French woman weeps over her dead Cambodian husband at UN-court handling Khmer Rouge trial of jail boss Duch.
Tue, 18 August 2009
AFP / Expatica
Phnom Penh – A French woman wept Monday as she told a UN-backed war crimes court how her Cambodian husband was tricked into returning from overseas to die in the Khmer Rouge regime's main prison.
Martine Lefeuvre, 56, was giving evidence at the trial of jail boss Duch, who was accused of overseeing the torture and execution of about 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre.
"I came before this chamber in order to ask for justice to be done for this barbaric crime," Lefeuvre told the court, demanding the "maximum sentence" for Duch.
Lefeuvre, a nurse, said her French-educated husband Ouk Ket was asked to return home in 1977 from his job as a diplomat in Senegal, Dakar, to help the reconstruction of Cambodia.
But she said that on arrival Ouk Ket was "kidnapped with his hands tied behind his back, blindfolded, and brought in a truck" and went to "hell" at the jail in the capital Phnom Penh.
Her husband was "tied up like slave to a metal bar, chained up," she said.
Lefeuvre said that in 1991 she and her family came to see Tuol Sleng, which was turned into a genocide museum after the 1979 fall of the Khmer Rouge, and found his name on a list of the dead.
"He died a slow death at S-21 in the most complete secrecy," she said, referring to the prison by its former, official Khmer Rouge name.
"Murderers broke his skull at Choeung Ek (the so-called "killing field" outside Phnom Penh, where inmates were executed) and then cut his throat while throwing him into a pit. This is an absolutely inexcusable murder," she said.
"Ket's suffering was and still is our suffering and it does not go away with time. I can tell you that this suffering is more and more intense," she said.
The 66-year-old 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 1975-1979 communist regime and begged forgiveness.
But Lefeuvre told the court she was not ready to forgive him.
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.
Tue, 18 August 2009
AFP / Expatica
Phnom Penh – A French woman wept Monday as she told a UN-backed war crimes court how her Cambodian husband was tricked into returning from overseas to die in the Khmer Rouge regime's main prison.
Martine Lefeuvre, 56, was giving evidence at the trial of jail boss Duch, who was accused of overseeing the torture and execution of about 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre.
"I came before this chamber in order to ask for justice to be done for this barbaric crime," Lefeuvre told the court, demanding the "maximum sentence" for Duch.
Lefeuvre, a nurse, said her French-educated husband Ouk Ket was asked to return home in 1977 from his job as a diplomat in Senegal, Dakar, to help the reconstruction of Cambodia.
But she said that on arrival Ouk Ket was "kidnapped with his hands tied behind his back, blindfolded, and brought in a truck" and went to "hell" at the jail in the capital Phnom Penh.
Her husband was "tied up like slave to a metal bar, chained up," she said.
Lefeuvre said that in 1991 she and her family came to see Tuol Sleng, which was turned into a genocide museum after the 1979 fall of the Khmer Rouge, and found his name on a list of the dead.
"He died a slow death at S-21 in the most complete secrecy," she said, referring to the prison by its former, official Khmer Rouge name.
"Murderers broke his skull at Choeung Ek (the so-called "killing field" outside Phnom Penh, where inmates were executed) and then cut his throat while throwing him into a pit. This is an absolutely inexcusable murder," she said.
"Ket's suffering was and still is our suffering and it does not go away with time. I can tell you that this suffering is more and more intense," she said.
The 66-year-old 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 1975-1979 communist regime and begged forgiveness.
But Lefeuvre told the court she was not ready to forgive him.
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.
6 comments:
hi !bong thom think of me too
i am miss of our homeland
http://miss-missdada.blogspot.com/
TO 12:11 AM,
I don't understand what you mean?
Are you looking for Bang Thom? Yes, there're so many Bang Thom hang out on the street in Phnom Penh. You can date with Bang Thom, lot of good-looking guy. You can date me, but you get to be belong to the Cambodian People Party. I am a very attractive Khmer Man. You may find me in Siem Reap.
AngkorianMan Krama Man
yes, cambodia and khmer people needs a lot of compassionate people in order to heal our physical and emotional wounds from the horror of the stupid KR era. please praise for cambodia and khmer people to heal. thank you and god bless cambodia and all our beautiful khmer people and citizens.
TO 1:41 AM,
I agree with you if we all commit and be united we will win for every things, how about if some of you still keep fighting with Khmer and Khmer. We will lose.
Angkorianman Krama Man
yes, education is one of the keys to rid cambodia of ignorance which is the root of evil. everyone can help by being proactive instead of reactionary. cambodia and our beautiful khmer people deserve better, you know! this nonsense to keep arguing and fighting each other. where is the good khmer way of the era before the KR? we all can educate everyone and rebuild that good quality of people again. god bless cambodia.
That's why I always say Khmer should stop fighting with Khmer and KHhmer. Forget the past, it's over now we should look for the future to buil our nation. Please stop looking down the Cambodian government, Cambodia is not the only country that is corrupted. You can't blam Sadech Daychu Hen Sen, he works so hard the people under him canhot be trusted. Please stop making Cambodia look bad. It's your motherland.
ANgkorian Krama Man
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