By Tim Johnston
Washington Post Foreign Service
BANGKOK -- On Tuesday, after more than 30 years of delays and controversy, a member of Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime will appear in court for the first time charged with crimes against humanity.
Kaing Khek Iev, better known by his nom de guerre, Duch, was the head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation center in the capital, Phnom Penh. More than 15,000 people are believed to have passed through the center, known as Security Prison 21 during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule. Only 12 are known to have survived.
Duch, who converted to Christianity in the late 1990s, is the only high-profile member of the Khmer Rouge to have expressed remorse for his actions. The 66-year-old former math teacher will appear for an initial hearing before the U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday and is expected to take the stand later in his trial, providing an insight into the mind-set behind one of the 20th century's most brutal political experiments.
"We want to understand why this human being did what he did to other human beings," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
As many as 1.7 million Cambodians -- about a fifth of the population -- were killed or succumbed to disease, malnutrition and overwork in the four years before Vietnamese forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.
Despite that shocking toll, only five people have been indicted by the joint Cambodian and international legal entity set up after prolonged negotiations between the United Nations and the Cambodian government.
Duch's fellow indictees are Nuon Chea, the movement's deputy leader, known as Brother No. 2 during the regime; Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge president; Ieng Sary, the group's foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was the social affairs minister. They are all fighting the charges.
Pol Pot, the architect of the regime's brutal policies, died -- apparently of natural causes -- in 1998.
The trials have so far cost more than $50 million and have been dogged by persistent rumors of corruption and allegations that the Cambodian government, which is led by former Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen, has tried to hold up the process.
A public dispute broke out late last year between Chea Leang, the Cambodian co-prosecutor and a niece of one of Hun Sen's deputies, and Robert Petit, her international counterpart.
The court has investigated an additional six senior members of the Khmer Rouge, and Petit wanted them charged. Chea Leang objected, saying that the investigations should not proceed "on account of Cambodia's past instability and the continued need for national reconciliation."
The court's supporters say they hope the trials will promote reconciliation in their own way, but with a recent survey showing that 85 percent of Cambodians know little or nothing about the process, some critics are asking how much they will mean for ordinary people who still have to live alongside their former tormentors.
Kaing Khek Iev, better known by his nom de guerre, Duch, was the head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation center in the capital, Phnom Penh. More than 15,000 people are believed to have passed through the center, known as Security Prison 21 during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule. Only 12 are known to have survived.
Duch, who converted to Christianity in the late 1990s, is the only high-profile member of the Khmer Rouge to have expressed remorse for his actions. The 66-year-old former math teacher will appear for an initial hearing before the U.N.-backed tribunal Tuesday and is expected to take the stand later in his trial, providing an insight into the mind-set behind one of the 20th century's most brutal political experiments.
"We want to understand why this human being did what he did to other human beings," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
As many as 1.7 million Cambodians -- about a fifth of the population -- were killed or succumbed to disease, malnutrition and overwork in the four years before Vietnamese forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.
Despite that shocking toll, only five people have been indicted by the joint Cambodian and international legal entity set up after prolonged negotiations between the United Nations and the Cambodian government.
Duch's fellow indictees are Nuon Chea, the movement's deputy leader, known as Brother No. 2 during the regime; Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge president; Ieng Sary, the group's foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was the social affairs minister. They are all fighting the charges.
Pol Pot, the architect of the regime's brutal policies, died -- apparently of natural causes -- in 1998.
The trials have so far cost more than $50 million and have been dogged by persistent rumors of corruption and allegations that the Cambodian government, which is led by former Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen, has tried to hold up the process.
A public dispute broke out late last year between Chea Leang, the Cambodian co-prosecutor and a niece of one of Hun Sen's deputies, and Robert Petit, her international counterpart.
The court has investigated an additional six senior members of the Khmer Rouge, and Petit wanted them charged. Chea Leang objected, saying that the investigations should not proceed "on account of Cambodia's past instability and the continued need for national reconciliation."
The court's supporters say they hope the trials will promote reconciliation in their own way, but with a recent survey showing that 85 percent of Cambodians know little or nothing about the process, some critics are asking how much they will mean for ordinary people who still have to live alongside their former tormentors.
No comments:
Post a Comment