Thursday, June 30, 2011
AFP
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A top ex-Khmer Rouge leader on trial for genocide on Thursday vowed to cooperate with Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court to reveal the truth about the country's "Killing Fields" era.
"I personally am not fully knowledgeable about everything, but I will try from the bottom of my heart to make sure that everything is fully revealed," said Khieu Samphan, the former head of state of the brutal regime.
"This is the most important moment for me and for my compatriots who are eager to know and understand what happened between 1975 and 1979."
Along with "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, one-time social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, Khieu Samphan faces charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The elderly defendants are the most senior surviving members of a regime whose reign of terror led to the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork or execution. The four deny the accusations against them.
As their trial entered its fourth day with a debate about witness and expert lists, the defence complained that the court had failed to admit many of their proposed witnesses.
Khieu Samphan, dressed casually and reading a brief prepared statement, urged judges to accept his key witnesses "in order to have a fair trial and so that the truth and my honesty and fairness can be revealed".
The 79-year-old also paid his respects to the hundreds of Cambodians, including many monks, who packed the court's public gallery, and acknowledged them with a traditional greeting -- the first suspect to do so.
The public face of the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan has never denied the horrors suffered by the Cambodian people.
But he claims he was an intellectual and a nationalist and knew little, until long afterwards, of the devastation that was wrought under the regime.
Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the movement emptied Cambodia's cities and abolished money and schools in a bid to create an agrarian utopia before they were ousted from the capital by Vietnamese forces.
The initial hearing is set to conclude on Thursday, with full testimony to follow in the coming months.
11 comments:
Khieu Samphan was known as Mr.Clean back in the 60's as Sihanouk named him.
Who are the key witnesses?
No doubt,Sihanouk and his family will be at the top of his list?
Where is the Monkey King when Khmer victims are in need of justice?
Khiev Samphan seaved Sihanouk life in Pol Pot era.
Sihanouk testimonies would help Khiev Samphan instead of make him guilty.
First, we must realize that the expansionist has never wanted Cambodia to have peace. It would make Khmers to fight with Khmers by creating suspicion among our people. This suspicion has played a major role at exacerbating the killing during the Khmer rouge era.
In this world, I have never seen a country that is so relentless about absorbing its neighbors like this monster Vietnam. How many centuries that Vietnam has creating chaos in Cambodia? Even now, look at its role.
I personally think the trio, Khiev Samphan, Hu Yun, and Hu Nim are moderate communist. It is hard for me to believe that Khiev Samphan has played a direct role at killing our people.
I firmly hope that Khiev Samphan would be able to reveal the true story behind “the killing field” in the days ahead.
I agree with 9:56pm-
the core problem in Khmer society is caused by the political trick of expansionist Vietnam.
The opposing group of Khmer leaders always claim they are nationalists- such as Long Nol group, Sihanouk group, and Khmer Rouge group, which is true except the CPP group because they are under the expansionist.
Like any other communist, Khiev Samphan just do what he is supposed to do. He is not a traitor though his regime killed so many. Should he join the communist or allow himself to be arrested by Lon Nol. He had no choice.
Anyway, Khmer should be worry bout being swallowed by Vietnam.
The old generation (men and women)
knew knew Kiev Samphan very well
that he was called by a lot of
Cambodians:Mr.CLEAN or Mr.NICE GUY.
Mr.CLEAN will find out the truth
and who killed million Khmer people?
I am waiting to hear from you,Mr.
CLEAN.
While acknowledging the mass atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime, we should never forget the level of atrocities committed during the US secretive bombing of Cambodia from 1968-1973. A declassified telephone discussion between Henry Kissinger and General Alexander Haig, Nixon's deputy assistant for national security affairs, recorded that Nixon had ordered a “massive bombing campaign in Cambodia [to use] anything that flys [sic] on anything that moves”.
The map of US bombing targets released by Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program shows that more than half of the country was affected by the indiscriminate bombings. Professor Ben Kierman, director of the program, puts the casualties figure from the bombing at 150,000 deaths, while Edward Herman, a professor of Wharton School, and Noam Chomsky put the toll at 600,000 using figures provided by a Finnish Commission of Inquiry.
Based on this, we can never naively claim that US bombing led to the mass executions by the Khmer Rouge or refuted the regime's mass atrocities. But, to certain extent, the blanket bombing, which directly led to the destruction of livestock and agricultural land, could have definitely played a role in the mass starvation.
From new data released during the Clinton administration, Taylor Owen, a doctoral student at Oxford University, and Professor Kierman noted that 2,756,941 tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia.
To put the figure into perspective, just over 2 million tons of bombs were dropped by the allies during all of World War II. The bombs dropped in Cambodia represented about 184 Hiroshima atomic bombs combined, making Cambodia the most bombed nation in the world. Based on the new data, Professor Kierman also stressed that the casualties might be much higher than his earlier predicted 150,000
I talked to many elderly Cambodian ages between 50s-70s both in the city and the countryside about Khieu Samphan and other as follow:
1. Majority of Cambodians see Khieu Samphan , Hu Nim and Hou Youn are very good men among other Khmer people.
2. Minority see Khieu Samphan as an evil.
Khiev Samphan is a killer:
I was deported to Taingkok,
I asked MOULTHAN, who is ANGLAR ?,
he answered Khiev Samphan and ANGKAR ordered to kill anyone who did not respect the rule.
Since year 1976 he was the chief of KANAK PHOUMAPHIAKS
he ordered KANAK PHOUMAPHIAKS
to kill.
Ta Mok said before he passed away in his video interview with foreign reporter ( this video is available in Australia, US , France ).
Ta Mok said as follow :
Angkar between 1975-1979 are :
1. Pol Pot. ( number 1 ).
2. Nuon Chea ( number 2 ).
3. Ieng Sary ( number 3 ).
4. So Phin ( number 4 ) So Phin was a Khmer Viet Minh as Chan Si , Pen but So Phin was a high senior Khmer Viet Minh.
5. Son Sen ( number 5 ).
6. Ta Mok.
So Khieu Samphan, Sihanouk , Hu Nim and Hou Youn are nominal leaders of Democratic Kampuchea.
Why Khieu Samphan , Hu Nim and Hou Youn willing to be norminal leaders of Khmer Rouge ?
My anwers is after the 3 escaped from Sihanouk arrest one after another in 1967 to the countryside they saw Viet Congs every deep inside Cambodia.
Pol Pot wanted to get rid of these Viet Minh and Viet Cong so to get Khmer support from both city and countryside to join Pol Pot or better known as Communist Party of Kampuchea to expell these Viet Minh and Viet Congs out of Cambodia.
Note: After 1970s Viet Congs controled 2 of 3 parts of Cambodia.
So I leave my last question to share answer with all Khmer who to share with me.
Why after 1970s youn Viet Cong were force to withdraw from Cambodia 2 of 3 part of the whole conutry?
I agree with you 12.OO AM , the core problem in Khmer society is caused by the political trick of expansionist Vietnam.
Pol Pot?
Between 1975-1979 under Pol Pot leadership there were many bad things have happended to Cambodian and Cambodia as follow:
1. Massive Khmer killing ( million of Khmer were brutally killed ).
2. At Khmer-youn border , Non-stop and aggressive invasion from yuon hanoi troops to Khmer sovereignty both land and sea include many inslands such as Koh Trol.
1.7 Khmer million lives were brutally killed we blame Pol Pol ?
Protection Cambodia sovereingty both land sea between 1975-1979 by Pol Pot we should blame Pol Pot or should we talk about it as part of Khmer history that even in Pol Pot regime yuon invaded Cambodia non-stop.
Between yuon and Pol Pot:
Pol Pot did not cooperate Indochina Federation with yuon because if Pol Pot cooperated with yuon with Indochina Federation Khmer will end up like Champa and Khampu-Chea Krom.
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