SRP commemoration for the victims of the 5-6 July 1997 coup d'etat

Commemoration of 14th anniversary of coup at SRP headquarter (Photo: Son Chhay)

The SRP commemorates 17 April 1975 anniversary

Kong Korm praying at Choeung Ek killing field memorial (All photos: SRP)
Kong Korm, Ke Sovannroth and other SRP leaders and supporters pray to the memory of the KR victims
Buddhist prayer for the victims
Kong Korm speaks to the audience
Offerings to monks

17 April 2010
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Komping Puoy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

SRP party leaders and their supporters gathered in the Boeung Cheung Ek killing field memorial to commemorate the more than 20,000 victims who were killed there by the Khmer Rouge.

In the morning of 17 April 2010, about 300 SRP leaders and party supporters gathered to commemorate the more than 20,000 victims who were killed by the Khmer Rouge at the Boeung Cheung Ek killing field memorial. They also asked the KR Tribunal to issue severe sentence to the KR leaders in order to provide quick justice to the families of the victims who are awaiting for this justice for the past 35 years.

50 Buddhist monks and more than 20 SRP MPs, as well as several hundreds of supporters came to pray for the spirits of the more than 20,000 victims whom the KR took from the Tuol Sleng (S-21) jail to kill in the common grave at Boeung Cheung Ek, located 10-km southwest of Phnom Penh.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy spoke over the phone from Brussels, Belgium. His call was connected to the speaker system for the audience to listen. Sam Rainsy said that the Cambodian people are waiting for justice so that they can erase the genocidal impunity: “We absolutely oppose cruelty acts, injustice and inhumane acts.”

Van Kong, a 77-year-old nun, who was visiting the common grave near there, told RFA with tears in her eyes: “All my relatives died. I am left alone. I lost my mother, and my family died also. I am the only one left.”

At the same time, another person who also came for the commemoration said: “I came to commemorate here because the Pol Pot regime killed all these innocent people.”

On 17 April 1975, i.e. 35-year ago, the black-clad KR took over power and they evacuated all the Cambodian people out of Phnom Penh city by force. These people were sent to the countryside and several were separated from their families. Later on, the KR put into application their mass killing plan which was initiated on 17 April 1975 and lasted until 07 January 1979.

More than 2 million people were killed through cruelty, forced labor, lack of food and medicines and torture.

Dim Sovannarom, spokesman for the KR Tribunal (KRT), said in regards to the search for justice for the victims by the KRT: “We plans to announce the sentence for case no. 01 [Duch’s case] by mid-2010. For case no. 02, the case will be sent for trial and the co-judges are determined to act on it in September 2010. Therefore, one determination [by the judges] is a response to the waiting of the victims, and it is also a speed up of the work for the trial of the KR.”

Up to now, the KRT has completed the trial for Kaing Kek Iev, aka Duch, the Tuol Sleng (S-21) jail chief. The sentence for case no. 01 is upcoming.

The KRT is also preparing for the trial of 4 KR leaders, including Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea and Mrs. Ieng Thirith. This constitutes the court case no. 02.

Khmer Rouge survivors gather at killing fields

SRP Religious ceremony for the victims of the KR regime (Photo: SRP)
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy praying for the victims of the KR regime (Photo: SRP)
Sam Rainsy talking to reporters at Choeung Ek Memorial (Photo: SRP)

Thursday, April 17, 2008
ABC Radio Australia

Hundreds of survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge genocide have gathered at killing fields near Phnom Penh on the anniversary of the capital's fall to the ultra-Maoists.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and about 700 people assembled at the sombre memorial to demand speedy trials of the regime's leaders.

Sam Rainsy says the trial must happen soon, otherwise the Khmer Rouge leaders will die without any convictions.

About 70 Buddhist monks blessed victims' skulls on display at the Choeung Ek killing fields outside Phnom Penh, where Khmer Rouge soldiers killed thousands of people during the regime's reign fro 1975 to 1979.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged the courts to deliver long-overdue justice for the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge.

Frustration has been building among Cambodians as a funding crisis delays the tribunal.

Commemortation of the 11th Anniversary of the 30 March 1997 Grenade Attack

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy addressing those attending the commemoration of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack in front of the National Assembly (Photo: SRP)
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy addresses people at a stupa during the 11th anniversary of the March 30,1997 grenade attacks, in Phnom Penh March 30, 2008. Rainsy called for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to renew its probe into a grenade attack that killed at least 16 people more than a decade ago. The former finance minister addressed supporters outside Cambodia's parliament, where 11 years ago four grenades were hurled into a crowd of anti-government protesters, wounding at least 120 people. REUTERS/Khem Sovandara
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy addresses people in front of portraits of the March 30,1997 grenade attack victims at a stupa during the 11th anniversary of the attacks, in Phnom Penh March 30, 2008. Rainsy called for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to renew its probe into a grenade attack that killed at least 16 people more than a decade ago. The former finance minister addressed supporters outside Cambodia's parliament, where 11 years ago four grenades were hurled into a crowd of anti-government protesters, wounding at least 120 people. REUTERS/Khem Sovandara
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy paying respect to the victims of the 30 march 1997 grenade attach (Photo: SRP)
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy making an offering to Buddhist monks during the commemoration of the 30 March 1997 grenade attack (Photo: SRP)

SRP commemorates those killed during Hun Sen’s 1997 coup d’état

Friday, July 6, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

SRP declared that it will hold a religious ceremony on 06 July to commemorate those who lost their lives during the fight in Phnom Penh on 05-06 July 1997 between troops loyal to Prince Ranariddh, the first prime minister of Cambodia, and those loyal to Hun Sen, the second prime minister. Mrs Mu Sochua said that more than 100 SRP party members and 10 monks will hold a ceremony on Friday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the coup d’état. Khieu Kanharith said that his party never commemorates this event because his CPP party and Funcinpec have erased this past event already. Khieu Kanharith said that SRP organizes this commemoration to attract votes only. In a declaration issued on Thursday, Funcinpec said that it will hold this commemoration with the Pchum Ben Festival (Festival for the dead) as it did every year.

A Decade after Hun Sen's coup, F'pec and CPP are closer than ever

A Decade After the Coup, Rival Factions Closer Than Ever

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom penh
05/07/2007

Relations are closer now than ever between the Cambodian People's Party and Funcinpec, who 10 years ago battled in the streets of Phnom Penh for control of the country.

The fighting on July 5 and July 6 ended in political dominance from the CPP, and scores dead Funcinpec soldiers and leaders.

The two parties have since buried the hatchet, and are mostly silent on the event. The opposition Sam Rainsy Party continues to commemorate the fighting as a blow to democracy.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thursday the parties had agreed not to think about those days, but that without the two parties, the Khmer Rouge would still be around.

"Whatever is history, will be history, but we think about the future so we can unite to build the future," Funcinpec President Keo Puth Rasmey said.

Sam Rainsy Party Secretary-General Mu Sochua, who was once a Funcinpec minister, said the duty for Cambodians was to preserve history and culture.

"Whenever there is death, we have to have this kind of ceremony," she said.

F'pec uncommitted to commemorate party leaders slained during Hun Sen's 1997 coup d'état; SRP to commemorate the event

Keo Puth Rasmey, left, who was elected as the new leader of the royalist Funcinpec party speaks to party members at the party's headquarters in the capital Phnom Penh.

Funcinpec Unlikely to Commemorate 1997 Coup

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
03/07/2007

"SRP always remembers that day as a bad day for democracy in Cambodia" - SRP MP Son Chhay

Top officials of the government coalition partner Funcinpec, who saw many of their leaders murdered and lost much of their power in the 1997 coup d'etat, said Tuesday they were unsure about holding ceremonies to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the fighting.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and forces loyal to his Cambodian People's Party wrested power from contentious Funcinpec, led by Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a violent coup July 5 and July 6, 1997.

Current Funcinpec President Keo Puth Reaksmey said the party had no plans to commemorate the fighting but would probably be meeting on that day. Funcinpec was busy with preparations for the 2008 national elections, he added.

"I cannot assure you, because if I do, it might be wrong," Keo Puth Reaksmey said. "If we go ahead and do it, it will not be a problem. We have time and the budget for it. The members are going to the provinces and towns and maybe no one is thinking about this yet."

The coup, which saw executions and disappearances, led to plummeting foreign investment, the loss of government positions by Funcinpec members and a CPP seizure of control.

In past years, under Prince Ranariddh, the party marked the day.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party members said they had plans to commemorate the violence.

"SRP always remembers that day as a bad day for democracy in Cambodia," opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said.