Crying for justice [-Will the KRT be able to deliver justice?]

Hundreds gathered at a memorial site on Sunday to pay respect to victims of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. This week's proceedings are a major event in the nation's quest for justice. (Photograph by: SAMRANG PRING REUTERS, AFP)

Accused of genocide, Khmer Rouge leaders face war crimes court

November 21, 2011
AFP

Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng told AFP she was "frustrated beyond words" that only Khieu Samphan looked likely to shed light on what happened. "The people want to know who is behind the Khmer Rouge, we want to see and understand the larger picture and we're not going to get that," she said.

The long awaited trial of top Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide and other atrocities finally gets under way in Cambodia on Monday, but one of the four accused will be notably absent.

More than three decades after the country's "Killing Fields" era, a UN-backed war crimes court is set to hear opening statements in the case against "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, ex-head of state Khieu Samphan and former foreign minister Ieng Sary .

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the communist Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population through starvation, overwork and executions in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.

Missing from the courtroom will be Ieng Thirith - the regime's "First Lady" - after she was ruled unfit for trial on Thursday because she has dementia.

Despite this last-minute drama, this week's proceedings are considered a major event in the still-traumatized nation's quest for justice. Hundreds of Cambodians will travel to see the defendants in the dock, and events will be broadcast on television.

"We really want justice to be served," said Khmer Rouge survivor Chum Mey, 80. "The victims want the accused to tell the truth for the sake of history."

It remains to be seen how much satisfaction victims will get from the legal process, with all three denying charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over the deaths of up to 2 million people during the regime's 1975-1979 reign of terror.

Amid fears that not all of the accused, who are in their 80s, will live to see a verdict, the court recently split their complex case into a series of smaller trials. During the four days of opening statements the prosecution and the defence will address all the accusations against them.

Of the accused, only Khieu Samphan has indicated he will cooperate, telling the court in June that while he was not "fully knowledgeable" about everything that happened, he would help to find "the truth."

Nuon Chea walked out of the June hearing after telling the court he was "not happy." His lawyers say he will make opening remarks on Wednesday, but it is not known whether he will answer questions.

Ieng Sary, frequently the only point of contact between the communist regime and the outside world, told the court last month he does not intend to testify.

Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng told AFP she was "frustrated beyond words" that only Khieu Samphan looked likely to shed light on what happened. "The people want to know who is behind the Khmer Rouge, we want to see and understand the larger picture and we're not going to get that," she said. But international co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley, who will be first to speak on Monday, said defendants had the right not to say anything during their trial.

The first mini-trial focuses on the forced movement of the population and related charges of crimes against humanity, and will begin hearing evidence on Dec. 5.