through mass graves begging for money - which makes this tragic place even more surreal.
The site has been sold to a Japanese company to develop its tourist potential.
Notions like justice it seems have been an after thought.
A quarter-century since the end of Khmer Rouge regime, no one has yet been tried for the deaths of almost 2 million people.
Between 1975 and 1979 most of the country's educated people were systematically killed transforming Cambodia into what was supposed to be pure peasant society.
Of the 17-thousand tortured here at Tuol Sleng prison - only seven came out alive.
Chum Mey is one of those survivors.
"For 2 years was chained in this cell and tortured."
His wife was shot - his children disappeared.
Chum Mey was also a genocide survivor and wants answers for the massacre.
"I want to know who's responsible, he says, this can't happen again."
Now Chum Mey and millions of other Cambodians may finally see justice served.
They have chosen a site of the tribunal where former leaders of the Khmer Rouge Rouge will face charges and be tried for war crimes.
It's due to start in 2007 and is expected to last 3 years.
Both Cambodian and international judges are being chosen and up to ten senior Khmer Rouge officials could face charges.
But there will be no death penalty and Helen Jarvis of the U.N. taskforce says time is now a factor.
"As time goes on fewer and fewer people who either deserve punishment or who want to see justice remain with us."
Infamous Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 and others like his deputy Nuon Chea are well into their 70's.
They fled to northern Cambodia after being ousted from power where - backed by China - were free to wage a guerilla war until the 1990's.
But like the Nazis the Khmer Rouge left behind detailed records of their atrocities.
Prosecutors will soon use these files in their official investigation.
Mass mailing are going out across the country inviting hundreds to testify and thousands more to observe the trial.
Youk Chhang of the Genocide Documentation centre says the trial may serve as a coping method for those who faced the unimagineable terror.
"The upcoming tribunal will not bring anything back that we have lost but its a closure."
Chum Mey hopes to tell his story to the court.
At 75 time is precious.
But after waiting half his life, Cambodia is finally taking its first steps towards justice.
1 comment:
when?????..well.. when all the people in jail die then they start for sure..
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