Introducing the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia

Click on the announcement in Khmer to zoom in

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
Introducing

Association of
KHMER ROUGE
Victims
in CAMBODIA

(“AKRVC”)

We, the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (“AKRV” or “AKRVC”), are survivors of the Cambodian killing fields (April 1975—January 1979) who are joined in our fellowship of suffering, in our demand for justice, and in our work for a just peace. In coming together, we become stronger and we are shaping our past for our future.

We have each other. We have hope.

CJR National Conference on Victims’ Participation: MOVING FORWARD, TOGETHER – Transforming Killing Fields to Healing, Living Fields at Pannasastra University, 11 Dec. 2009. AKRVC members raising their hands in response to query “who have lost father, mother, husband, or wife during the KR years?”

We are widows and orphans, former child soldiers and former prisoners; we are hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; we are well-known actresses, playwrights, journalists, authors; we are teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers. Some of us reside in the United States, France, Australia or another country, but the majority of us are from all the provinces and towns of Cambodia. Some of us are recognized civil parties to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; others are still yet civil party applicants; some may become witnesses. While some of us are neither of these.

We, the AKRVC, would like to acknowledge the technical assistance provided by the Center for Justice & Reconciliation in registering us as an association and in facilitating our involvement (directly or indirectly) in the ECCC. Until our website is fully functioning (and also in the Khmer language), if you would like to become a AKRVC member or an ECCC civil party, please visit www.cjr-cambodia.org or contact Mr. SOK Leang at sokleang@cjr-cambodia.org or Ms. MORM Sokly (AKRVC president, also playwright and actress of Breaking the Silence, inter alia) at president@akrvc.org, Ms. Theary C. SENG at thearyseng@akrvc.org, a member of and founding advisor to the AKRVC and representative of the Civil Party of Orphans Class.

Many of us came together as a result of the Justice & Reconciliation public forums facilitated by Ms. Theary beginning in 2006 till 2009 and Civil Party Seminars facilitated by both Mr. Leang and Ms. Theary beginning in 2007 till 2009—engaging victims (and perpetrators) from all 24 provinces of Cambodia and generously funded by Diakonia, German Development Service (DED) and The MacArthur Foundation.

The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (AKRVC) is independent of any political or religious affiliation and is officially registered with the Ministry of Interior (No. 2880 SCN, 24 December 2009), the second victims’ association to be registered and the first to be actively functioning in Cambodia.

(We have worked with the only other MOI-registered victims’ association based in France and hope to continue working and coordinating activities with them, as well as with any other groups and associations to be registered. We believe in inclusiveness and the unity of our voices as victims and are deeply distressed and saddened by the ‘competition’ or ‘hierarchy of victims’ and the ‘Super-Victim’ status we have encountered, and work to strongly dissuade this unproductive mentality.)

………
For more information and photos, please visit us at:

akrvc.org

Khieu Samphan chooses Jacques Vergès as his defense lawyer

Khieu Samphan, former Khmer rouge leader (Photo: Pauline Gauraude/RFI)

Radio France International (RFI)
Translated from French by Tola Ek

"I don’t have anything to reproach myself. I believe that I did my duty towards my homeland. I could not remain idle when my country was invaded..." - Khieu Samphan

Khieu Samphan, one of the former Khmer Rouge leaders, selected, this Friday, Jacques Vergès, a French lawyer, to defend him. The former president of the “Democratic Kampuchea,” led by Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979, could appear in the Khmer Rouge trial next year. Five persons, whose identities are still unknown, were accused of war crime, crime against humanity and of genocide by the prosecutor of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. While close to 2 million people were killed under the Pol Pot regime, Khieu Samphan still claims, 30-year later, that “he has nothing to regret about” and that “he has nothing to reproach himself of.” For him, it was the communist Vietnamese and the US imperialist power which were responsible for the crisis leading to massive arrests, and to “these things,” referring to the massacres, without ever pronouncing the word himself. The exclusive interview of Khieu Samphan from his hometown in Pailin was conducted by Nicolas Vescovacci.

RFI: Is it true that you chose Jacques Vergès for your defense?

Khieu Samphan (KS): That’s right, that’s my lawyer. We knew each other when I was studying in France. We participated in several demonstrations against the war in Algeria and against the war in Vietnam. I believe he will try his best to let the law prevail.

RFI: Do you think you will be part of the 5 persons charged by the tribunal prosecutor?

KS: I have my name printed in almost all the newspapers. Therefore, I believe that it is possible that I will be among the 5.

RFI: Will you go to court if you are charged?

KS: It depends on the charge brought against me.

RFI: The main charges that the prosecutor upheld would be “war crime, crime against humanity and genocide.” What do you reply to that?

KS: We, the Khmer communists, we fought for the national liberation.

RFI: You don’t have anything to reproach yourself?

KS: I don’t have anything to reproach myself. I believe that I did my duty towards my homeland. I could not remain idle when my country was invaded, both by the South Vietnamese forces under the direction of the US, and by the communist Vietnamese, who tried to impose their hegemony on Kampuchea. I believe that it was my duty to bring in my contribution.

RFI: Do you contest the massacres of the Cambodian people which took place between 1975 and 1979?

KS: Regarding the massacres, Vietnam refused to recognize the Brévié line (maritime delimitation dating from the colonial period), while it was already recognized as the sea border between the two countries. But in the month of May 1976, they refused to recognize it, and demanded a new demarcation line.

RFI: What does that have to do with the massacres?

KS: Vietnam imposed an ultimatum to the Cambodian communist Party. Against this ultimatum, the communist Party was facing an impossible situation. If it were to accept it, it was the end of the Cambodian communist Party. Thus, Cambodia had to face military confrontations. It was the central problem which explained all the arrests made. These things.

RFI: But, it was the Cambodian people who were massacred by Cambodian people?

KS: But, I already told you, it was the Vietnamese ultimatum. This means that the Vietnamese tried to provoke internal troubles in the country.

RFI: And you responded with massacres?

KS: But, please. It is very complicated to answer this question.

RFI: 30 years later, do you regret the actions taken by the regime, the actions taken by the Khmer Rouge leaders during that period?

KS: Long afterward … I was only their road companion.

RFI: You were the president of the republic …

KS: First of all, I was not part of the Khmer Rouge management. Second, they fought at the same time, against both the US superpower and the Vietnamese hegemony attempts. I believe that they accomplished their duty for Cambodia still. Without their fight, Cambodia would have been in the hands of communist Vietnamese since 1970. Please think about me. I am Cambodian, that’s how I think.

RFI: Do you think about the victims?

KS: Sure, I think about the victims. I bow in front of the memory of the innocent victims. But, it must be taken into account the circumstances of the events with which the accused are reproached of. These people fought against foreign interference, against foreign aggressions. They did their duty for their country.

Survivor Of Khmer Rouge Torture Center Chronicles Ordeal With Paintings

Vann Nath's portrait photo displays among ten of paintings depicting torture are exhibited in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, July 12, 2007. Is seen in this photo taken in January 7, 1978, at Tuol Sleng, a former main prison during the Khmer Rouge regimes. (Photo courtesy: AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

2007-07-13
By Sopheng Cheang
AP

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: The Khmer Rouge's murderous legacy has been depicted in art by a survivor of an infamous torture center run by the radical communist regime, responsible for the deaths of nearly 2 million Cambodians.

Vann Nath, 62, opened a showing Thursday (July 12th) of 10 paintings portraying the notorious S-21 prison - also known as Tuol Sleng - in the middle of the capital, Phnom Penh.

"My purpose in painting these pictures was because I want the young generation to know about the Khmer Rouge regime, and to show how innocent Cambodians were accused by them of being the 'enemy' and later killed even though they were not guilty at all," he said.

Up to 16,000 men, women and children were tortured there from 1975-79 and later taken away to be executed. Only 14 people, including Vann Nath, are thought to have survived.

He managed to survive the ordeal by taking the job of painting and sculpting portraits of the group's leader, Pol Pot.

A few of these propaganda works survive, bitter monuments to a regime whose radical policies caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people nationwide by execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition.

His new exhibition is meant to make a younger generation of Cambodians, who had no experience of life under the Khmer Rouge, aware of the atrocities that left the country shattered in body and soul.

"It is very hard for me to paint the pictures, but I have to overcome that in my mind because I think that if I am not showing my pictures, nobody will know how much suffering I encountered," Vann Nath said at a press conference marking the unveiling of his paintings, all done this year.

In February, Vann Nath was one among 10 Southeast Asians chosen as recipients of the Hellman/Hammett human rights award. Eight Vietnamese writers _ all of whom have either been jailed or harassed by police for challenging Vietnam's one-party system _ and a journalist from Myanmar forced to flee his homeland were also among the 45 writers from 22 countries to receive the award.

The awards are meant to assist writers in financial need as a result of expressing their views. The Hellman/Hammett award is named after U.S. playwright Lillian Hellman and her longtime companion, novelist Dashiell Hammett, both of whom were interrogated in the 1950s about their political beliefs and affiliations.

During the press conference, Vann Nath expressed despair over the prospects for a U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal that expects to begin trying suspects early next year, though it still has not even indicted anyone. Surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge still live freely in Cambodia.

"I am totally without hope because it's almost 30 years now," he said when asked his opinion of the tribunal. "I have no hope that the court will give me justice."

Many of those who managed to survive the Khmer Rouge years have now died without seeing any justice done, he added.

Cambodians remember Khmer Rouge victims

20/05/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

More than 1,000 Cambodians have gathered at the Khmer Rouge's killing fields and called for the swift trial of the regime's surviving leaders.

The gathering marked Memorial Day, when Cambodia remembers those killed under the Khmer Rouge regime.

The start of a joint UN-Cambodian tribunal has been pushed back to early 2008 after years of delays and wrangling.

But there are concerns that ageing Khmer Rouge leaders will die before being brought to justice.

Cambodian judges and international jurists will meet from May 31 in the hope of resolving a long-running dispute over rules that has delayed the start of genocide trials.

Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the rule of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.

Cambodians remember Khmer Rouge victims, demand end to delays in justice

April 17, 2007
The Associated Press

CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia: Some 300 Cambodians held a memorial service Tuesday for victims of the Khmer Rouge communist regime that ruled the country in the 1970s and demanded an end to the delay in the start of U.N.-backed genocide trials.

The commemoration — organized by the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party at the Choeung Ek "killing field" just outside the capital Phnom Penh — was led by 32 Buddhist monks, who marked the 32nd anniversary of the Khmer Rouge taking power in Cambodia.

The communist movement came to power on April 17, 1975 after defeating a U.S.-backed Cambodian government in a bloody civil war.

It implemented radical policies that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

The Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979 and finally collapsed eight years ago. But none of its leaders has ever been brought to trial.

"How long do we have to wait? Where is justice? Year after year has passed, so please put them on trial since my eyes are still open and able to see," 62-year-old Chan Kim Suong said, adding that her husband and son were executed by the Khmer Rouge.

She and two other women, who addressed the crowd through a microphone about their losses, urged a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal to convene trials for former Khmer Rouge leaders.

The tribunal was created last year following a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the United Nations. But trials, which had been expected to begin sometime this year, have been delayed by disputes over procedural rules and, most recently, a demand by local lawyers for legal fees from foreign lawyers wishing to take part in the tribunal.

Attending Tuesday's event, Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, blamed the Cambodian government for creating "one excuse after another" to delay the trials.

Looking at hundreds of skulls of Khmer Rouge victims stored in a concrete memorial at the Choeung Ek mass grave site, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Phnom Penh, Sam Rainsy said: "When we look at those skulls, it seems they are staring back at us with a cry for help in finding justice for them."

"But I do not think the current leaders want to see the tribunal move ahead. They want to let remaining Khmer Rouge leaders die one by one until no one is left, so that the tribunal would finally collapse," he added.

Various human rights groups have also accused the Cambodian government of foot-dragging, which the government has repeatedly dismissed.

The tribunal's foreign judges have said they will not meet with their Cambodian counterparts on April 30 as scheduled, if the Cambodian Bar Association does not reconsider the US$4,900 (€3,610) legal fee it plans to impose on each foreign lawyer wanting to practice at the tribunal.

SRP plans a religious commemoration for those who died under the Khmer Rouge regime

14 April 2007
By Moeung Tum
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media

During the Khmer New Year period, the Sam Rainsy Party is planning for a Buddhist commemoration for all those who died under the Khmer Rouge regime, between 1975 and 1979.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy himself will lead the ceremony to be held at the Choeung Ek memorial located outside of Phnom Penh, on 17 April 2007, starting at 08:00 AM. The ceremony will end at 10:15 AM.

The commemoration will be participated by 32 Buddhist monks who will recite prayers for the more than 2 millions dead victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.