Judges Call on Rebels for Evidence, ‘Justice’

French judge Marcel Lemonde speaks during a public meeting with people in the Kong Kang temple in former Khmer Rouge strong hold northwest of Pailin, January 16, 2008. French and Cambodian judges of the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal met former Khmer Rouge fighters in one of Pol Pot's final strongholds to allay their fears about the long-awaited trials. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Pailin
16 January 2008

Khmer Rouge tribunal judges ended three days of talks in the former rebel stronghold of Pailin Wednesday, calling on past cadre for further evidence against their old leaders.

The judges held meetings with local officials and former rebels to explain the scope of the tribunal, which is to try senior leaders of the regime only. Court officials issued a handbook to residents to help them understand the tribunal process.

Investigating judge You Bunleng addressed a gathering of Pailin residents, many of them former Khmer Rouge rebels, imploring those who “love justice” to cooperate with the courts and provide evidence for the trials of former leaders.

“The court’s verdict won’t be impartial unless there is participation and help from those who knew or saw anything happen during that period of time,” he said.

Not all in attendance were satisfied with the official explanations of the courts.

“The answer was too brief to clear up what I was wondering,” said Lach Lina, a former Khmer Rouge supporter. “Their answers were in fact just to one question.”

The former leaders so far charged by the tribunal “are respectable aunts and uncles,” he said.

Arrested and charged with atrocity crimes are prison chief Duch, ideologue Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.

Another former Khmer Rouge soldier, Ouch Sam An, said he expected justice from the courts.

“I want to suggest that in order for the court to succeed, they have to find out who were the masterminds of the killing,” he said.

ECCC townhall meeting in Pailin

A Cambodian Khmer Rouge court officer, left, provides some booklets to villagers for a town meeting in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. Officials from Cambodia's genocide tribunal held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday in the Khmer Rouge's former heartland to persuade residents to help with the trials and to dispel fears among neighbors of the regime's ex-rulers. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Cambodian Khmer Rouge court officer, right, provides some booklets to Buddhist monks in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. Officials from Cambodia's genocide tribunal held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday in the Khmer Rouge's former heartland to persuade residents to help with the trials and to dispel fears among neighbors of the regime's ex-rulers. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
People read the Khmer Rouge tribunal book given out during a public meeting with the co-investigating judges of the "Killing Fields" tribunal in the Kong Kang temple in the former Khmer Rouge strong hold northwest of Pailin, January 16, 2008. French and Cambodian judges of the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal met former Khmer Rouge fighters in one of Pol Pot's final strongholds to allay their fears about the long-awaited trials. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Marcel Lemonde, a U.N.-appointed judge speaks at a meeting with villagers in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. Officials from Cambodia's genocide tribunal held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday in the Khmer Rouge's former heartland to persuade residents to help with the trials and to dispel fears among neighbors of the regime's ex-rulers. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Marcel Lemonde, a U.N.-appointed judge sits during a meeting with villagers in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. Officials from Cambodia's genocide tribunal held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday in the Khmer Rouge's former heartland to persuade residents to help with the trials and to dispel fears among neighbors of the regime's ex-rulers. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
People watch a Khmer Rouge tribunal education video during a public meeting with the co-investigating judges of the "Killing Fields" tribunal in the Kong Kang temple in the former Khmer Rouge strong hold northwest of Pailin, January 16, 2008. . French and Cambodian judges of the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal met former Khmer Rouge fighters in one of Pol Pot's final strongholds to allay their fears about the long-awaited trials. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
People watch a Khmer Rouge tribunal education video during a public meeting with the co-investigating judges of the "Killing Fields" tribunal in the Kong Kang temple in the former Khmer Rouge strong hold northwest of Pailin, January 16, 2008. French and Cambodian judges of the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal met former Khmer Rouge fighters in one of Pol Pot's final strongholds to allay their fears about the long-awaited trials. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia genocide tribunal holds town hall meeting in former Khmer Rouge stronghold

2008-01-16

PAILIN, Cambodia (AP) - Officials from Cambodia's genocide tribunal held a town hall-style meeting Wednesday in the Khmer Rouge's former heartland to persuade neighbors of the regime's ex-rulers to help with the trials.

Judges and officials from the U.N.-backed tribunal held the meeting at a Buddhist temple on a hillside near Pailin, a derelict town near the northwestern border with Thailand where ex-Khmer Rouge leaders set up homes and lived for decades as ordinary citizens until last year.

Five senior figures of the Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people in the 1970s, were arrested last year and are awaiting long-delayed genocide trials to begin in the capital, Phnom Penh. The trials are scheduled to start this year.

More than 100 residents attended the question-and-answer session, the first activity of its kind conducted in Cambodia.

Tribunal officials hope the meeting will dispel fears that low-ranking former Khmer Rouge will become targets of the court. Officials hope to gain the valuable input of Pailin villagers as investigations continue into the alleged crimes of Khmer Rouge leaders.

Before the meeting got under way, officials distributed brochures titled, «An Introduction to the Trial of Khmer Rouge Leaders,» which showed a picture of villagers in the 1980s discovering a pile of skulls.

«I can't read,» said a 50-year-old woman, Chin Peap, before the meeting started. «But this picture shows the killing during the Khmer Rouge era.

The Buddhist temple where the meeting took place is the site of a 1996 ceremony that integrated ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers into the national army. The ceremony, presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen, was billed by the government as a gesture to end more than two decades of civil war.

The regime's notorious leader, Pol Pot, died in 1988.

Pol Pot's surviving deputies - Kaing Guek Eav, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan - are being held in the tribunal's custom-built jail in Phnom Penh on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.