Sou Sotheavy, 68, right, a Cambodian who was born as a man but lives with a woman's lifestyle, sits on a motorbike-taxi with college, center, on a street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Sept, 3, 2008. The transgendered woman, who was allegedly a rape victim of the Khmer Rouge, on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the country's genocide tribunal seeking justice in the abuse she has suffered three decades ago, her lawyer said. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A Cambodian transgender woman filed a complaint Wednesday with the Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal alleging that she suffered repeated sexual abuse at the hands of the communist group when it held power three decades ago.
Sou Sotheavy, 68, said she is the first Cambodian to pursue legal action for alleged sexual violence under Khmer Rouge rule. She claims Khmer Rouge soldiers repeatedly raped her as punishment for "moral offenses." She was born male but has been living as a female since her teenage years.
The Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies between 1975-79 led to the death of about 1.7 million Cambodians, espoused a puritanical morality and imposed strict rules against sexual misconduct.
Silke Studzinsky, the plaintiff's lawyer, said she hoped her client's action would inspire other victims of sexual abuse by the Khmer Rouge to do the same.
"This step would encourage other victims of such crimes to come forward and demand acknowledgment and justice for their suffering, which has largely been ignored until now," the lawyer said.
In Sou Sotheavy's case, soldiers made her cut her long hair - a rule they applied to all men and women - and wear men's clothing, she said.
They also forced her to marry a woman and ordered them to perform sexual intercourse to produce a child, she said.
Sou Sotheavy said she had a daughter with the woman she was forced to marry but left the relationship after the Khmer Rouge was ousted from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979.
The radical communist group banned romance, forced many men and women into mass marriages and tortured or killed those who engaged in unsanctioned sexual relations.
But genocide researchers have also found many instances of rape and sexual violence committed by Khmer Rouge operatives.
Sou Sotheavy, 68, said she is the first Cambodian to pursue legal action for alleged sexual violence under Khmer Rouge rule. She claims Khmer Rouge soldiers repeatedly raped her as punishment for "moral offenses." She was born male but has been living as a female since her teenage years.
The Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies between 1975-79 led to the death of about 1.7 million Cambodians, espoused a puritanical morality and imposed strict rules against sexual misconduct.
Silke Studzinsky, the plaintiff's lawyer, said she hoped her client's action would inspire other victims of sexual abuse by the Khmer Rouge to do the same.
"This step would encourage other victims of such crimes to come forward and demand acknowledgment and justice for their suffering, which has largely been ignored until now," the lawyer said.
In Sou Sotheavy's case, soldiers made her cut her long hair - a rule they applied to all men and women - and wear men's clothing, she said.
They also forced her to marry a woman and ordered them to perform sexual intercourse to produce a child, she said.
Sou Sotheavy said she had a daughter with the woman she was forced to marry but left the relationship after the Khmer Rouge was ousted from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979.
The radical communist group banned romance, forced many men and women into mass marriages and tortured or killed those who engaged in unsanctioned sexual relations.
But genocide researchers have also found many instances of rape and sexual violence committed by Khmer Rouge operatives.
3 comments:
cambodia welcome all types of tourists. i mean not the felons or the criminal type, though, but all law-abiding citizens of the world. god bless cambodia.
And don't forget the criminal Thai citizens who raped and robbed many Khmer women, young and old alike, and their families during the holocaust when the Khmers were running for their lives to the Khmer-Thai border to escape the tragedy but only to fall prey to the cruel and inhumane Thai citizens.
Let's dig up these crimes and bring the devils to justice for they had truly committed a crime against humanity while those victims were suffering indescribably when their families were torn apart.
So much pain, psychologically, emotionally and physically. And therefore these evil Thais, like the Khmer Rouge, must pay a heavy price.
YES! I AGREED WITH THE POST COMMENTS ABOVE that the criminal Thai citizens who raped and robbed many Khmer women, young and old alike, and their families during the holocaust when the Khmers were running for their lives to the Khmer-Thai border to escape the tragedy but only to fall prey to the cruel and inhumane Thai citizens. How Thai cruelty citizens in the world to Khmer. GO TO HELL SIAM BANDIT.
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