Thursday, August 20, 2009
AFP
PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court Thursday promised a "fair and just" verdict in the trial of the Khmer Rouge prison chief, after days of emotional testimony from the relatives of victims.
Jail supremo Duch, 66, is on trial for overseeing the torture and execution of roughly 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre during the hardline communist regime's 1975-79 rule.
Several foreigners and Cambodians have come to the court in recent weeks to testify about the effects on their lives of losing loved ones in the "hell" of the high school-turned-prison.
Head judge Nil Nonn warned them on Thursday to only give evidence and not to use the hearing "to take revenge", after some witnesses spoke out harshly against Duch.
"At the end, the chamber would consider all this information and evidence, and then we would issue a judgement which is fair and just and is acceptable by all the parties to the proceedings," Nil Nonn added.
New Zealand Olympic rower Rob Hamill, whose brother Kerry was murdered by the Khmer Rouge after his yacht was blown off course and into Cambodian waters, told the court on Monday how he had sometimes felt like killing Duch himself.
Court officials have said Duch's trial is expected to wrap up in October, with the judges likely to issue a verdict some months later.
Duch, a former maths teacher whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has previously accepted responsibility for his role in governing the jail under the regime and begged forgiveness from the families of the victims.
The jail chief last week asked for the "strictest level of punishment" -- even death by stoning -- for his crimes against the Cambodian people.
But he has denied that he played a leading role in the Khmer Rouge's hierarchy, saying that he obeyed orders from the top because he feared for his own and his family's lives.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.
Jail supremo Duch, 66, is on trial for overseeing the torture and execution of roughly 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre during the hardline communist regime's 1975-79 rule.
Several foreigners and Cambodians have come to the court in recent weeks to testify about the effects on their lives of losing loved ones in the "hell" of the high school-turned-prison.
Head judge Nil Nonn warned them on Thursday to only give evidence and not to use the hearing "to take revenge", after some witnesses spoke out harshly against Duch.
"At the end, the chamber would consider all this information and evidence, and then we would issue a judgement which is fair and just and is acceptable by all the parties to the proceedings," Nil Nonn added.
New Zealand Olympic rower Rob Hamill, whose brother Kerry was murdered by the Khmer Rouge after his yacht was blown off course and into Cambodian waters, told the court on Monday how he had sometimes felt like killing Duch himself.
Court officials have said Duch's trial is expected to wrap up in October, with the judges likely to issue a verdict some months later.
Duch, a former maths teacher whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has previously accepted responsibility for his role in governing the jail under the regime and begged forgiveness from the families of the victims.
The jail chief last week asked for the "strictest level of punishment" -- even death by stoning -- for his crimes against the Cambodian people.
But he has denied that he played a leading role in the Khmer Rouge's hierarchy, saying that he obeyed orders from the top because he feared for his own and his family's lives.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.
9 comments:
Commandant khmer rouge=Hun Sen=Fils adopté de Sihanouk
Hun Sen, le Premier ministre cambodgien, a averti hier que son pays replongerait dans la guerre si le tribunal parrainé par l’ONU engageait des poursuites à l’encontre de nouveaux suspects. «Si, par exemple, nous jugeons vingt personnes supplémentaires […], le pays explosera dans une guerre qui tuera des centaines de milliers de personnes»,a déclaré Hun Sen, ancien commandant khmer rouge. «Je préfère voir cette cour échouer [plutôt que] laisser la guerre se reproduire.» Outre Douch, quatre personnes doivent être jugées.
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned. "Our Lord Buddha.
2:47 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Khmer commander(major) rouge=Hun Sen=Fils adopted by Sihanouk
Hun Sen, the Cambodian Prime Minister, warned yesterday that his country would dive back into the war if the court sponsored by the UNO prosecuted against new suspects. " If, for example, we judge twenty supplementary persons [], the country will explode in a war which will kill hundreds of thousand persons ", declared Hun Sen, former(ancient) red Khmer commander(major). " I prefer to see this court(yard) failing [rather than] let the war reproduce. " Besides Douch, four persons must be judged.
Brad Adams said that Hun Sen has nothing in ECCC.
Wake up UN
il ne faut pas se cacher la vérité
SIHANOUK avant ta mort très bientot invités par l'enfer et le diable ,tu dois dire oui j'ai donné la terre du CAMBODGE aux viets ...
donc je suis un traitre pour le peuple KHMER .
SURTOUT j'ai précipité les évènements pour que mon FILS le Pédale SIHAMONI devienne ROI.
DONC JE SUIS UN HYPOCRITE qui ne pense qu'a mes enfants...
There won't be fair and justice for victims unless the court put Hun Sen , Sihanouk and a few more on trial .
There should be more of prominent KR officers on trial, otherwise Khmers will hang over their unsovled history and be weakened by neighboring ill-purposed enemy, VN, and disappear in 30 or 40 years. KhOpen,
IF ONLY 5 WILL BE TRIAL AND JUDGED. JUSTICE IS FAKE!
wow ! what a blog
nice game
hey, let the experts take care of this, ok. unruly people can't always get everything they wanted, you know! otherwise, it creates chaos, you know. please be educated. thank you.
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