Friday, July 15, 2011

Among Students, Doubts Over Tribunal Suspects’ Defense

Thursday, 14 July 2011
Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
“But why did they kill their own people? They should not have committed genocide against their own race.”
As more Khmer Rouge leaders are put on trial by a UN-backed tribunal, some Cambodians students say they don’t believe their defense claims, that they established an ultra-Maoist regime to prevent Cambodia from falling into foreign hands.

The tribunal has put the crimes of the Khmer Rouge back into the public consciousness, and many of the young generation are now learning more about the regime than they learned from parents who often withhold their own stories of atrocities.

“Normally, any leader who has made a mistake never confessing to having committed a massacre,” said Thoeun Novel, a freshman at the Royal University of Law and Economics, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday. “However, they must take full responsibility for their mistakes.”


Thoeun Novel attended a preliminary hearing for four Khmer Rouge leaders who will face trial for atrocity crimes later this year.

Nuon Chea, the regime’s chief ideologue; Khieu Samphan, its nominal head; Ieng Sary, foreign minister; and Ieng Thirith, social affairs minister all stand accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and other crimes. They have all denied responsibility for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge under their leadership.

Some regime leaders have said in the past they had hoped to protect the country from Vietnamese occupation and others, as they grew a peasant revolution into a communist regime.

Srun Kanann, an 18-year-old high school student, told “Hello VOA” that protecting the country from foreign invasion is a justifiable cause to lead a revolution.

“But why did they kill their own people?” he asked. “They should not have committed genocide against their own race.”

“If those leaders had not established their own policies of starvation, or ordered killings, how could their subordinates or members have done that?” asked Thoeun Novel.

Srun Kanann said the tribunal will now have to learn what happened.

“The court will analyze and reveal the facts in their committing genocide, no matter how hard they try to deny it,” he said.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why did they kill their own people? They should not have committed genocide against their own race,unless matter was perpetuated by outsiders like Charlies aka Viets.

Ask Hun Sen why and how he could kill his fellow citizens?

Anonymous said...

“They should not have committed genocide against their own race.”

Is it better to commit genocide against another race?

Is Srun Kanann a racist?

Are the Khmer racists?

Anonymous said...

What's about more than 10,000 Chinese advisors in the country ??

What are their roles and responsibilities ?????

Don't forget that !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Outsiders were involved in the killing fields of Cambodia taking advantage of Khmers that were divisive, children and /or uneducated and brainwashed to the point of killing even their own relatives, parents etc...

Thew killing fields of Cambodia was very well planned, engineered and executed by khmer traitors and foreign entity who has teritorial ambitions on Cambodia.

Even the Khmer Rouge were infiltrated from the top to bottom ranks.

Anonymous said...

When Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia,
there were a lot of Chinese advisers,
and workers in many zones in the
country.The Red Chinese officials knew,but they ignored all what happened in Cambodia.They just carried rice sacks or loaded their
trucks to K.Som Sea port.
Khmer Rouge Pol Pot was under
china control,not Vietnam.
in 1979,Vietcong chased Khmer rouge
and Chinese officials and workers
out of Cambodia.
Cambodia,in 1979,was under Vietnam
control.
when the UNTAC left Cambodia, Vietcong were leaving too;but later
on,they came back.
China and Vietnam wanted to be
Cambodia master.
Cambodians wanted to hear four
Khmer rouge in court to tell
the truth.