Sunday, January 13, 2013

Mass evacuation key to hopes for Khmer Rouge justice

Cambodian woman Lay Bony, who lost 11 relatives including her husband and children under the hardline Khmer Rouge communist regime, pictured during an interview at her house in Phnom Penh, on March 7, 2012
This photo, released by the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia on December 5, 2011, shows former foreign minister Ieng Sary in the courtroom in Phnom Penh. Sary, "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea and one-time head of state Khieu Samphan deny charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity
13 Jan 2012By Suy Se | AFP News
"We realise that given the advanced age of the accused it is unlikely that they will stand trial for all the alleged mass crimes, (sic!)" said prosecutor Tarik Abdulhak.
When the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's capital, hundreds of thousands of people, including children, pregnant women and hospital patients, were sent on a journey that many would not survive.

Nearly four decades later, the episode is the focus of legal proceedings against former regime leaders that could be the last hope for justice over the deaths of up to two million people -- a quarter of the population.

The evacuation of once-bustling Phnom Penh in April 1975 reduced the city to a ghost town in a matter of days. It was one of the largest forced migrations in modern history.

More than two million people were expelled from the capital at gunpoint and made to march to labour camps in the countryside as part of the Khmer Rouge plan to forge an agrarian utopia.


No mercy was shown to the those too weak to make the journey. Patients walked carrying their IV drips, pregnant women gave birth at the roadside and evacuees -- harried by soldiers -- dared not stop to help them.

The bodies of the dead littered the way.

"It was an unbelievable event," Lay Bony, who lost 11 relatives including her husband and children under the hardline communist regime, told AFP.

When the evacuation began, black-clad troops burst into Bony's home, forcing her to leave with her husband, five-year-old daughter and four-year-old son.

"I was afraid that if we did not follow their instructions, we would be killed," said Bony, who had lost a baby during childbirth just weeks before and is even now brought to tears by the memory of the ordeal.

After weeks of walking, the family was first installed at a camp in southern Kandal province and forced into back-breaking work in the paddy fields.

Bony's daughter died within days of their arrival and the harsh living conditions led to her son's death just months later.

Her husband, a soldier from the previous regime, was later arrested and killed, while Bony spent several years in detention where she saw hundreds of inmates taken away for execution.

The 62-year-old recently testified as a witness at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court, which is focusing the first stage of a highly complex case against senior regime cadres on the evacuation of Phnom Penh and other cities.

Ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea and one-time head of state Khieu Samphan deny charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The trial has been split to deal with events chronologically, but most observers believe the first "mini-trial" will also be the last due to the worsening health of the octogenarian defendants as well as funding problems.

"We realise that given the advanced age of the accused it is unlikely that they will stand trial for all the alleged mass crimes," said prosecutor Tarik Abdulhak.

Crowds greeted the communist guerrilla group when they first rolled into Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, hailing the end of a bitter civil war.

But the mood quickly darkened as soldiers fanned out across the city, evicting people from their houses.

"Within a day, the whole nation was turned upside-down by the Khmer Rouge," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-CAM), which researches atrocities committed by the regime.

It was not until 1979 that the Khmer Rouge, led by the late "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, was prised from power by a Vietnamese invasion.

Cambodia's war crimes tribunal has so far achieved just one conviction, sentencing former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, to life in jail for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people.

Bony, one of almost 1,000 plaintiffs in the evacuation trial, is hoping for a harsh verdict against the former regime leaders.

"I am still suffering," she said. "I miss my husband."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah eang sary is a real youn spy sent by youn to kill khmer. Whereas Pol Pot is a naïve khmer nationalist. He was an inocent man, but He had been fooled by eang sary. Even Pol Pot first wife was planned by Vietnam,she is a srey youn, the same as monique and sihanouk; hun sen and bunnary.Pol Pot did not know his first was a youn spy who is eang thearth 's sister.

Anonymous said...

Dear My Beloved SONNY Khmer from Stockton and his Pure Khmer Fellows ,
I am back to the forum with the same topic of the Khmer Rouge Trial since you claimed in the late forums ALL the MURDERS and LEADERS of the Khmer Rouge regime were NON Khmer
Enjoy your day My dear beloved SONNY Khmer from Stockton .
A Survivor of our own Khmer Killing Fields

Anonymous said...

Fuck all Chink imports. Without Pol Pot, and co., Cambodia would kick ass youns by now.

Anonymous said...

Fuck all Chink imports. Without Pol Pot, and co., Cambodia would kick ass youns by now.

venth thou said...

Yuon smart ideal took much of our lands and sea with killing many Khmer innocent citizen live but some still supported Hun Sen family tree killing field Khmer rouge regime to hurt their future dreams.

Anonymous said...

I have lost everything with 20 billions riel!!!

Underwear

Anonymous said...

12:06 AM

Hi my dear beloved father, I am 7:23PM, 6:32AM, 3:12PM from previous forum and I am not from Stockton, I am living near Khmer Rough court Phnom Penh. I did not know what America look like, I attanded Khmer Rough almost every trail because I would like to find out what was happen during Khmer Rough I see the victims came to hear the trial but the trial still not convince me that the Khmer Rough leaders are solely responsible for 2 million dead. I am Khmer who experienced as ordinary Khmer.

Please do not criticise Mr Stockton, he or she was innocent.

Anonymous said...

You are ONE of a kind my Beloved SONNY you are either Khmer from Stockton or Khmer Yeurng , Since you claimed yourself NOT Khmer from Stockton or Khmer Yeurng and residing near the Khmer Rouge Court Phnom Penh so you got a best shot and more opportunity than Khmer from Stockton and Khmer yeurng who live overseas and you could ask million of Khmer victimes of the genocidal and the survivors of the Killing Fields especially if you read the article or the topic Lok Srey LAY Bony who lost her husband and 11 relatives ..you go and ask Khmer around your village near the Khmer Rouge Court so you will learn and understand their life experiences under you so called Non Khmer Rouge Regime .

I am so blessed that you could do yourself a favor by condemning AH CHAKRAPOTR AMERICA and NOT living in your Non Khmer Rouge ideological enemy country AH CHAKRAPOTR unlike Khmer from Stockton obviously.

Your life in Cambodia must be very comfortable for you or you must be rich do not have to worry about working on this broad day light and still monitoring and observing the Khmer Rouge Trial daily ...since you accused the Vietnamese Secret Agents penetrating inside non Khmer Pol Pot Administration slaughtered so many million pure Khmer like you relatives ..and you are ..now living inside Cambodia and NO need for to spent time observing the Khmer Rouge Trial please take a rare opportunity to eliminate and pay back the so many million real actual Vietnamese Secret Agents and YUON alike living shoulder to shoulder with you in Cambodia ....please take the action to pay back to the lost of your real pure Khmer who were executed by the Vietnamese Secret Agent during your so called Non Khmer Rouge Leaders.

Wishing you the Best for finding the Truth and justices for your lost pure Khmer who were killed during 1975-1979 and kill the your YUON inside Cambodia

A Survivor of our won Khmer Killing Fields

Anonymous said...

To 8;54 AM,
Your ideological and controversial statements sound like you are back the Former Khmer Rouge Soldier, And it so nice to have you back The young fake Former Khmer Rouge Soldier