HRW to Hun Sen: 'Stop Blocking' Tribunal

Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
04/04/2007

New York-based Human Rights Watch Wednesday assailed Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government for putting obstacles in the way of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, one day after UN judges canceled a meeting with their Cambodian counterparts over fees foreign lawyers should pay to the Cambodian Bar Association.

"Stop blocking everything else, you know, get out of the way," Brad Adams, director of the agency's Asia Division said. "Let the trial go forward. Let there be some little bit of justice for the Khmer Rouge before it's too late."

The tribunal is facing its deepest crisis yet this week, as observers say failure now to iron out all differences and put in place rules governing the trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders will mean a collapse of the tribunal under its own time restriction.

Hun Sen: Without Hun Sen in power, Cambodia will collapse, the sky will fall and the mountains will disappear

CPP Election Losses Would Mean Instability, Hun Sen Warns

Reaksmey Heng VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
15/03/2007

Prime Minister Hun Sen Thursday publicly warned that if the ruling Cambodian People's Party were to lose in elections, the country would fall into insecurity and instability.

The veiled political warning, which civic leaders immediately refuted, comes just two weeks away from local elections where Cambodians will vote for leaders in more than 1,600 communes—and one day away from the official campaign kick-off.

"If there will be changes, will you be able to have businesses here again? What will happen to you?" Hun Sen asked a crowd at the groundbreaking of a road-construction project in Prey Veng province. "Vendors, artisans and industry workers should think about whether or not they will be able to do business as usual. Will three hundred thousand factory workers and hotel workers be able to have $50 monthly income like now?"

Kul Panha, director of the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said elections meant differences of opinion, but Cambodia's civic structure could withstand a change of party.

During a campaign, candidates "will do anything to capture attention for their parties and their messages," he said of Hun Sen's warning. "Nonetheless, politicians are mature in their observance of political development in Cambodia."

Cambodians witnessed political violence as recently as 1997, when Hun Sen ousted his then co-prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a coup that left more than 100 people dead.

"This is the same old threat that the CPP uses," Son Chhay, a Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker said, "meaning: if the CPP loses the election, there will be war, it will stop building roads, schools, hospitals. This is its method of demagoguery before the election."

Cambodian Tribunal Mired by Dispute

March 14. 2007

By KER MUNTHIT
Associated Press Writer

Bickering between Cambodian and international judges has all but paralyzed the effort to bring members of the Khmer Rouge regime to justice for their murderous rule in the late 1970s.

The first trials had been expected this year, but the special tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia, has been bogged down by infighting that many say could cripple the proceedings entirely.

Cambodian and U.N.-appointed judges wrap up a 10-day meeting Friday aimed at thrashing out their differences on how to integrate Cambodian and international law. The tribunal was set up to operate with the Cambodian judicial system, but with protections against corruption and political manipulation.

Squabbling over details about the rules to govern the trials has eaten up nearly a third of the tribunal's three-year plan. Further delay could mean that former Khmer Rouge leaders will never be brought to trial for turning Cambodia into the bloody land of "the Killing Fields."

"It's a race against time," said Theo Kidess, charge d'affaires of the German Embassy, whose country has contributed more than $3 million to the tribunal's $56.3 million budget.

"There's a growing impatience and definitely a sense of urgency that we need to get this done with," he said.

The radical policies of the now-defunct Khmer Rouge, who held power in 1975-79, led to the deaths of about 1.7 million people from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition. But not one of the communist group's leaders has ever been brought to trial.

Pol Pot, the movement's leader, died in 1998. Ta Mok, its military chief, was imprisoned pending court charges, but died last July. Kaing Khek Iev, who headed the infamous Khmer Rouge S-21 torture center - also known as Tuol Sleng, and now a genocide museum - is the only leader now in custody awaiting trial.

Pol Pot's top lieutenants Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan are alive but aging, with serious medical problems. There's a fair chance that death will put a claim on them ahead of any judge.

The tribunal was created by a 2003 agreement between the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the United Nations after six years of difficult negotiations and would-be withdrawals by both sides.

Vann Nath, one of the handful of survivors among the more than 14,000 prisoners who passed through S-21, said he is losing hope.

"Frankly speaking, the hope I have nurtured all along is rotting away now," said the 62-year-old artist, who is battling chronic kidney disease.

He said he desires "only partial justice, not an ultimate one, and if we cannot even get that, our lives seem worthless."

Patching up the differences "is not 'mission impossible,'" said David Scheffer, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.

But there "is certainly a possibility that the international judges, or some of them, might quit if the negotiations collapse on the internal rules," said Scheffer, who helped negotiate the creation of the tribunal in the early stages.

"Hun Sen wants to keep control, and that's the bottom line," said Brad Adams, director of the Asia division of New York-based Human Rights Watch, referring to Cambodia's prime minister.

The prime minister's critics have long speculated that he would not like to see too extensive a list of defendants, which could include former middle-ranking Khmer Rouge members who later became his allies. Hun Sen himself was a junior Khmer Rouge cadre who defected from the group before it was overthrown in 1979.

Muddying the waters further has been an allegation that Cambodian court personnel, including judges, had to kick back a significant percentage of their wages to Cambodian government officials in exchange for their jobs. Cambodian judges have dismissed the accusation.

The United Nations Development Program, which is managing some of the tribunal's funds, also has raised concerns about the transparency of the tribunal's hiring process.

Scheffer warns that without the trials and their official record, Cambodian society "will never fully recognize the significance of what occurred and of the nation's responsibility to prevent such crimes in the future."

Crunch time for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trial

By Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian and international judges sitting on the Khmer Rouge tribunal hold crunch talks this week to salvage the trial of Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen for the atrocities of the "Killing Fields".

At the heart of the problem is a disagreement between local and U.N.-backed officials over legalities of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the joint tribunal into the deaths of Khmer Rouge's estimated 1.7 million victims is called.

A week-long meeting in November to hammer out rules covering everything from the admissibility of evidence to the protection of witnesses to the height of the judges' chairs came to nothing.

Since then a separate sub-committee has discussing many of the issues but with the clock ticking on the $53 million three-year trial, which officially started in July, there can be no more delays.

The meeting, which will run from March 7 to 16, "must resolve all fundamental differences", a court statement said. "The judges are also acutely aware that time is of the essence," it added.

Diplomats say the U.N. side of the court will walk away if they feel their local counterparts are dragging their feet or acting on the orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier who lost an eye in the battle for Phnom Penh in 1975.

Even though there is no evidence linking Hun Sen to any atrocities, his government is riddled with former cadres from the ultra-Maoist regime, many of whom will not want prosecutors raking through their pasts.

The Khmer Rouge's main ally, China, has also been lobbying Hun Sen hard to stall the proceedings to prevent the full extent of Beijing's involvement coming to light, diplomats say.

HUN SEN SUPPORTIVE

In public at least, Hun Sen has been making it clear he wants the trial to go ahead, announcing at a recent road-opening ceremony near a mass-execution site on the outskirts of the capital that victims' remains must be preserved.

"This is the evidence of genocide," Hun Sen said in a speech broadcast on national radio. "There have been demands to burn the remains so their spirits will be reborn, but if we lose this, the trial of the Khmer Rouge cannot be conducted."

On Saturday Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party said it "supports the process of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to try the crimes which were carried out during the period of the democratic Kampuchea regime".

Helen Jarvis, an Australian expert working with the Cambodian side, said despite the procedural disagreements, prosecutors had been hard at work compiling evidence, and would be ready to lodge cases against some suspects as soon as the green light came.

"We remain optimistic that the outstanding issues will be resolved," she said. "We hope it will open later this year. We are not sure, but we're hoping."

Pol Pot, the architect of the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" peasant revolution, died in 1998.

Around 10 of his ageing colleagues are expected to face trial, including by "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, who are all living as free men.

Duch, head of Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng interrogation centre where at least 14,000 people are thought to have been tortured and later executed, has been in detention since 1998.

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Trials Under Threat

By Rory Byrne
Voice of America
Phnom Penh
27 February 2007

"We know that this Cambodian government never truly genuinely wanted a Khmer Rouge tribunal because many of the current government officials were former Khmer Rouge soldiers ... They could be implicated in a way that could tarnish their reputation and their history." - Theary Seng, KR survivor and head of CSD

Concern is mounting in Cambodia that the long-awaited trials of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge could be derailed due to a dispute over international legal standards. A panel of Cambodian and United Nations court officials recently failed to resolve their differences over the rules governing the operation of the trials. And a United Nations plan to audit the funds used for the tribunal could further complicate matters. Rory Byrne reports from Phnom Penh.

It has been almost 10 years since Cambodia and the United Nations began preparing to try the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge but no one has yet appeared before a judge.

The ultra-Maoist group ruled Cambodia and killed almost two million people in the late 1970s. Its surviving leaders are now old and frail and many people fear that they will die before facing justice.

The Cambodian government blames the delay in opening an international tribunal on what it calls "issues of procedure". For several years, the government and the United Nations have debated what legal procedures to follow.

Spokeswoman for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Helen Jarvis, said, "I think it is a really complex operation to harmonize Cambodian law and procedure with international standards and at the same time also to harmonize the work of people from 11 different countries and different legal systems. Perhaps I think in retrospect we can say we were overly optimistic that this operation could be done more quickly."

One area of dispute: many Cambodian judges do not want foreigners serving as defense attorneys.

The U.N. also is concerned about Cambodia's insistence that domestic law take precedence over international law during the tribunal.

Cambodian judges will hold the majority in the tribunal panels but many Cambodians and outside legal experts consider the country's judiciary hopelessly corrupt.

Concerns about corruption are so severe that this week the U.N. Development Program said it is auditing the tribunal's finances because of questions about hiring procedures. There have been allegations from aid organizations that Cambodians had to bribe government officials to get jobs with the tribunal.

It took several years to find donors to fund the tribunal - another factor in the delay. A few years ago Japan, France, Germany, Britain, Australia, India and the European Union pledged to cover most of the costs, estimated to be $59 million over three years.

The United Nations is wary of associating itself with a trial that falls short of international legal standards.

The U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli, says his government is withholding support for the trials for now.

"I always say that the only thing worse than no trial at all would be a trial that's a farce," he said. "We are still assessing whether we can directly support, and we have not reached the conclusion we can do that yet because frankly we are not yet completely convinced that the trial will meet international standards."

Some human rights activists say the real reason for the delay is that the Cambodian government includes many former Khmer Rouge members.

Lawyer Theary Seng is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge era and heads Cambodia's Center for Social Development.

"We know that this Cambodian government never truly genuinely wanted a Khmer Rouge tribunal because many of the current government officials were former Khmer Rouge soldiers," Seng said. "They could be implicated in a way that could tarnish their reputation and their history."

Among them are Prime Minister Hun Sen and Heng Samrin, a senior leader of the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Both were in the Khmer Rouge as very young adults, and both later took part in a Vietnamese invasion that toppled the Maoist government. However, the prime minister has endorsed holding the tribunal.

There had been hope that the tribunal would start investigating cases and filing charges this year, but that may not happen. In March, a rules committee will meet to try to resolve the procedural differences.

If there is an agreement, then the Cambodian National Assembly must vote to approve it, probably in April, before proceedings can begin. That means, lawyers and tribunal staff members say, it will be 2008 before hearings begin.

However, political analysts, some U.N. staff and even some judges privately say that if no agreement is reached, there is a danger that the United Nations might abandon the effort entirely.

Cambodia struggles with Khmer Rouge past

26 February 2007
Jane's (UK)

Cambodia's political landscape is likely to be shaped by two key influences this year: internal and external efforts to scupper the trials of Khmer Rouge leaders and the upcoming April commune council (or municipal) elections.

Trammelled tribunal

There are three key issues that have inhibited the advancement of the trials. These include the independence of foreign prosecutors assigned to the court, the use of independent international lawyers as defence attorneys for the accused and a secure witness protection programme - all of which, according to UN officials, need to be endorsed by Phnom Penh to ensure international standards for the trials are met.

Many senior government and ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) officials were former Khmer Rouge cadre, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, Party Secretary Chea Sim, Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong and Minister of Finance Keat Chhon.

In addition to Hun Sen's efforts to protect the political credibility of his administration, Beijing is also keen to see the scope of the trials limited. China, which has emerged as a major donor to Phnom Penh and Cambodia's largest foreign investor, does not want its role as the primary foreign backer of the Khmer Rouge regime brought to light in an international forum.

Khmer Rouge Trials Turn to Farce [- Judge Marcel Lemonde: time to call it quits this spring if procedures aren't adopted]

Thirty years on, the Khmer Rouge trials risk collapse.

By Erika Kinetz
Newsweek International

"The are other worrisome signs: one of the court's Cambodian judges has admitted taking bribes, and another once sent an opposition politician to prison after a one-day trial."

Nearly 10 years after the Cambodian government first asked for help setting up a court to try leaders of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, it has yet to hold a single hearing. Washington refuses to fund the court on the ground that it's not up to international standards, and its ambassador, Joseph Mussomeli, says, "no trial would be better than a trial that will be a farce." The court's foreign and Cambodian judges are deadlocked over procedure, and the foreign judges have threatened to walk out rather than participate in what they fear could become an exercise in politics over justice.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Since the Nuremberg tribunal after World War II, trials of brutal leaders have slowly become more common and established a moderately positive record. U.N. courts have convicted numerous individuals for the wars in the former Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide. A hybrid court under local and international auspices is slowly getting off the ground in Sierra Leone. But the Cambodia tribunal, also an experimental local-international hybrid, has gone nowhere—denying justice to the almost 2 million victims of one of the 20th century's worst acts of mass slaughter. Court insiders, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, now give the tribunal a 50-50 chance of collapsing.

Part of the problem is that, unlike the U.N. courts, Cambodia's tribunal is, at the government's insistence, mainly a national affair staffed mostly with Cambodian judges (though they are supposed to be guided by international principles). Hans Corell, who led the U.N.'s effort to help establish the court, says that he is "not at all convinced that this represents a good solution" to the problem of achieving justice in a local context. There's a certain emotional logic to prosecuting Cambodian crimes in Cambodia, and optimists hope a televised exercise in real justice will help break the cycle of violence and impunity that haunts the nation.

But that outcome looks unlikely. Hun Sen's government seems interested in the trial only to the extent it will vindicate its own anti-Khmer Rouge credentials—without dredging up awkward facts, such as current officials' own Khmer Rouge ties or the support that China, now a close ally, gave to the genocidal regime. The are other worrisome signs: one of the court's Cambodian judges has admitted taking bribes, and another once sent an opposition politician to prison after a one-day trial. An American watchdog group, the Open Society Justice Initiative, recently alleged that employees of the court were being forced to pay kickbacks to government officials (a charge Phnom Penh denies), and the U.N. is auditing the court's hiring of local staff. Sara Colm of Human Rights Watch says the Cambodian government "got cold feet" when it realized that working with foreign partners meant "it might not be able to control" the judicial process.

The government does look willing to let the trial proceed, albeit in a limited fashion. Part of Hun Sen's legitimacy comes from the fact that his Vietnam-backed government held the Khmer Rouge at bay during the 1980s even as the West backed remnants of the murderous regime. "Twenty years ago we fought the Khmer Rouge, and no one supported us except a few friends," says Prak Sokhon, the cabinet secretary. "Now the tribunal will show that [we were] right."

Even if it does move forward, however, it's unclear which kind of justice the court can deliver. The key suspects are old and, like Pol Pot, rapidly dying off. And though surveys show most Cambodians support the tribunal, what they really want to know is what happened to their spouses and children. Moreover, traditional Cambodian justice usually involves simple retribution, using lynch mobs or cash compensation. The court's Canadian co-prosecutor, Robert Petit, maintains that no court can hope to deliver justice equal to the suffering of victims in such cases. But if Cambodia's court is transparent, he says, it could establish an "incontrovertible record about what happened."

Ideal or not, most agree that Cambodia's hybrid court is the country's last chance to exorcise its demons—and that time is fast running out. French judge Marcel Lemonde says that if procedures aren't adopted by this spring, it may, regrettably, be time to call it quits. International staffers are nearing their wits' end: "Nobody came here to move paper around," says Petit. But that's as close to justice as Cambodia is getting these days.

With Joe Cochrane

U.N. tribunal may give Cambodians justice

Mon, Feb. 19, 2007

By Troy Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)

"If a dog bites you, you don't bite back ... If we carried out revenge against one another, there wouldn't be any Cambodians left on the planet." - Chum Mey, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge torture

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Chum Mey finishes his gruesome tale of torture at Pol Pot's legendary prison, Tuol Sleng, where for 12 days and nights he was beaten and his toenails were pulled from their roots.

Then he leans over a table, listening intently, while Prak Khan describes working three shifts, every day, as an "interrogator" at the prison.

"We would beat them hard," Prak said, "and torture them if they did not give us the answers. When we whipped them hard and they were bleeding, they gave an answer we want."

That these two men - victim and perpetrator - could sit together without animosity would seem extraordinary, except in Cambodia, where nearly every person older than 30 was either part of the Khmer Rouge revolution or someone harmed by it.

The two groups have been living side by side since a Vietnamese invasion ousted the radical Communist regime of Pol Pot, known as Brother No. 1, in 1979. Many here cling to a Buddhist ethos that says retribution only begets retribution.

"If a dog bites you, you don't bite back," Chum Mey said. "If we carried out revenge against one another, there wouldn't be any Cambodians left on the planet."

Despite this forgiving attitude, Chum Mey longs for some form of justice - for himself and the estimated two million people who were killed or who died of starvation during the four years of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Until now, not a single person has been tried for one of the 20th century's worst genocides. No credible explanation has been given for why - in the name of creating an agrarian utopia - the Khmer Rouge emptied cities, turned the country into a slave camp, and slaughtered so many people.

The country's best shot at justice may come from a joint United Nations-Cambodian tribunal, which began its work in the fall after years of delays.

International prosecutors and judges arrived in September at a modern courthouse constructed on the edge of Phnom Penh. Defendants may be named in the coming months, and the trial is to begin in the summer.

The tribunal could be closely watched by Philadelphia's Cambodians. With 14,000 to 18,000 members, the community is considered the fourth-largest settlement of Cambodians in the country.

"The majority of us are first-generation, and we have a lot of connections to Cambodia," said Rorng Sorn, director of programs at the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia. "Those of us 25 or older, we still have the effects... . We still have those things in our minds that we have to carry every day."

Sorn's family were "typical farmers," and fled to the refugee camps in Thailand.

Mixed feelings

Kim Hort Ou, another leader of Philadelphia's Cambodian community, said the "most informed" people would pay attention to the tribunal. But, he said, because of Cambodia's legendary corruption, "we have mixed feelings about it."

"Normally, when you have something like this, you hope to get justice," he said. "I don't know how anyone can find justice in that environment."

Although the Khmer Rouge were deposed in 1979, their fighters waged a guerrilla war until the late 1990s. Violence continued for several more years as political parties fought for control. Only recently has Cambodia been considered stable enough to stage a war-crimes tribunal.

But after so many years of waiting, skepticism about the tribunal runs deep. Some people find the idea of senior Khmer Rouge leaders sitting in the docks to be unfathomable. And even tribunal supporters wonder how effective it will be in healing this broken nation.

"When you talk about the trial, there are still questions about 'Are you going to try the man who killed my father and still lives in the village?' " said Reach Sambath, a press officer for the tribunal.

Potential defendants

Tribunal officials have said they plan to prosecute only the Khmer Rouge leaders who were "the most responsible" for the genocide. Those would surely include Nuon Chea, known as Brother No. 2, and Kang Kek Ieu, who ran Tuol Sleng and is the only Khmer Rouge leader in custody.

The rest of the potential defendants have been living openly - some of them handsomely - throughout the country. Other Khmer Rouge figures remain prominent in the government.

In 1996, King Norodom Sihanouk gave a royal pardon to Ieng Sary, the Khmer Rouge foreign minister. And Prime Minister Hun Sen was a midlevel member of the Khmer Rouge, although he defected in 1977 and joined the Vietnamese invasion.

Nuon Chea, 80, last month told the Phnom Penh Post, an English-language newspaper, that any documents linking him to Khmer Rouge crimes "were manipulated."

"Why should we have killed our own people? I do not see a reason," the paper quoted him as saying. "We wanted a clean, illuminating and peaceful regime."

Tribunal officials acknowledge that there is widespread skepticism throughout the country that may abate only after defendants are named, arrested, and imprisoned in the detention center being built at the courthouse. But so far, prosecutors have refused to hint at potential defendants.

"People often don't like to be placed into custody," said Bill Smith, a deputy prosecutor, "so publicly announcing when you are going to do something, or who you're going to do it to, isn't a good idea."

The surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are old and said to be in failing health, giving the tribunal a special urgency. Pol Pot died in the jungle in 1998, never prosecuted, and military commander Ta Mok, known as "The Butcher," died in prison last summer.

"If they are left to die naturally," Prak Khan said, "they will escape justice."

Many people here also fear that the government will meddle with the trials because, they believe, ties between Hun Sen and the Khmer Rouge remain.

Hun Sen has backed the tribunal publicly, but in December, Human Rights Watch blamed him for a disagreement between Cambodian and international judges, who were supposed to set rules for the court. Human Rights Watch said the Cambodian judges were under government orders to obstruct the process and delay the prosecutions.

A few weeks later, Hun Sen deflected questions about the tribunal, saying Cambodia had already reached a "national reconciliation."

Cambodian Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith called the accusations against the prime minister "politically motivated." In the fall, he vowed that the government would not interfere in its workings.

"Many people ask us who will stand trial. That is why we have the judges. It's not up to the politicians," Khieu said in an interview. "The government cannot give amnesty to anyone."

From Philadelphia, the view of Hun Sen's role in the tribunal isn't optimistic.

"His hand is everywhere. He tries to delay," Hort Ou said. "He doesn't want to see the can of worms opened... . We feel helpless, hopeless. The international community complains about Hun Sen... but keeps awarding him money."

While the Khmer Rouge leaders have gone unpunished, the artifacts of their crimes have become poignant attractions for Western tourists.

Toul Sleng, a former school where 14,000 Cambodians were imprisoned, tortured and killed, has been turned into a museum. At Cheung Ek, the main killing field outside the capital, visitors can view the 8,000 skulls unearthed from mass graves and stacked inside a three-story temple.

But for many younger Cambodians, born after the Khmer Rouge horrors, the genocide can seem mysterious and unreal. Only now are school textbooks including information on the Khmer Rouge.

On the day the regime took control of the country in 1975, Reach Sambath, then 10, watched a soldier arrest his father, who was never to be seen again. Reach said his three children recently asked about the Khmer Rouge - but only because they heard about the tribunal on television and radio broadcasts.

Any seeming lack of interest among Cambodians is not due to a lack of evidence. The Documentation Center of Cambodia, founded by Yale University and run by Youk Chhang, a Cambodian American, has interviewed 24,000 victims and perpetrators. Much of the evidence gathered at the center will be used in the tribunal.

The center also has brought together victims and perpetrators, like Chum Mey and Prak Khan.

Of the seven survivors of Tuol Sleng, Chum Mey is one of three remaining. Prak Khan is one of two interrogators alive.

Chum Mey survived because he was a skilled mechanic. Another survivor, Bou Meng, was spared because he was an artist who could render Pol Pot perfectly.

He, too, seeks justice from the tribunal, not revenge against the rank-and-file soldiers like Prak Khan.

"They had to do their jobs or they would have been tortured," Bou Meng said. "We were all victims."

Like many Cambodians, Bou Meng believes that allowing the Khmer Rouge leaders to go free for so long has contributed to the country's sense of lawlessness. If mass murder goes unpunished, the feeling goes, why should ordinary laws be obeyed?

"We hope," Bou Meng said, that the tribunal "will bring the culture of impunity in Cambodia to an end."

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Contact staff writer Troy Graham at 856-779-3893 or tgraham@phillynews.com.