PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The United States could support genocide tribunals for Cambodia’s surviving Khmer Rouge leaders if the process is credible and meets international standards, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Thursday.
"The U.S. wants to be in the position where we will be able to support this politically and financially," Pierre Richard Prosper, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, told reporters after a two-day visit to Phnom Penh.
"But in order to do so, we need to believe and the Congress needs to be shown the process will meet international standards," he said after discussing Washington’s concerns with senior Cambodian officials.
The tribunals, which will have international judges and prosecutors working alongside their Cambodian colleagues, are estimated to cost $56.3 million over three years.
U.N. members have pledged about $38 million and Cambodia says it needs help to meet its $13 million share of the cost.
About 1.7 million Cambodians -- or a third of the country’s population -- died of starvation, forced labour, disease or execution during the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" from 1975 to 1979, when the regime was toppled by Vietnamese troops.
But to date no Khmer Rouge leader has faced justice for the atrocities, and critics fear that many of them will die before the legal process ends.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.
But Pol Pot’s top henchmen, including "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former Khmer Rouge president Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, are alive and remain free.
Critics have accused Phnom Penh of foot dragging as some government officials were once Khmer Rouge, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former regimental commander.
High on the list of Washington’s concerns is Cambodia’s notoriously inefficient and corrupt court system.
"What we want to avoid is some of the problems that exist in the ordinary judiciary being transferred to the Khmer Rouge tribunal," he said.
"It must be free from corruption. It must be free from political manipulation or influences and must be transparent," Prosper said.
"The U.S. wants to be in the position where we will be able to support this politically and financially," Pierre Richard Prosper, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, told reporters after a two-day visit to Phnom Penh.
"But in order to do so, we need to believe and the Congress needs to be shown the process will meet international standards," he said after discussing Washington’s concerns with senior Cambodian officials.
The tribunals, which will have international judges and prosecutors working alongside their Cambodian colleagues, are estimated to cost $56.3 million over three years.
U.N. members have pledged about $38 million and Cambodia says it needs help to meet its $13 million share of the cost.
About 1.7 million Cambodians -- or a third of the country’s population -- died of starvation, forced labour, disease or execution during the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" from 1975 to 1979, when the regime was toppled by Vietnamese troops.
But to date no Khmer Rouge leader has faced justice for the atrocities, and critics fear that many of them will die before the legal process ends.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.
But Pol Pot’s top henchmen, including "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former Khmer Rouge president Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, are alive and remain free.
Critics have accused Phnom Penh of foot dragging as some government officials were once Khmer Rouge, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former regimental commander.
High on the list of Washington’s concerns is Cambodia’s notoriously inefficient and corrupt court system.
"What we want to avoid is some of the problems that exist in the ordinary judiciary being transferred to the Khmer Rouge tribunal," he said.
"It must be free from corruption. It must be free from political manipulation or influences and must be transparent," Prosper said.
FYI
ReplyDeleteUS and Khmer Rouge Trial
The Cambodian Genocide Justice Act, 1994
" Sec. 572. POLICY.
(a) In General. -- Consistent with international law, it is
the policy of the United States to support efforts to bring to
justice members of the Khmer Rouge for their crimes against
humanity committed in Cambodia between April 17, 1975, and
January 7, 1979.
(b) Specific Actions Urged. -- To that end, the Congress
urges the President --
(1) to collect, or assist appropriate organizations and
individuals to collect relevant data on crimes of genocide
committed in Cambodia;
(2) in circumstances which the President deems
appropriate, to encourage the establishment of a national or
international criminal tribunal for the prosecution of those
accused of genocide in Cambodia; and
(3) as necessary, to provide such national or
international tribunal with information collected pursuant to
paragraph."
The US should stop shouting about and get fully and actively engaged in the Khmer Rouge trial.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
What is you point, Dr. Lao. The
ReplyDeleteway I see it is the US can only
help twisted our history beyond
any recognition.
1:21 PM so is Ah Yuon
ReplyDeleteThe USG knows full well that the Khmer Rouge Trials will be manipulated by the RGC, so anything being said here by Prosper is strictly for public consumption. Wait to see which defendants select members of the CBA to represent them. They will have cut a deal with the RGC and will be sent home under house arrest due to poor health after conviction. You heard it here first.
ReplyDeleteNot only house arrest, but ankle monitors too.
ReplyDeleteSo what is the purpose of the
ReplyDeletetrial, gangs? What are we to
expect from the 56 millions USD?
Mr. 1:21PM
ReplyDeleteFYI means for your information.
How has the US been able to twist our history? I'm curious to know. Could you please enlighten me?
Mr.4:44PM
We can expect the trial to find justice for the Khmer Rouge victims through the search for truth.
It's the duty of their surviving fellow Cambodians to find justice for them. No one can forgive and forget on their behalf.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
What type of a question is that,
ReplyDeleteDr. Laos? Isn't it obvious that
the US will whitewashed some of the
important key behind this history
to misdirect everyone to nonsense?
Anyway, it makes no sense to bicker
here because at this point the
trial is as good as dead, whether
or not the US is involved, not to
mention that there aint gonna be
no trial, hehehe.
So, better start to seek the truth
and justice yourself if you didn't
know it already.
And in case I am wrong, which is
highly unlikely, don't bother to
turn me on to any information
discovered from the trial. To me,
it will not have any value
whatsoever. I ain't no fool to
learn from junks.
Mr.8:06AM
ReplyDeleteYour comment begs one more question and a request. When you said "there aint gonna be no trial", did you think that our leaders did not want to have that trial. I've heared them repeat again and again that they had been committed to holding that trial. If it turns out that there is no trial, then they have lied to us and to the world. I don't believe they are those cheap liars.
My request: I presumed had advice me to " better start to seek the truth and justice yourself if you didn't
know it already." Could you please advise me how I could seek the truth and justice myself. I'm quite ingorant in this regard as I strongly believe that trials are the best way to arrive at truth and justice. No body believes that the Cambodian Documentation Centre which is gathering evicence of the Khmer Rouge massacres and which is publishing a journal with the very title "Truth", has given and is giving any better truth and justice.
I would appreciate it very much if you would kindly enlighten me.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong.
Sorry Dr. Lao, maybe my statement,
ReplyDelete"there aint gonna be no trial" is
a little vague. Perhaps, I should
said it more accurately as, "there
aint gonna be no successful trial,"
to mean that the trial will not be
completed according to any
standard, specifically lack
appeal for the defendant, or there
will not be any court
verdict, ... . You be lucky
if you get an opening statement
from both the procescutor and the
defendant, hehehe.
As to whether this has anything to
do with our leader, "No", "No", "No".
Look, if our leader want to trial
the KR leaders themself, they
would have done it long ago. They
would not gone to the International
people for help. Therefore, isn't
it the international people who
hold the ball? Let me put it to
you another way, if come to you to
ask you for a 30,000 USD loan to
buy a car. Do you think I don't
want to buy that car? of course,
I want that car. Why would I
wasted time begging you for the
money? Therefore, whether or not
will I get that car depend on
whether or not you give me the
loan. Isn't that right? If so,
you are the one who hold the ball,
not me. Similarly, our leaders want
the trial, but they are not holding
the ball.
Dr. Lao, I remembered you told us
that you lived in the KR rouge
regime. How much futher truth can
a trial provides you. Aren't you
sure of what you see and felt?
Do you need confirmation from
the westerners lawyers ... ?
What are you really looking for?
I mean be more specific, and the
same goes for justice.
Also, I like to know what will your
reaction be, if the trial find
those remaining leaders NOT GUILTY?
Mr.12:32PM
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I was away out of the country pursuing my studies when the Khmer Rouge were killing my fellow Cambodians including my two brothers and other relatives. But I do feel guilty when I was living in peace and security while my fellow Cambodians were suffering, were being massacred, were starving and were dying of diseases or starvation.
I tell you a rape victim knows the rapist, experiences bitterly the savage assault on her and knows the truth about it herself. Yet she alone and/or her parents, brothers and sisters, or even friends file a complaint with the police and get them to bring the rapist to justice. Eventually, the rapissr will be arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to a prison term.
I believe that many Khmer Rouge victims are not different from our rape victim.
Our rape victim would be angry, disappointed and fustrated if the court failed to punish the rapist. Many Khmer Rouge victims would not feel any differently, if the Khmer Rouge Tribunal found none of those Khmer Rouge leaders guilty. As one of fellow Cambodians who have openly adcovated the creation of an international tribunal to try the Khmer Rouge for more than 20 years (my first letter calling for the creation of a Nuremberg-modelled tribunal was published in Far Eastern Economic Review in 1986),I would feel I had done my duty to find justice for my two brothers, my moter-in-law, my sisters and brothers-in-law, my teachers, my friends, and all my fellow Cambodians who were Khmer Rouge victims. In religious ceremonies to commemorate their memories, I would communicate to them I had done my job to find justice for them and I would admit my failure and apologize to them if my endeavours - our endeavours in fact - had failed to find their killers guilty. We, survivors, would have done our best for them. What else could we have done and we had not done?
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
Oh sorry, Dr Loa, I must have you
ReplyDeletemixed up with someone else who
lived in the Khmer Rouge regime.
And Yes, for people who did not
lived in the KR regime, the trial
might provided some truth to it,
but no trial can provided
everything that everyone is
looking for. Thus, it is up to
individual to seek whatever you
are looking for themselve.
As for justice we are talking man-
made justice. Sometime, rapist
get away with rape just because
the police didn't clearly read him
his right or some other stupid
technical issues. And that can
happened in the KR tribunal as
well. It depend on who the
defending lawyer is. Furthermore,
justice is not as universal as you
have repeately stated it, and
regretfully, my justice is not
necessarily the same justice as
yours. Therefore, let's not making
thing worse than it already is.
We all know life is full of
dissapointment, and this tribunal
is highly likely to be one of it.
Mr.6:28AM
ReplyDeleteLet's be positive and proactive. You can give the Khmer Rouge Tribunal the benefit of the doubt. But can you just let it try first?
Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, said that "he does not have the right to forgive on behalf of others". Perhaps these words should apply to us as well?
I think that this is perhaps the Khmer Rouge trial is an occasion for all fellow Cambodians to do soul searching: How and why, in a matter of a few short period of time, did many of our brothers and sisters who were Khmer Rouge become savage animals, killers, obedient killers? How and why did inhumanity or evil prevail over humanity or good in such a short period of time?
Our Khmer nation can brush this soul searching aside or under the carpet at its own peril. Let's not do that and let's face our past squarely, shall we?
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
LOL, Dr. Lao, "be positive and
ReplyDeleteproactive", "give KR tribunal
benefit of the doubt", "let the
trial start first." I am not
stoping the trial. I just don't
see a trial or a complete and fair
trial on the horizon. That is all.
As for Simon Wiesenthal's quote, it
is meaninless because it is a
two-ways street. While he can't
fogive or condemn for others,
Others can't forgive or condemn
for him. So what is the point here?
And if you want to know the truth
about "how and why", the scope of
the trial should be widen to
1970-1979, not narrow as 1975-1979.
What possibly can you learn between
1975-1979? Pol Polt got rid of
educated people, communist hater,
and overworked people. What else
is new? On the other hand, we all
know people were in good shape in
1970, and as the civil war
progresses, food supply
deteriorated, price of food became
barely affordable for some as
the civil war deepen. And just
before, Pol Pot's victory, we
there were some famines here and
there ... Do you see what I am
getting at?