ANLONG VENG, Cambodia (AFP) - More than 1,000 people gathered in this former Khmer Rouge stronghold to bury rebel chief Ta Mok, whose death last week raises new questions on whether the victims of Cambodia's genocide will ever find justice.
Wearing white and carrying incense sticks, mourners -- many of them amputees, a legacy of Cambodia's long civil war -- lined the road to Ta Mok's grave as his coffin was paraded through town on the back of a pickup truck.
Fireworks exploded as the body was carried along the route, which also leads to the grave of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot who died in 1998 and was unceremoniously cremated under a pile of trash and derelict tires.
"I was afraid for him after he was arrested and now I've come to see him off for the last time because I love and respect him," said Nget Sem, adding that he had known Ta Mok since 1972.
The former military commander who briefly led the Khmer Rouge during its final days -- and was awaiting trial for his role in Cambodia's genocide -- died Friday aged 80 in the capital Phnom Penh.
Ta Mok was one of only two rebel leaders jailed for Khmer Rouge atrocities, and his death has dealt a blow to efforts to try regime cadres.
Cambodian and foreign judges have been tasked with prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders in a tribunal that opened earlier this month, with the first trials at the UN-backed legal effort expected in mid-2007.
But Ta Mok's death underscored the need for swift justice, analysts say, warning that the aging former regime leaders could all go to their graves without standing before the court.
"We lost a key witness," Kek Galabru of the Cambodian human rights group Licadho said of Ta Mok's death.
"If this tribunal takes too long, one-by-one they (Khmer Rouge cadres) will die and the dead cannot talk," she told AFP.
Ta Mok trained to be a teacher but took up the gun instead in the 1950s to battle French colonialism and quickly worked his way into the leadership of Cambodia's communist revolution.
He later gained a reputation for his brutality, earning the nickname "The Butcher" for his role in some of the darkest episodes of the Khmer Rouge regime, during which he is thought to have been behind some of the worst violence that saw thousands die.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork between 1975 and 1979 when the Khmer Rouge, then led by Pol Pot, forced millions into the countryside in their attempt to create an agrarian utopia.
The only rebel who refused to surrender or strike an amnesty deal with the government, Ta Mok was arrested in 1999 along the Thai border and had remained in detention since then, angering many of his supporters who continue to deny his role in Cambodia's killing fields.
"He did not kill anybody -- he helped people avoid the killing," said Hin Sokhom, adding that under Ta Mok's control, Anlong Veng was a model of social stability.
"There were no brothels, no thieves -- husbands had only one wife ... Ta Mok had the proper policies," she said as his body was being placed in an elaborate concrete tomb after monks held funeral rites.
Villagers say a shrine will eventually be built over the tomb, creating a place of worship.
Mourners had already gathered Monday in front of the tomb asking for forgiveness from the dead rebel, who in his final years of freedom had become a virtual warlord in these mountains in northern Cambodia.
Over a loudspeaker set up near the grave, one mourner spoke at length about Ta Mok's life, giving an enthusiastic sermon on his achievement but avoiding the Khmer Rouge years.
"What happened between 1975 and 1979, everybody knows," he said.
Wearing white and carrying incense sticks, mourners -- many of them amputees, a legacy of Cambodia's long civil war -- lined the road to Ta Mok's grave as his coffin was paraded through town on the back of a pickup truck.
Fireworks exploded as the body was carried along the route, which also leads to the grave of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot who died in 1998 and was unceremoniously cremated under a pile of trash and derelict tires.
"I was afraid for him after he was arrested and now I've come to see him off for the last time because I love and respect him," said Nget Sem, adding that he had known Ta Mok since 1972.
The former military commander who briefly led the Khmer Rouge during its final days -- and was awaiting trial for his role in Cambodia's genocide -- died Friday aged 80 in the capital Phnom Penh.
Ta Mok was one of only two rebel leaders jailed for Khmer Rouge atrocities, and his death has dealt a blow to efforts to try regime cadres.
Cambodian and foreign judges have been tasked with prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders in a tribunal that opened earlier this month, with the first trials at the UN-backed legal effort expected in mid-2007.
But Ta Mok's death underscored the need for swift justice, analysts say, warning that the aging former regime leaders could all go to their graves without standing before the court.
"We lost a key witness," Kek Galabru of the Cambodian human rights group Licadho said of Ta Mok's death.
"If this tribunal takes too long, one-by-one they (Khmer Rouge cadres) will die and the dead cannot talk," she told AFP.
Ta Mok trained to be a teacher but took up the gun instead in the 1950s to battle French colonialism and quickly worked his way into the leadership of Cambodia's communist revolution.
He later gained a reputation for his brutality, earning the nickname "The Butcher" for his role in some of the darkest episodes of the Khmer Rouge regime, during which he is thought to have been behind some of the worst violence that saw thousands die.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork between 1975 and 1979 when the Khmer Rouge, then led by Pol Pot, forced millions into the countryside in their attempt to create an agrarian utopia.
The only rebel who refused to surrender or strike an amnesty deal with the government, Ta Mok was arrested in 1999 along the Thai border and had remained in detention since then, angering many of his supporters who continue to deny his role in Cambodia's killing fields.
"He did not kill anybody -- he helped people avoid the killing," said Hin Sokhom, adding that under Ta Mok's control, Anlong Veng was a model of social stability.
"There were no brothels, no thieves -- husbands had only one wife ... Ta Mok had the proper policies," she said as his body was being placed in an elaborate concrete tomb after monks held funeral rites.
Villagers say a shrine will eventually be built over the tomb, creating a place of worship.
Mourners had already gathered Monday in front of the tomb asking for forgiveness from the dead rebel, who in his final years of freedom had become a virtual warlord in these mountains in northern Cambodia.
Over a loudspeaker set up near the grave, one mourner spoke at length about Ta Mok's life, giving an enthusiastic sermon on his achievement but avoiding the Khmer Rouge years.
"What happened between 1975 and 1979, everybody knows," he said.
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