By GRANT PECK
AP
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: The man who ran the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison accepted responsibility Tuesday (31 March) for torturing and executing thousands of inmates and expressed "heartfelt sorrow" for his crimes.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, told the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal that he wanted to apologize for the acts of the Khmer Rouge, whose genocidal rule of Cambodia from 1975-1979 left an estimated 1.7 million people dead.
"I recognize that I am responsible for the crimes committed," Duch told the tribunal, standing in the dock as he read from a prepared statement. "I would like to express my regretfulness and heartfelt sorrow."
Duch, now 66, commanded the group's main S-21 prison, also known as Tuol Sleng, where as many as 16,000 men women and children are believed to have been brutalized before being sent to their deaths. He is charged with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as torture and homicide, and could face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Cambodia has no death penalty.
He told the court he took responsibility "for crimes committed at S-21, especially torture and execution of people there."
While Duch's statements amount to a confession of guilt, defendants at the tribunal do not enter pleas. The tribunal says its primary goal is to determine the facts of what happened three decades ago during Khmer Rouge rule.
Co-prosecutor Chea Leang vowed to get justice for the 1.7 million victims of the country's radical communist regime.
"For 30 years, one-and-a-half million victims of the Khmer Rouge have been demanding justice for their suffering. For 30 years, the survivors of Democratic Kampuchea have been waiting for accountability. For 30 years, a generation of Cambodians have been struggling to get answers for their fate," Chea Leang said, using the regime's name for Cambodia.
"Justice will be done," she said. "History demands it."
The long-awaited trial against Duch began Monday (30 March) with a full reading of the 45-page indictment. Executioners threw victims to their deaths, bludgeoned them and then slit their bellies, or had medics draw so much blood that their lives drained away, according to the indictment.
The tribunal is seeking to establish responsibility for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million from starvation, medical neglect, slave-like conditions and execution under the Khmer Rouge, whose top leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.
Duch's job was to extract confessions of counterrevolutionary activity, but "every prisoner who arrived at S-21 was destined for execution," the indictment said. Prisoners were beaten, electrocuted, smothered with plastic bags or had water poured into their noses. Children were taken from their parents and dropped from the third floor of a prison building.
Chea Leang recalled the regime's infamous maxim regarding its enemies: "To keep you is no gain, to destroy you is no loss."
The prosecutor displayed historic photographs and video records from the Khmer Rouge years, which began with executions of loyalists of the previous regime and the brutal forced evacuation to the countryside of the capital's 2 million residents.
Duch has been in detention since he was discovered in 1999 by British journalist Nic Dunlop in the Cambodian countryside, where he had been living under an assumed name.
Dunlop, who attended Tuesday's (31 March) hearing, said it was "surreal" to see Duch in a courtroom as victims of the Khmer Rouge watched, but it was difficult to gauge local interest in the trial.
"Whether it resonates beyond these walls is the big question, and if it doesn't, we might as well be on another planet," he said
Most of Cambodia's 14 million people were born after the 1979 fall of the Khmer Rouge, and many struggle daily to make a living in the poverty-stricken country.
Motorcycle taxi driver Vong Song, 52, said that he hears people talking about the tribunal, but he's too busy working to pay for his three children's education to worry about it.
"Let the court and the government do it. For me, the important thing is earning money to support my family. That's what I think," he said.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, told the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal that he wanted to apologize for the acts of the Khmer Rouge, whose genocidal rule of Cambodia from 1975-1979 left an estimated 1.7 million people dead.
"I recognize that I am responsible for the crimes committed," Duch told the tribunal, standing in the dock as he read from a prepared statement. "I would like to express my regretfulness and heartfelt sorrow."
Duch, now 66, commanded the group's main S-21 prison, also known as Tuol Sleng, where as many as 16,000 men women and children are believed to have been brutalized before being sent to their deaths. He is charged with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as torture and homicide, and could face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Cambodia has no death penalty.
He told the court he took responsibility "for crimes committed at S-21, especially torture and execution of people there."
While Duch's statements amount to a confession of guilt, defendants at the tribunal do not enter pleas. The tribunal says its primary goal is to determine the facts of what happened three decades ago during Khmer Rouge rule.
Co-prosecutor Chea Leang vowed to get justice for the 1.7 million victims of the country's radical communist regime.
"For 30 years, one-and-a-half million victims of the Khmer Rouge have been demanding justice for their suffering. For 30 years, the survivors of Democratic Kampuchea have been waiting for accountability. For 30 years, a generation of Cambodians have been struggling to get answers for their fate," Chea Leang said, using the regime's name for Cambodia.
"Justice will be done," she said. "History demands it."
The long-awaited trial against Duch began Monday (30 March) with a full reading of the 45-page indictment. Executioners threw victims to their deaths, bludgeoned them and then slit their bellies, or had medics draw so much blood that their lives drained away, according to the indictment.
The tribunal is seeking to establish responsibility for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million from starvation, medical neglect, slave-like conditions and execution under the Khmer Rouge, whose top leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.
Duch's job was to extract confessions of counterrevolutionary activity, but "every prisoner who arrived at S-21 was destined for execution," the indictment said. Prisoners were beaten, electrocuted, smothered with plastic bags or had water poured into their noses. Children were taken from their parents and dropped from the third floor of a prison building.
Chea Leang recalled the regime's infamous maxim regarding its enemies: "To keep you is no gain, to destroy you is no loss."
The prosecutor displayed historic photographs and video records from the Khmer Rouge years, which began with executions of loyalists of the previous regime and the brutal forced evacuation to the countryside of the capital's 2 million residents.
Duch has been in detention since he was discovered in 1999 by British journalist Nic Dunlop in the Cambodian countryside, where he had been living under an assumed name.
Dunlop, who attended Tuesday's (31 March) hearing, said it was "surreal" to see Duch in a courtroom as victims of the Khmer Rouge watched, but it was difficult to gauge local interest in the trial.
"Whether it resonates beyond these walls is the big question, and if it doesn't, we might as well be on another planet," he said
Most of Cambodia's 14 million people were born after the 1979 fall of the Khmer Rouge, and many struggle daily to make a living in the poverty-stricken country.
Motorcycle taxi driver Vong Song, 52, said that he hears people talking about the tribunal, but he's too busy working to pay for his three children's education to worry about it.
"Let the court and the government do it. For me, the important thing is earning money to support my family. That's what I think," he said.
4 comments:
"He who has no longings through perfect knowledge is free from doubts,has plunged into the deathless,-Him I call a Braman."
Written by Sophan Seng
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Dear Editor,
I was deeply impressed by Noam Chomsky’s perspectives on political dissent ["Tribunal ignoring US role, says Chomsky", The Phnom Penh Post, March 27, 2009]. In the US, Chomsky is well-known for his radical ideas about US foreign policy. He is a renowned linguist, but what made him a vital political commentator was his strong opposition to the Vietnam War. Chomsky saw nothing wrong with the North Vietnamese struggle and nothing wrong with the Vietnamese troops invading Cambodia to topple the Khmer Rouge.
In the interview, Chomsky addresses US support for the Khmer Rouge. I don’t intend to challenge Chomsky on his sharp criticism of the US and the Khmer Rouge tribunal. It is not simply a matter of pointing fingers and assigning blame, as depicted in the amusing “Sacravatoons No 1348 ["Point the finger", at www.sacrava.blogspot.com]
The Khmer Rouge tribunal has a more fundamental meaning than just pointing fingers at each other. The central goals of this tribunal are the achievement of national healing, national reconciliation, a national collective consciousness, national unity, the strengthening of Cambodia’s judicial system and the elimination of impunity, among others. In addition to these expected outcomes, the tribunal will also help Cambodia become a “full and progressive sovereign state”. Political thinker Charles Tilly has argued that “war makes a state” in the context of European state-making. If this theory is applied to Cambodia, then the agony endured by the Cambodian people in past wars and under the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge can enlighten all Cambodian people and their political leaders. As the Khmer proverb says: “After the dark sky, the bright moon and stars will shine”. Will the Khmer Rouge tribunal yield such fruit?
The answer wholly depends on Cambodian political leaders, Cambodian people and their national collective consciousness. If they see the Khmer Rouge tribunal simply as part of a political game, the “full and progressive sovereign state” of Cambodia might disappear. Moreover, if the Cambodian people and their collective consciousness view the tribunal simply as punishment for a handful of perpetrators, the “full and progressive sovereign state” of Cambodia might also disappear.
It should be noted that the Khmer Rouge tribunal, the independence of the court, and the expansion of the number of defendants - including current political leaders - will enrich the tribunal, not distort the court or cause instability in Cambodia at all. The benefits to be had from a fair court are more important than the thought of social instability. The participation from all political leaders and the people can enhance the achievements of the court. The benefits of thinking outside the box in relation to the tribunal are more beautiful and elegant than just assigning blame and pointing fingers.
Sophan Seng
PhD candidate in political science
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Original Source: The Phnom Penh Post
Tell the world that Samamith Sihanouk and his wife(samamith Monique) must come and tell the truth.
.................................
Sixty-first session
Item 126 of the provisional agenda*
Administration of justice at the United Nations
Report of the Redesign Panel on the United Nations
system of administration of justice
Summary
The Redesign Panel on the United Nations system of administration of justice
was established by the Secretary-General in January 2006 pursuant to resolution
59/283, in which the General Assembly requested him to establish a panel of
external, independent experts to review and possibly redesign the system of
administration of justice at the United Nations. The present report, containing the
findings and recommendations of the Redesign Panel, is submitted in fulfilment of
the terms of reference stipulated for it by the Assembly.
The Redesign Panel found that the United Nations internal justice system is
outmoded, dysfunctional and ineffective and that it lacks independence. The
financial, reputational and other costs to the Organization of the present system are
enormous, and a new, redesigned system of internal justice will be far more effective
than an attempt to improve the current system.
Effective reform of the United Nations cannot happen without an efficient,
independent and well-resourced internal justice system that will safeguard the rights
of staff members and ensure the effective accountability of managers and staff
members.
The Redesign Panel recommends a decentralized, streamlined and ultimately
cost-efficient system of internal justice for the United Nations. This new system will
be professional and independent and, if well-resourced, will both reduce conflicts
within the Organization through more effective informal dispute resolution and
ensure the expeditious disposal of cases in the formal justice system. The objective
of decentralization is to ensure that staff members serving in field operations, who
constitute the majority of staff, are effectively covered by the internal justice system.
* A/61/150.
A/61/205
2 06-44911
The Office of the Ombudsman should be strengthened and decentralized with a
merger of the existing Offices of Ombudsmen in the Secretariat and funds and
programmes. The Office should have professional mediators and should take on a
stronger monitoring role regarding institutional management. The Joint Appeals
Boards and the Joint Disciplinary Committees should be replaced with a new,
decentralized United Nations Dispute Tribunal presided over by independent,
professional judges with power to issue binding decisions. The United Nations
Administrative Tribunal should become a mainly appellate court for the internal
justice system. Legal representation for staff members should be professionalized
and decentralized.
The Redesign Panel recommends the establishment of the proposed new justice
system by a resolution of the General Assembly, further recommends the
establishment of an Office of the Administration of Justice in the United Nations to
manage this important aspect of the work of the Organization and to ensure the
independence of the proposed new internal justice system and, finally, proposes that
the new system, if approved by the General Assembly, become operational on 1.1.2008
http://fr.youtube.com/results?search_query=sihanouk&search_type=&aq=f
5:49 PM
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ?
Post a Comment