Khmer Rouge couple decry charges against them as false, unacceptable
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A couple who belonged to the Khmer Rouge inner circle strongly denied charges lodged against them by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, a legal document released Thursday said.
Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as social affairs minister in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, were arrested Monday and charged with crimes against humanity. Ieng Sary was also charged with war crimes.
The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders has yet faced trial.
The couple offered their response to the charges at a Wednesday hearing where the tribunal judges ordered them to be formally placed in pretrial detention for up to one year.
In the hearing, where they were allowed to present their case against the detention orders, Ieng Sary called the charges against him "unacceptable" and demanded evidence to support them, according to the copy of his detention order released Thursday.
It quoted him saying that he was "very happy that this court has been established because it will be an opportunity for me to discover the truth."
"I would like to know the truth about a dark period in our history. I do not know where the truth lies," he said, although he and his wife were close associates of the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
The orders said the couple are being prosecuted for supporting Khmer Rouge policy and practice "characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts such as forcible transfers of the population, enslavement and forced labor."
Ieng Thirith described the charge against her as "100 percent false," according to her detention order.
The couple asked not to be detained by the tribunal, citing ill health, but the judges rejected their requests. Ieng Thirith, 75, told the judges that she is chronically ill, physically and mentally.
The order against Ieng Sary, 82, quoted him telling the judges that he is afraid of dying in tribunal detention, and that if he does, "the first victims will be my family."
His plea showed disrespect for the suffering and loss of lives caused by the regime he served, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group collecting evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities.
"Has he ever tried to understand the pain of millions of lives? He destroyed us while preserving his own, and he continues to do so today," Youk Chhang said angrily.
The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
The arrests of the Khmer Rouge suspects — four so far — come almost three decades after the group fell from power, with many fearing the aging suspects might die before they ever see a courtroom. Trials are expected to begin next year.
Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as social affairs minister in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, were arrested Monday and charged with crimes against humanity. Ieng Sary was also charged with war crimes.
The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders has yet faced trial.
The couple offered their response to the charges at a Wednesday hearing where the tribunal judges ordered them to be formally placed in pretrial detention for up to one year.
In the hearing, where they were allowed to present their case against the detention orders, Ieng Sary called the charges against him "unacceptable" and demanded evidence to support them, according to the copy of his detention order released Thursday.
It quoted him saying that he was "very happy that this court has been established because it will be an opportunity for me to discover the truth."
"I would like to know the truth about a dark period in our history. I do not know where the truth lies," he said, although he and his wife were close associates of the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
The orders said the couple are being prosecuted for supporting Khmer Rouge policy and practice "characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts such as forcible transfers of the population, enslavement and forced labor."
Ieng Thirith described the charge against her as "100 percent false," according to her detention order.
The couple asked not to be detained by the tribunal, citing ill health, but the judges rejected their requests. Ieng Thirith, 75, told the judges that she is chronically ill, physically and mentally.
The order against Ieng Sary, 82, quoted him telling the judges that he is afraid of dying in tribunal detention, and that if he does, "the first victims will be my family."
His plea showed disrespect for the suffering and loss of lives caused by the regime he served, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group collecting evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities.
"Has he ever tried to understand the pain of millions of lives? He destroyed us while preserving his own, and he continues to do so today," Youk Chhang said angrily.
The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
The arrests of the Khmer Rouge suspects — four so far — come almost three decades after the group fell from power, with many fearing the aging suspects might die before they ever see a courtroom. Trials are expected to begin next year.
10 comments:
To: aguy who give me an F+ for blaming UN for to day situation!
Should we blam only the Killers Khmerouge!
-Shihanouk
-popot
-ngoun chea
-eann sar
-kheav somphung
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-
-
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-heng sarim
-cheasimhun xen.
Why UN give Cambodian live and future to the hand of those killer?
Give the meat to the tiger?
give sugar to the ant?
give banana to the monkey?
Get your A+, I will never want to graduated from your school!
La liste des Ex khmers rouges au pouvoir actuel:
Samdech HUN Sen, Premier ministre Milliardaire
Samdech Chea Sim, Président du Sénat Millionnaire
Samdech Heng Samrin, Président de l’Assemblée Nationale, Millionnaire
SE Hor Nam hong, ministre des affaires étrangères Millionnaire
SE Tear Banh, ministre de la défense Millionnaire
SE Keat Chon, ministre des finances Millionnaire
D’autres Ex généraux khmers rouges Millionnaires au sein du pouvoir actuel
Nous souhaiterions que ces ex khmers rouges milliardaires, et millionnaires soient traduits devant le Tribunal international afin de récupérer ses fortunes qui appartiennent au peuple khmer et de redistribuer au petit peuple khmer.
How much more blood would this man wanted to stain for him to be the guilty man?
The Khmer who protected the country were mostly killed, the killers who invaded the Cambodia are roaming around everywhere controlling the country. WHY AREN'T THEY BROUGHT TO THE TRIAL? All the CPPs! They should be in the trial!! There are many evidence that the Vietnamese have great responsibilities over the Holocaust. HANOI should be at the court of justice! UN should open their eyes!!! All Khmer and friends of Cambodian, please help fight for justice. Please help provide every document or write letter to support the trial. We have a chance. Please help..
Yep, indeed Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals should be brought to trial as well.
To be correct, Ah YUON-Khmer. Not ah Khmer- .
No, AH Yuon-Khmer are hard working people from Hanoi. They have very high moral value. They are not like Ah Khmer-Yuon who go around killing people and grab their land and creating hatred and racism in the region and keep everyone in poverty.
With due respect for his work and dedication to the documentation of the Khmer Rouge atrocities, it is regrettable that Mr. Youk Chhang should make such a comment on Ieng Sary's request not to be detained after his arrest. His comment implies that Ieng Sary and other suspects or accused persons should not be given any humane treatment when they had committed such unspeakable atrocities against our fellow Cambodians. This would not be justice but simply a settlement of accounts, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
LAO Mong Hay, Kong Kong.
Dr. Lao, what is it that "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" not justice?
Okay, Dr. Lao, I think you are just using poor choice of words here, unless I am wrong. I think what you meant to say is Mr. Youk Chhang should not take the law into his own hand or something along that area.
Frankly, to me, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" is justice in its perfect form without any flaw. That is how I feel about it.
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