The former Tuol Sleng (S-21) torture centre in Phnom Penh, headed by Duch from August 1975 until the regime's fall in January 1979. (Photo by: Tracey Shelton)Friday, 13 February 2009
Written by Georgia Wilkins and Neth Pheaktra
The Phnom Penh Post
The KRT's first trial opens next week, but what will having Duch in the dock mean?
THREE decades after he presided over a bloody reign of terror at the Khmer Rouge's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, Kaing Guek Eav, the math teacher-turned-prison chief, will take his place in the dock and answer questions about his alleged role in the systematic torture and extermination of up to 16,000 men, women and children.
As the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to be brought to justice for his role in the atrocities committed during the ultra-communist group's 1975-79 rule, the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his revolutionary name of Duch, will no doubt prompt an unprecedented flurry of international media attention. The issue now, observers say, is how the court will ensure the trial has meaning that resonates with those it has been set up to serve.
"I worry that ordinary Cambodians don't feel that they have ownership over the process of bringing people like Duch to account," said Nic Dunlop, the photojournalist who discovered Duch in 1999 working for NGOs in the border regions.
"It would be a real shame if we have Duch telling the court important things that people need to know and few people are actually aware of it," Dunlop told the Post via email.
According to Philip Short, historian and author of Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare, comprehensive Khmer-language coverage of the trial, coupled with grassroots-level discussion of the proceedings is essential.
"But the government has little interest in that kind of nationwide self-questioning and it will in any case be difficult to generate in a society like Cambodia's," he told the Post via email.
A population-based survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, earlier this month indicated that indeed this may be the case.
According to the report, 85 percent of Cambodians interviewed had "little or no knowledge" of the court as of last September, a statistic that was disputed by the court's public affairs officers, who claimed it was "not consistent with [their] own feedback in the field". In addition to a lack of knowledge, the survey pointed to public doubts about the court's objectivity: One-third of respondents familiar with the tribunal said they did not believe the court was neutral, with 23 percent saying it was corrupt.
While the trial itself may be a significant step on the path to justice, historian Ros Chantrabot of the Royal Academy of Cambodia says that whether legal procedures can be translated into meaningful narratives remains to be seen.
Translating truth into justice
"This hearing is very important for Cambodia and the world. But we don't know yet whether the hearing can bring the truth," he said.
Regardless of whether it can, the opening of the Extraordinary Chamber's first public trial ratchets up the pressure on the court to deliver.
But many argue that expectations are too high, and that the court - however successful its first public trial - was never going to be able to meet them.
"If reconciliation were the aim, there are other ways of going about that, as South Africa has shown," said Short.
"This tribunal has nothing to do with reconciliation. How can the condemnation of a few elderly men, no matter how appalling their acts, reconcile people in the villages with those who, during KR times, murdered their relatives, and who still live a few houses away from them?" Short asked.
Moreover, the court's legitimacy remains dented, and observers hope the start of a trial will be used by the court to boost its credibility.
"The start of the ECCC's first trial is an important, if long overdue, step toward the goal of accountability for serious crimes in Cambodia," James Goldston, executive director of New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative, said in an email.
"[But] the court must take aggressive action to respond to repeated allegations of corruption and provide adequate protection to those who come forward to report corruption," he said.
However, international co-prosecutor Robert Petit argues that, as the most public manifestation of the tribunal so far, the trial would refocus attention back to its original goal.
"These trials are by nature very complex but I'm confident in the Court's abilities to see them through to the highest standard," he said by email.
Despite numerous caveats, the first public trial of a Khmer Rouge leader could further knowledge and understanding of the workings of the still-mysterious regime.
"We know what S21 did; we know much less about why it did it," Philip Short says of the torture centre headed by Duch.
"What one would like the trial to reveal is the political mechanism behind S21: the role of Nuon Chea and other members of the Security Committee, Pol Pot and Son Sen; and the extent to which the political leadership controlled what was done there," he adds.
Historian David Chandler says the trial is significant because of the weight of documentary evidence linking Duch to the executions at S-21.
"A full account, if we got one, would deepen our understanding of the DK era," he said.
Even Duch, a converted Christian, has acknowledgesd the need to reveal the truth.
"The killings must be understood. The truth should be known," he told Dunlop as his arrest was imminent.
According to Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, the public trial itself is a key part of getting the truth about the Khmer Rouge to the public.
"It will indeed contribute to our history and how we confront the past," he said. Whether victims are content with the verdict is immaterial, as "they will be able to make their own decision".
THREE decades after he presided over a bloody reign of terror at the Khmer Rouge's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, Kaing Guek Eav, the math teacher-turned-prison chief, will take his place in the dock and answer questions about his alleged role in the systematic torture and extermination of up to 16,000 men, women and children.
As the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to be brought to justice for his role in the atrocities committed during the ultra-communist group's 1975-79 rule, the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his revolutionary name of Duch, will no doubt prompt an unprecedented flurry of international media attention. The issue now, observers say, is how the court will ensure the trial has meaning that resonates with those it has been set up to serve.
"I worry that ordinary Cambodians don't feel that they have ownership over the process of bringing people like Duch to account," said Nic Dunlop, the photojournalist who discovered Duch in 1999 working for NGOs in the border regions.
"It would be a real shame if we have Duch telling the court important things that people need to know and few people are actually aware of it," Dunlop told the Post via email.
According to Philip Short, historian and author of Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare, comprehensive Khmer-language coverage of the trial, coupled with grassroots-level discussion of the proceedings is essential.
"But the government has little interest in that kind of nationwide self-questioning and it will in any case be difficult to generate in a society like Cambodia's," he told the Post via email.
"THE start of the ECCC's first trial is an important, if overdue, step towards the goal of accountability.""If, as is more likely, the hearings remain a distant event, confined to the courtroom in Phnom Penh, their significance will be very limited," he adds.
A population-based survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, earlier this month indicated that indeed this may be the case.
According to the report, 85 percent of Cambodians interviewed had "little or no knowledge" of the court as of last September, a statistic that was disputed by the court's public affairs officers, who claimed it was "not consistent with [their] own feedback in the field". In addition to a lack of knowledge, the survey pointed to public doubts about the court's objectivity: One-third of respondents familiar with the tribunal said they did not believe the court was neutral, with 23 percent saying it was corrupt.
While the trial itself may be a significant step on the path to justice, historian Ros Chantrabot of the Royal Academy of Cambodia says that whether legal procedures can be translated into meaningful narratives remains to be seen.
Translating truth into justice
"This hearing is very important for Cambodia and the world. But we don't know yet whether the hearing can bring the truth," he said.
Regardless of whether it can, the opening of the Extraordinary Chamber's first public trial ratchets up the pressure on the court to deliver.
But many argue that expectations are too high, and that the court - however successful its first public trial - was never going to be able to meet them.
"If reconciliation were the aim, there are other ways of going about that, as South Africa has shown," said Short.
"This tribunal has nothing to do with reconciliation. How can the condemnation of a few elderly men, no matter how appalling their acts, reconcile people in the villages with those who, during KR times, murdered their relatives, and who still live a few houses away from them?" Short asked.
Moreover, the court's legitimacy remains dented, and observers hope the start of a trial will be used by the court to boost its credibility.
"The start of the ECCC's first trial is an important, if long overdue, step toward the goal of accountability for serious crimes in Cambodia," James Goldston, executive director of New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative, said in an email.
"[But] the court must take aggressive action to respond to repeated allegations of corruption and provide adequate protection to those who come forward to report corruption," he said.
However, international co-prosecutor Robert Petit argues that, as the most public manifestation of the tribunal so far, the trial would refocus attention back to its original goal.
"These trials are by nature very complex but I'm confident in the Court's abilities to see them through to the highest standard," he said by email.
Despite numerous caveats, the first public trial of a Khmer Rouge leader could further knowledge and understanding of the workings of the still-mysterious regime.
"We know what S21 did; we know much less about why it did it," Philip Short says of the torture centre headed by Duch.
"What one would like the trial to reveal is the political mechanism behind S21: the role of Nuon Chea and other members of the Security Committee, Pol Pot and Son Sen; and the extent to which the political leadership controlled what was done there," he adds.
Historian David Chandler says the trial is significant because of the weight of documentary evidence linking Duch to the executions at S-21.
"A full account, if we got one, would deepen our understanding of the DK era," he said.
Even Duch, a converted Christian, has acknowledgesd the need to reveal the truth.
"The killings must be understood. The truth should be known," he told Dunlop as his arrest was imminent.
According to Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, the public trial itself is a key part of getting the truth about the Khmer Rouge to the public.
"It will indeed contribute to our history and how we confront the past," he said. Whether victims are content with the verdict is immaterial, as "they will be able to make their own decision".
1 comment:
Tuol Sleng or (S-21) was the political prison. Most of them were pol pot traitors and viet agents in pak communist khmer.
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