By Sary Rath
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer
Witnesses still alive and relatives of the victims who are currently living in the US are demanding that the KR Tribunal (KRT) provide a trial that is fair and acceptable by the victims and their relatives who are still alive.
During a candle vigil to commemorate the victims of the KR genocide which was held in front of the White House in the evening of 17 April, Koh Bun Kon and his wife from San Jose, California, as well as others who participated in the vigil, called on the Cambodian government to push for a fair trial for the KR leaders.
Koh Bun Kon said: “Today, on 17 April, I am joining with other Cambodian friends and relatives to commemorate our relatives, our parents and the 1.7 million others who died during the Pol Pot era. May the spirits of our parents and relatives come to join us to push the KR Tribunal to speed up the trials. Today, I am very moved to meet a large number of our compatriots. Everybody, including myself, we used to live under the Pol Pot regime for almost 4 years, we were very hurt, extremely hurt, I still remember everyday because my parents, my siblings, my nephew died, they died by the hundreds. Therefore, I can only pay respect to their spirits, and I am asking the Cambodian government to complete the KR trials and to provide justice for us so I can have some peace.”
Tung Yap, President of the Cambodian-Americans for Human Rights and Democracy (CAHRAD), said that besides holding this meeting to commemorate the spirit of the victims, his organization, along with the International community, called for an international prevention of new genocide in the world.
Regarding the trial of the former KR leaders in order to provide true justice, Tung Yap indicated that the alliance led by Dr. Leakhena Nou will gather witnesses of the KR regime who are still alive in the US to provide testimonials to the ECCC in the near future. Tung Yap said: “We are pleased to support Dr. Leakhena Nou who gathered Cambodian-Americans to provide testimonials for the trial of the KR.”
In 2009, the International community has set the month of April as the genocide prevention month. Savage events in Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia, Armenia, Cambodia, as well the current event in Darfur, Sudan are reminders of this issue.
Genocide researchers indicated that the genocidal regime in the 6 countries above all savagely took power in the month of April.
During a candle vigil to commemorate the victims of the KR genocide which was held in front of the White House in the evening of 17 April, Koh Bun Kon and his wife from San Jose, California, as well as others who participated in the vigil, called on the Cambodian government to push for a fair trial for the KR leaders.
Koh Bun Kon said: “Today, on 17 April, I am joining with other Cambodian friends and relatives to commemorate our relatives, our parents and the 1.7 million others who died during the Pol Pot era. May the spirits of our parents and relatives come to join us to push the KR Tribunal to speed up the trials. Today, I am very moved to meet a large number of our compatriots. Everybody, including myself, we used to live under the Pol Pot regime for almost 4 years, we were very hurt, extremely hurt, I still remember everyday because my parents, my siblings, my nephew died, they died by the hundreds. Therefore, I can only pay respect to their spirits, and I am asking the Cambodian government to complete the KR trials and to provide justice for us so I can have some peace.”
Tung Yap, President of the Cambodian-Americans for Human Rights and Democracy (CAHRAD), said that besides holding this meeting to commemorate the spirit of the victims, his organization, along with the International community, called for an international prevention of new genocide in the world.
Regarding the trial of the former KR leaders in order to provide true justice, Tung Yap indicated that the alliance led by Dr. Leakhena Nou will gather witnesses of the KR regime who are still alive in the US to provide testimonials to the ECCC in the near future. Tung Yap said: “We are pleased to support Dr. Leakhena Nou who gathered Cambodian-Americans to provide testimonials for the trial of the KR.”
In 2009, the International community has set the month of April as the genocide prevention month. Savage events in Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia, Armenia, Cambodia, as well the current event in Darfur, Sudan are reminders of this issue.
Genocide researchers indicated that the genocidal regime in the 6 countries above all savagely took power in the month of April.
6 comments:
Honestly, the United States government sits in a very hypocritical corner. The present administration can condemn the former Khmer Rouge leaders and demand for the KR trials to provide justice. However, it was previous administrations ago that financially and logistically aided the Khmer Rouge as a proxy to resist Vietnam's aggression and occupation. And then there was an even much more previous US administration that supported a very corrupted and incapable Khmer Republic and bombed the shit out of Cambodia in which over 700,000 Cambodians died between 1970-1975.
Somewhere along the line, a present or near future US administration needs to say, "Sorry Cambodia, but we, the US government fucked it up for you guys and ran away".
...especially Mr. Henry Kissinger.
I agree! US bombard my village and ran away from cambodia! they left us in the dark! i blamed US Policy for destroying cambodia...
Chantrea victim...
UNITED STATE HAD BETRAYAL CAMBODIA AND LEFT CAMBODIA IN THE DARK! IT'S ALL UNITED STATE POLICY AND DESTROY KHMER PEOPLE IN CAMBODIA, UNITED STATED SHOULD DO MORE TO HELP REBUILT MY BELOVED CAMBODIA!!
Victim 1975..
of course, we khmer people in the USA or Europe or anywhere on the planet demand this justice. after all we live in a free world outside of cambodia and we learnt to think outside the box and become smarter like the rest of the world of highly educated individuals. if we don't demand this, who will? khmer people need justice and cambodia needs help from the rich nations so we too can reform and improve cambodia in every way. god bless cambodia.
Reforme the army, police and justice in Cambodia as Paris accord please!
Reforme the army, police and justice in Cambodia as Paris accord please!
Post a Comment