Senior Khmer Rouge cadre jailed for mass murder and torture

Hong Sa Vath (L), 47, whose father was killed in the S-21 Tuol Sleng prison during the Khmer Rouge regime, reacts after hearing the verdict for senior Khmer Rouge commander Kaing Guek Eav outside the ECCC on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, July 26 2010. A U.N.-backed tribunal sentenced Kaing, also known as "Duch", to 35 years in prison on Monday in its first verdict on the "Killing Fields" revolution blamed for 1.7 million deaths in Cambodia three decades ago. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Mon Jul 26, 2010
By Martin Petty and Prak Chan Thul

"We hoped this tribunal would strike hard at impunity but if you can kill 14,000 people and serve only 19 years -- 11 hours per life taken -- what is that? It's a joke" - Theary Seng

Many former Khmer Rouge members are now part of Cambodia's civil service and occupy top positions in provincial and central government and experts say they are keen to curtail the court's progress and limit the scope of future investigations.

Long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen is himself a former Khmer Rouge foot soldier who says he defected to eventual conquerors Vietnam. He has warned of another civil war if the court expands its probes into the horrors of Pol Pot's "year zero" revolution.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon has also admitted his involvement as an interpreter for late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, while Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has been accused of having Khmer Rouge connections and heading a detention center. He denies the claims.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – The first Khmer Rouge commander to face a U.N.-backed tribunal was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Monday for overseeing 14,000 deaths in the 1970s, but he'll serve about half that, angering many Cambodians.

Kaing Guek Eav, a 67-year-old former prison chief known as Duch, received less than the maximum 40 years sought by the prosecution for his role in the ultra-communist "Killing Fields" regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths from 1975 to 1979.

Duch was found guilty of murder, torture, rape, crimes against humanity and other charges as chief of Tuol Sleng prison, a converted school known as S-21 that symbolized the horrors of a regime that wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population.

He betrayed no emotion as a judge read the verdict, which cut his sentence to 19 years for time already served. He could be released even earlier on parole if authorities believe has been rehabilitated, according to the court.

"We hoped this tribunal would strike hard at impunity but if you can kill 14,000 people and serve only 19 years -- 11 hours per life taken -- what is that? It's a joke," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian who is now a U.S. citizen and lost her father at S-21.

"My gut feeling is this has made the situation far worse for Cambodia," she said. "It has taken a lot of faith out of the system and raised concerns of political interference."

Duch had told the court he had no choice but to carry out orders and "kill or be killed." Prosecutors insisted he was "ideologically of the same mind" as the Khmer Rouge's top leaders and did nothing to stop rampant torture at his prison.

Some Cambodians wept after hearing the verdict, expressing outrage at the joint U.N.-Cambodian court, which has spent $78.4 million of foreign donations over five years to bring the first of five indicted Khmer Rouge officials to trial.

"There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch," said Hong Sovath, 47, sobbing in the courtroom. Her father, a diplomat, was killed in the prison. Khan Mony, whose aunt was executed after passing through S-21, said she was devastated.

Thousands huddled around televisions in cafes and homes to watch live broadcasts of the verdict.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

The court said it decided against life in prison for several reasons, including Duch's expressions of remorse, cooperation with the court, his "potential for rehabilitation" and the coercive environment of life under the Khmer Rouge.

"The chamber has decided there are significant mitigating factors that mandate a finite term imprisonment rather than life imprisonment," the tribunal's president said in a statement. Cambodia does not have capital punishment.

Now a born-again Christian, Duch had expressed "excruciating remorse" for the S-21 victims, most of them tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned to death at the "Killing Fields" execution sites during the agrarian revolution, which ended with a 1979 invasion by Vietnam.

Foreign investors see the Khmer Rouge trials as a gauge to whether rule of law is taking root in one of Asia's fastest-growing frontier markets. Justice, however, could be elusive as controversy surrounds other cadres awaiting trial.

The cases of former President Khieu Samphan, "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, ex-Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith are highly complex and politicized. Many fear they may never go to trial, or they might die before seeing a courtroom.

Standing in the way of justice, analysts say, is not just the excessive bureaucracy and a drawn-out legal process, but a powerful single-party government that has never fully backed the tribunal and has historical ties to the Khmer Rouge.

Many former Khmer Rouge members are now part of Cambodia's civil service and occupy top positions in provincial and central government and experts say they are keen to curtail the court's progress and limit the scope of future investigations.

Long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen is himself a former Khmer Rouge foot soldier who says he defected to eventual conquerors Vietnam. He has warned of another civil war if the court expands its probes into the horrors of Pol Pot's "year zero" revolution.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon has also admitted his involvement as an interpreter for late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, while Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has been accused of having Khmer Rouge connections and heading a detention center. He denies the claims.

(Writing by Jason Szep. Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Barely in power, Vy Houi is already threatening to fire CSD personnel

Seng Theary (L) and Vy Houi (R)

CSD personnel demand that the interim president ends his threats

19 July 2009
By Kim Pov
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Chao Chet

At least 50 employees of the Center for Social Development (CSD) among a total of 70 of them have signed a petition demanding that Vy Houi, the CSD interim president, ends a number of his actions that lead to the blocking of the center’s activities.

Representative of the employees who signed this petition accused Vy Houi of issuing threats and firing warning on 4 employees since he started his new position. At the same time, Vy Houi also prevented the withdrawal of cash to fund the various planned activities, and his action led to a complete paralysis of the center’s activities. “When he came, he closed all bank accounts, therefore the CSD is as good as dead.”

The employees accused Vy Houi on several points in their thumbprinted petition. The main demand is for Vy Houi to end his threat to fire employees, end the blocking of funding for the center’s social activities, and they asked that Vy Houi listen to the new board of directors which consists of 10 members.

Vy Huoi, who is under these accusations, cannot be reached to provide clarifications on all these issues, in spite of RFA’s multiple attempts to contact him on this Sunday 19 July.

The CSD was formed more then 10 years ago, its main function is help people with legal issues and to hold public forums in various areas to explain rights to the people.

The dispute at the CSD started in the past few years after Mrs. Chea Vannath, the former CSD president, left following her resignation.

After the departure of Mrs. Chea Vannath, Ms. Seng Theary was selected by the board of directors to take over this position, but then, internal disputes took place and the former board of directors decided to fire Seng Theary. However, a new board of directors was formed and it rejected the old board of directors and Seng Theary kept her position.

Vy Houi, the chairman of the former CSD board of directors, sued the formation of a new board of directors as well as the actions taken by Seng Theary. This case led the Phnom Penh municipal court to issue a decision last week proclaiming Vy Houi as the new CSD president replacing Seng Theary until a final decision will be made.

Seng Theary criticizes Hun Sen’s political interference in the KRT

22 March 2009
By San Suwidh
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Seng Theary, Director of the Center for Social Development (CSD), considers the recent declaration made by PM Hun Sen in regards to the number of suspects to be charged by the KR Tribunal (KRT) as a political interference.

Seng Theary said: “Now we can see that the KRT has charged only 5 individuals, as for the PM, I think that his action is illegal because he cannot interfere with the court system which must remain independent. He raised the issue that there should be no more than 5 persons being charged [by the KRT], this is political interference, however, the court must remain independent.”

Following the alleged corruption perpetrated by the KRT employees, a report indicated that employees had to pay salary kickbacks to their bosses in order to keep their jobs. Furthermore, regarding the claim that Hun Sen interferes in the KRT, Hun Sen angrily replied to this charge by saying that the UN should be the first one to be brought to court because it always supported the KR.

Hun Sen declared: “If there was no 07 January, there would be no today either, there would not be any human rights to come and make all these claims. The human rights chief, they were rice thieves [under Pol Pot], they are 100-cow puppets, at that time [Pol Pot era], they bowed their heads to Ah Pot [Pol Pot: then-Hun Sen’s boss], they carried the dirt in the country also. They never talked about human rights during that time (Pol Pot era) because a number of groups knew that Pol Pot killed people between 75 to 79, so why do they support Pol Pot until 1993? If they did not know, they are not at fault, but if they knew and they still get involved with it, then their sentence should be even more serious than Ah Pot. If there is a judgment, the UN should be sentenced first, the UN itself should be sentenced, including all those countries that supported Pol Pot at the UN between 1979 and 1991. Now you are proud to judge this and that, nonstop. I just saw the declaration, I received the report, this issue must end. It must stop! This person is this, that person is that, how can there be so many issues? We judged them [KR leaders] in 1979, but you do not recognize it and you want to continue. With the new judgment, it is so complicated and it costs several hundreds of millions.”

The above statement made by Hun Sen clearly shows that the government is interfering with the independence of the KRT.

Khmer Blue Has Purists Seeing Red

"Yak 2" - a drawing posted on reahu.net

A Cambodian-American artist has upset some of his countrymen with highly controversial paintings of mythical apsaras, a heavenly female figure.

11/01/2009
By Luke Hunt
Bangkok Post

At first glance it's obvious. Koke Lor's art has been inspired by the bare-breasted apsaras dancing across the stone walls of Angkor Wat and hundreds of other temples that dot the Cambodian landscape.

He has also taken great pleasure in adding a dash of colour, a smile and a relaxed pose to the ladies in his portraits. In doing so, this Khmer-American artist has breathed some fresh air into an art scene overwhelmed by tradition - and landed himself an inbox full of hate mail.

Cambodia's Minister for Women's Affairs, Ing Kantha Phavy, has drawn comparisons between Lor's art and pornography, telling Spectrum the paintings were a negative reflection of Cambodian culture, values and honour, and like pornography, it was a danger to local youths.

"Most Cambodian women have reacted against these paintings. They cannot accept these paintings," she said, adding the country's powerful Post and Telecommunications Ministry is investigating ways of shutting down Lor's website, reahu.net, named after the art collective of which he is a member.

Cambodia is commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge this week. Pol Pot, widely renowned for his intolerance of beauty and the annihilation of Khmer culture and apsara dancing, was swept from power by the invading Vietnamese on Jan 7, 1979.

Ten years of Vietnamese occupation followed, and civil war continued until 1998, the year Pol Pot died.

However, the country has also had 11 years of peace and is enjoying a relatively prosperous period during which the arts and education are flourishing amid hopes that a more enlightened era is beckoning. But in Cambodia the killjoys in government are never too far away.

Chuch Phoeurn, the secretary of state for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said Lor, like any other artist, had the right to use his imagination, but warned: "It is wrong to paint in order to degrade Cambodian women or apsara dancers."

Essentially, an apsara is a heavenly female figure, or spirit, idolised within Hindu and Buddhist cultures, and any portrayal of the mythical women who serviced the courts of Khmer kings 1,000 years ago is to tinker with the foundations of a culture.

So, when Lor plucks a woman from the ranks of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, grants her a tasteful makeover and transforms a dowdy killer into an attractive apsara with a gun, everybody in Cambodia is going to have an opinion. Especially the likes of Tuol Sleng (the notorious S-21 prison) survivor Vann Nath, who simply said: "We are not happy with these kinds of paintings. They affect the feelings of the victims and do not reflect the truth of that era."

Such attitudes have turned Lor, himself a survivor of the Killing Fields, into something of a recluse.

"To be honest, it does intimidate me," he told Spectrum, "due to the threatening emails I've received.

"You know what people in high places are capable of doing, and they could also slap me with some kind of defamation charges."

When asked about the Khmer Rouge girl, he says: "Yes I did that one. It's my way of dealing with atrocity. I went through the ordeal and it was a painful childhood.

"When it comes to the Khmer Rouge, all you'll hear is bloodshed and the Killing Fields. I've just thrown in a 'What if?"'

Lor's knowledge of the Khmer Rouge is first-hand. As an eight-year-old he fled Cambodia with his family in 1979, as Pol Pot's iron grip over the country was nearing its end and the world began counting the almost two million left dead from the policies imposed by the ultra-Maoists.

The family moved to the US, where Lor earned a degree in engineering with a minor in fine art. He is single and now lives in Chicago where he established a small art collective known as reahu.net with two other Khmer-Americans, Bong T and Chronicle.

"That is how they would like to be known. They are great tattoo artists," Lor said.

Unbeknown to most, Lor spent the 30th anniversary of Pol Pot's overthrow in Cambodia, where he sized-up the reaction to his work, and while there was no shortage of outraged puritans, there was also plenty of support from the local art scene, which readily praised his portraits.

Author Theary Seng, who wrote Daughter of the Killing Fields and is also executive director of the Centre for Social Development in Cambodia, was blunt in her appraisal: "I love it! I want to buy some for my apartment!

"It's exquisitely beautiful in it's celebration of the human body and an adherence to how apsaras were then - naked as depicted.

"His work builds Khmer culture, it doesn't destroy it," she said.

Ms Seng also reserved a few choice words for the critics.

"We are such a hypocritical and blind society to beauty; we call white, black and black, white; we trade the genuine for the synthetic.

"The naysayers tend to be those who appoint themselves as the guardians of Khmer culture, but their response is really just a knee-jerk reaction, and they have limited understanding and appreciation of beauty, aesthetics and culture," she said.

The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights has also taken up Reahu's cause and urged the government to forsake censorship and asked it not to block the Reahu website.

Meanwhile, Peg LeVine from the Melbourne-Phnom Penh based Monash Asia Institute said Lor and Reahu had struck a justifiable chord of restlessness in Cambodian society.

She said the images held a sensual beauty that was beyond question, but added: "It is not the images, per se, that are at issue here. Rather it is the vehemence by which he 'uses' if not abuses the ancestral and culturally-embedded meanings of the apsara."

In this sense she adds the artists associated with Reahu could be proving themselves to be more American-Khmer than Khmer-American.

Writing in the Phnom Penh Post, the French-Cambodian author Somanos Sar said the public outrage over Reahu was more about limits on freedom, rights and responsibilities.

"I would suggest to him that he paint a female Nazi fighter in the same way he has painted the female Khmer Rouge fighter. Maybe he could then feel the frontiers between freedom and responsibility."

Lor is unrepentant and wants Cambodians to look beyond the four walls of home, arguing that at the end of the day pictures cannot damage a culture that is confident in itself.

But given the years of destruction, a notorious culture of impunity and corruption across most levels of Cambodia's bureaucracies and institutions, few would argue that this country's culture is on solid ground.

The government has also proved adept at meddling in the social and private lives of its citizens.

At various times Western music and dance have been banned, curfews imposed, women told to wear skirts below the knee, adultery is an imprisonable offence despite the well-known dalliances of politicians, and marriage between local women and foreigners is regulated.

Lor also told Spectrum that he had considered staging an exhibition of his work in Cambodia, but had decided against it in favour of keeping it on the internet, at least in the short term.

"I don't think Cambodia is ready for it yet. Maybe in the future when things have calmed down, or when they have grown to accept my work, but it has been a great experience - I will be back here next year to see if my art is more acceptable."

Calls for further Khmer Rouge trials

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

There are renewed calls in Cambodia for more former Khmer Rouge leaders to be prosecuted by the UN-backed special court, commonly known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

The special court will hear its first case on the 17 February.

Five former Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried, including the second-in-charge Nuon Chea and the former head of state Khieu Samphan.

Theary Seng, head of the Centre for Social Development in Phnom Penh, who lost her parents during Khmer Rouge rule, has told Connect Asia a symbolic trial is not enough.

"To try to prosecute only five, is not enough," she said.

"I understand that hundreds, if not thousands, could potentially be prosecuted for the mass crimes which occurred in the 1970s, taking the lives of at least 2 million Cambodians, including my parents.

"So, if hundreds and thousands are not realistic, well, five is not enough either."

Cambodian Gambling Remains a Concern

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
23 December 2008

Civic groups in Cambodia working in social development are urging the authorities to immediately close gambling facilities, which are taking away the daily incomes of simple people and high-ranking officials alike.

Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, called gambling a social virus that leads to theft, domestic violence and increased poverty.

“I suggest the authorities close down the gambling sites, as we have already seen that gambling is like a dangerous disease, in the family and in society,” she said.

Cambodia has an estimated 30 to 50 large casinos and up to 100 smaller sites, most of them set up in hotels, night clubs, bars and discos in Phnom Penh. These operate along with sports gambling facilities, kickboxing matches and lotteries.

Cambodia loses millions of dollars a year to gambling, while people spend time betting instead of working and overall production and the economy suffers, said Son Chhay, parliamentarian for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party.

“It is such a waste of time,” he said. “Our country is an impoverished country, so we need labor to produce.”

Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naroth said sports betting was permitted, but there is only one casino in Phnom Penh, Naga, which doesn’t allow Cambodians inside.

“Besides Naga casino, there are only slot machines in the hotels,” he said. “These are only electronic machines.”

Hun Sen has meanwhile ordered a crackdown on slot machines and a ban on gambling by Cambodians, an order local authorities are following.

However, Son Chhay urged the closing of all gambling establishments, including sports betting.

Foreign companies are collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from Cambodia, he said, adding that the companies bribe high-ranking police and military officials to protect their businesses.

Tribunal Struggles With Civil Party Role

Chum Mey, one of the few survivors of Tuol Sleng prison, is also one of the civil parties participating in Khmer Rouge tribunal proceedings.

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 July 2008

As the pre-trial detention hearing of jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary came to a close this week, participants found themselves at odds over how much victim participation through civil parties was too much.

Prior to one session of the hearings, the Pre-Trial Chamber judges ruled that one individual, Seng Theary, a Cambodian-American lawyer whose parents died under the Khmer Rouge, would not be allowed to participate directly. Pre-trial judges ruled that for the Ieng Sary hearings, civil party victims of the regime would only be allowed to express themselves through lawyers.

That ruling has raised questions over how much participation should be allowed in the future.

The UN-Cambodia tribunal was designed with a unique element: the presence of civil parties, who participate alongside prosecutors and the defense, representing their own cases but also speaking as a voice of the victims. But following the hearings Thursday, lawyers told reporters there was a limit.

"In some ways, it was really a bad week from the perspective of the civil parties," said lawyer for the civil parties Silke Studzinsky. "We received this week a ruling by the Pre-Trial Chamber saying that civil parties are not allowed to speak personally if they are not represented."

Under the tribunal's internal rules, civil parties are not obligated to have a lawyer, Studzinsky said.

Seng Theary called the ruling "a prevention of the civil parties' rights."

Michael Karnavas, co-defense for Ieng Sary, disagreed.

"We still have not set up the modality, how far can [civil parties] go, what should they do?" he said Thursday. "Half the time they are just repeating the arguments that the prosecutors made, rather than say, 'I concur,' and then adding one or two points."

However, Studzinsky said Karnavas was used to working with courts in a system of common law, unlike the system used to set-up the tribunal.

William Smith, co-deputy prosecutor, called civil parties very important for the tribunal. They play a watchdog role, he said, and stand up for the interest of all victims.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the role of the civil parties was important to the courts, but in some cases, testimony such as Seng Theary's is not crucial.

"Seng Theary's case is not the same," he said. "The expression of the victims in person will be more interesting in the trials."

Crisis at CSD?

Center for Social Development director Theary Seng was voted out of office by one of the group’s two conflicting boards of directors. (Photo: Kay Kimsong)

Friday, 27 June 2008
Written by Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

Crisis has again engulfed the Center for Social Development (CSD), one of Cambodia’s most visible civil society groups, following a leadership dispute that culminated in the alleged dismissal Tuesday of Theary Seng, the organization’s executive director.

Her reported firing came amid uncertainty as to who has legal control of the organization, with two separate boards of directors claiming legitimate decision-making powers.

“The entire board has unanimously resolved to dismiss Theary Seng,” said Vi Houi, a member of a three-member board of directors that claims to be CSD’s key decision-making body.

“The main issue is that Theary has not been accountable to the board. If she doesn’t come to meetings when the board calls a meeting, it means she doesn’t want to do her job,” he said.

According to Houi, the other 11-member board, constituted earlier this year after the old board’s term expired last November, was a legal fabrication, and part of the reason for the executive’s dismissal.

“It’s not legal. It’s not legitimate to disagree with the board and then to go out and organize your own board,” he said. “Staff can’t go out and make their own board. That’s one reason [we have] rushed to dismiss Theary.”

If she refused to step down, Houi added, the next step would be formal legal action. “It’s a very simple thing. She’s the employee, the board is her employer. If she doesn’t want to do what the board says, she can leave.”

However, Theary, who has served as executive director of the CSD since 2006, rejected the decision of the board members, saying that their terms ended in November and have not since been renewed.

“The acts of these three individuals… have been ones of obstruction, destruction and immaturity; they reflect a sad and desperate attempt at power,” Theary told the Post by email. “Simply put, the answer is power.”

She said that the new board was elected according to the organization’s constitution, and that any decision made by the other board has no legal standing.

“The new board members came about after opening the floor for nomination, [which was open] to former existing board members, the management committee and donors,” she said.

The current crisis has cast a shadow over CSD, which has been an active member of Cambodia’s NGO community since it was founded in 1995. But whatever the outcome of the internal dispute, Theary said she is confident it will not impact the organization’s activities.

“It has made my staff much stronger … it has chipped away at all our unhealthy naiveté and unconditional trust of foreigners and people with seniority of age and status,” she said. “CSD is moving forward. This is a non-issue.”

Civil society reactions to the court request to lift Sam Rainsy’s immunity

18 June 2008
By Leang Delux
Cambodge Soir Hedbo
Unofficial translation from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the original article in French

Several observers fear that this affair may hamper the good progress of the July general election, by creating an atmosphere detrimental to the election campaign.

Several members of the civil society, in charge of observing the progress of the upcoming election, do not hide their concerns about the request made by the prosecutor of the Phnom Penh municipal court to lift Sam Rainsy’s immunity.

“This was done to provoke a general panic among the voters and the activists before the election,” Kul Panha, Comfrel executive director, underscored while condemning the lawsuits brought up against politicians, especially when close to the election. “The government must be the only guarantor for the holding of free and equitable election,” Kul Panha said while adding that he will follow this case very closely.

Kul Panha’s opinion is also shared by Seng Theary, the director of the Center for Social Development (CSD). To her, the fact that a member of the government brings a lawsuit against his political opponent is nothing but a political plot. “Politics is mixed up with the law still. In actual democratic countries, people do not dare lift the immunity of a MP, much less that of an opposition MP,” Seng Theary said.

Puthea Hang, executive director of NICFEC, another organization in charge of controlling the election, said that he was “very worried about the political atmosphere.” All this seems to indicate that the ruling party does not want to see any opposition party leaders participating in the general election.

Nevertheless, Tep Nitha, secretary-general of the National Election Committee (NEC), sees in this affair nothing more than a “personal dispute” between Hor Namhong and Sam Rainsy. However, he conceded: “This more or less affects the progress of the election because the person involved is a candidate. But, this depends on the National Assembly and the justice system, both of which are independent from the NEC,” Tep Nitha explained.

Attempt to oust Seng Theary from CSD?

Seng Theary, current executive director of the Center for Social Development (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

CSD faces internal dispute

23 May 2008
By Sophal Mony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The Center for Social Development (CSD) cancelled its first annual general meeting after 2 police officers from the Ministry of Interior went inside the CSD compound to hand over a firing letter to Ms. Seng Theary, the CSD executive director. The letter was delivered on order of two of the former board directors.

Soeung Chandara, CSD finance director, indicated that Vi Houi, the chairman of the board of director, and Mrs. Peung Yok Hiep, a board director [KI-Media note: CSD indicated that the pair were former border directors who were recently replaced by a newly elected board of directors], ordered two police officers to meet with Ms. Seng Theary, at 08:00 AM, on Thursday morning, to deliver a letter to fire her at the CSD, however, CSD employees prevented these police officers from taking this action claiming the police action was against the law.

Soeung Chandara said: “This action (by the former two board directors) is not good at all … Do they have a mission letter? Do they have an order letter or anything else? When they (police officers) said no, then their action was illegal.”

On Thursday, CSD organized its first annual general meeting to showcase its action plan, as well as to announce a number of reports on activities completed by the center. However, CSD was forced to delay the meeting due to the presence of the police officers and due to internal dispute with its (former) board of directors.

Peung Yok Hiep, a (former) board director, claimed that the she and Vi Houi, the (former) chairman of the board of director, used these police officers to protect their personal safety, and the pair ordered the police officers to hand the letter to fire Ms. Seng Theary, current CSD executive director: “That letter was a letter to fire her.”

Vi Houi declared that the problem occurred because of internal dispute between the (former) board of directors and the administrators of the CSD: “The internal problem (occurred) because of the relationship between the CSD executive director and the board members, there is a lack in understanding of each party’s role…”

The CSD board of directors must include 5 directors, however, currently, there are only two of them: Vi Houi, the chairman of the board, and Peung Yok Heip, a board director, however, Mrs. Chea Vannath’s position is not clear yet because the center is still asking her. The other 2 board members resigned: Keat Sokun and Kate Bryson.

Seng Theary, CSD executive director, declined to comment on this issue to reporters. However, Im Sophea, CSD executive aid, indicated that this issue arose because the CSD bylaws are not clear: “It is wrong for each person to comment about their role.”

Both sides claimed that they are currently looking for an arbitrator to end this dispute.

Victims Applaud UN Tribunal Stance

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
18 April 2008

Members of civil society and survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime welcomed the words of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said this week the international community must play a role in helping a hybrid tribunal close one of history’s “darkest chapters.”

The tribunal is facing growing financial difficulties, as donor countries evaluate whether the courts can meet international standards and deserve funding.

“Now is a good chance to find enough money to try Khmer Rouge leaders,” said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, who has filed suit against jailed leader Nuon Chea in tribunal proceedings. “That’s why I support and appeal to any country to fund the Khmer Rouge tribunal and participate.”

The tribunal has faced allegations of corruption and mismanagement, but it is now asking donors for up to $114 million over the original $56 million budget.

Ban said Tuesday, on the 10th anniversary of Pol Pot’s death, that the UN and the government are “actively engaged” in bringing five jailed former Khmer Rouge leaders to trial.

“With the support of the international community, it is my hope that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia will soon deliver long-overdue justice for the people of Cambodia,” he said, referring to the tribunal by its official name.

Van Nath, a survivor of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, whose chief, Duch, is awaiting trial in tribunal detention, said Friday he supported more funding for a speedy tribunal.

Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho, said she hoped the coming of the new year would help donors change their minds to help finish the tribunal proceedings.

“If it stops, we have to release the Khmer Rouge leaders,” she said.

Election Problems Persist, Group Warns

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 April 2008

Cambodia's political climate has improved since general elections in 2003, but critical problems remain, the US-based National Democratic Institute said Friday.

The group cited as cause for concern judicial intimidation of the opposition, improper removal of eligible voters from registries, and restricted access by competing parties to electronic media.

"We have seen improvement since 2003, especially with respect to the National Election Commission, but this is far from a level playing field and the context is such that one party continues to dominate the entire political system," said Peter Manikas, NDI director of Asia programs.

The National Election Committee was now operating with more transparency, and more women were involved in politics, the group noted, following a five-day visit by international delegates.

"This is free expression, so they can make comments and make some opinions before or during the election period," NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha said. "However, NEC is now resolving their concerns."

NDI also recommended the NEC move out of the Ministry of Interior.

Seng Theary, executive director at the Center for Social Development, said the NDI recommendations echoed concerns from civil society.

She fully supported them, she said.

Tribunal Seeks to Lower Budget Proposal: A continued sign of ECCC budget funding?

Tribunal Seeks to Lower Budget Proposal

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
02 April 2008

Khmer Rouge tribunal officials are seeking to reduce a proposed budget to international donors, as it cuts expenses in an effort to prolong operations.

Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said Tuesday the courts were looking at ways to lower a request to donors for $114 million, to extend court proceedings against five jailed Khmer Rouge leaders through 2011.

"Everybody recognizes it's a large increase, and we recognize that we have to justify such a large increase," Jarvis said. "We are currently trying to see if we can reduce that figure. So we are discussing this in much more detail with judicial officers and the administrative staff of the court."

The tribunal is also cutting expenditures in order to continue operations on the Cambodian side of the hybrid courts through May, she said.

The administrative budget for the Cambodian side of the courts was expected to run out in April, including salaries for staff.

The cost-cutting measures follow a trip by tribunal administrators to New York last week to brief more than 20 donor representatives on the progress of the courts.

The tribunal should be careful in reducing its estimates, to ensure the process of the tribunal is not hurt, said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development.

Civil society should also be consulted in the reduction of the estimate, she said.

Profile: Seng Theary - A fighting woman

Seng Theary, Esq., trained in the US, and a champion of human rights in Cambodia (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

11 March 2008
By Kang Kallyann
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Any kind of injustice revolts her, the lawyer is fighting against human rights violations in Cambodia and she is dedicating her life to accomplish this mission.

“If someone hates a Cambodian woman, I feel that I am being aimed at also.” Seng Theary does not support discriminations. On the eve of the International Women Day, she estimates that the rights of Cambodian women are still limited. “Society does not give them an official spot, even though the State declared the equality (of rights) between men and women,” she said with regret.

Raised in the US, the lawyer now works to develop similar rights in Cambodia as those in her adoptive country. Furthermore, for the last two years, she is heading the Center for Social Development (CSD), a Phnom Penh-based organization dedicated to the defense of human rights. Since its formation in 1995, the CSD fight to promote dialogue between the citizens and to encourage national reconciliation, mainly through public forums. CSD also pushes for good governance and for the follow-up on the upcoming July general election. In addition, CSD also performs observations on judiciary work in Cambodia.

Dressed in modern fashion, with a English-accent, Theary is a woman filled with courage. Behind her though, lies a very dark background. She gave an account of her life in 2005, in a book she published, “Daughter of Killing Fields.” Born in 1971 in Phnom Penh, she survived the KR regime. She lived in the province of Svay Rieng, near the Vietnamese border, an area where the KR massacres were the most intensified. Her parents did not escape though, their disappearances still remain intact in her memory.

In the beginning of February 2007, she was among of the first witnesses who were heard by the trial case against the former KR leaders. During Nuon Chea’s hearing, she provided an account of herslef being thrown into jail at the age of seven, along with her younger brother. She remained there for five months and was one of the five survivors in that area. Along with other surviving members of her family, she reached the Thai border in November 1979, and through an uncle, she was able to move to the US one year leater.

With a curious mind, the young Theary decided to study law. She wanted to understand how human rights could be violated under the KR regime. “I think I had the chance to settle and being educated in this country where human rights (is respected).” Theary graduated in 1995 in International political science from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service. In 2000, she obtained her J.D. degree from the University of Michigan. She was admitted to the New York State Bar Association, and she is currently waiting to be admitted to the Cambodian Bar Association.

During her first return to Cambodia in 1995, she collaborated as a volunteer for various human rights defense groups. Theary also taught English to government workers at the Ministry of Justice, through the Cambodian American National Development Organization (CANDO). She also worked as a legal aid for poor people at the Legal Aid of Cambodia. In about 18-month, she learned a great deal about human rights – the most important element, according to Theary – in the Cambodian society. Still pursuing after injustices, she wrote a report on the children of prisoners. She visited 20 jails between 1996 and 1997 and she denounced the lack of a special detention center for minors. “Normally, they should be separated from the adults, this is not the case in Cambodia,” she said.

In January 2004, this woman who cherishes her independence, is settling definitively in her birth country. Single at 37, she is dedicating her life to her work. She is one of the judges of the TV program “Youth Leadership Challenge” which selects youths to be sent to the US for their studies. Theary is also the co-founder and vice-president of the Women’s Association of Small and Medium Business (WASMB) and a member of the Cambodian Living Arts Association. In spite of all her work, the lawyer still pursues her life long mission: to participate in the development of the Khmer society.

Seng Theary's addressing the ECCC during Nuon Chea's bail appeal hearing

33 min

Deadline Approaching for Tribunal Budget, Groups Worry

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 January 2008

The Khmer Rouge tribunal is facing a time and money crunch that could make trials difficult, two rights groups warned Tuesday.

"There is enough budget for the salaries of the international members for the whole year in 2008. But the Cambodian personnel who are working at the Khmer Rouge tribunal will run out of money in the next few months," said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development. "If the Khmer Rouge tribunal has no budget, the tribunal will not be able to dispense salaries for the personnel. When the personnel have no salary, we are concerned that the court might stall."

Observers worry the tribunal will run out of funds before all five jailed Khmer Rouge leaders are tried, in proceedings the Cambodian foreign minister has said could run into 2012.

A budget shortfall has made the trial of five jailed former Khmer Rouge leaders more difficult, said Hisham Moussar, a legal expert monitoring the tribunal for the rights group Adhoc.

The tribunal's mandate only has a year and a half remaining, he said, "a short time."

"And if the time is short and the money is not there on time, it will be more difficult for the trial of the five people," he said.

Khieu Kanharith: "Ignorant foreigners" attempt to use Cambodia's genocide as a fundraising vehicle -sic!-

Members of the police and military stand guard at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh January 20, 2008. Cambodian police barred Hollywood actress Mia Farrow and other activists from laying flowers at a "Killing Fields" museum on Sunday, as part of a campaign to end atrocities in Sudan's Darfur. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Police stop tourists as they stand guard at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh January 20, 2008. Cambodian police barred Hollywood actress Mia Farrow and other activists from laying flowers at a "Killing Fields" museum on Sunday, as part of a campaign to end atrocities in Sudan's Darfur. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Tourists look on as police stand guard at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh January 20, 2008. Cambodian police barred Hollywood actress Mia Farrow and other activists from laying flowers at a "Killing Fields" museum on Sunday, as part of a campaign to end atrocities in Sudan's Darfur. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia shutters genocide museum to block US actress Farrow

Sun, 20 Jan 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian police locked down a former Khmer Rouge prison Sunday with barricades in a 300 metre radius after US actress Mia Farrow vowed to continued with a scheduled anti-China rally. More than 200 officers were posted to block the elderly actress and entourage that had intended to light a torch at the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.

Farrow's global Dream For Darfur rally draws attention to China's economic support of Sudan and the war in Darfur ahead of the August Olympics, but China is one of Cambodia's staunchest allies and authorities banned it and threatened arrests and deportations.

In the end, however, it was an anticlimax, with Farrow and friend Seng Theary, director of her Cambodian partner agency Center for Social Development, forced to stand forlornly on the wrong side of the barrier holding wilting white water lilies in scorching heat for an hour in a 70-strong crowd before giving up.

Farrow said little, letting the outspoken young US-Khmer rights activist Seng do all the talking as they pleaded fruitlessly for entry. But the pair suffered more jostling from journalists, who appeared to outnumber Dreamers, than they did from police.

Some Farrow supporters tried to threatened police with US embassy intervention, but were rebuffed. Phnom Penh security chief Police General Hy Pru turned up to supervise, and the rally ended quietly.

Police said there were no arrests.

Cambodian officials were vehement in denying permission to the organizers. Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith branded them ignorant foreigners attempting to use Cambodia's genocide as a fund-raising vehicle.

Museum director Chey Sopheara was among those who felt the ceremony would hijack the memories of the up to 16,000 people who were tortured or killed in former school.

At a press conference after the rally, Farrow, 62, and Seng expressed disappointment but no regrets. On Saturday, authorities allowed Farrow to tour the museum sans torch and Sunday said the problem was the torch and the agenda, not Farrow herself.

Up to 2 million Cambodians died in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime.

US actress headed for showdown in Cambodia

Seng Theary, Center for Social Development Director, is dubbed "Tuol Sleng Theary" for her activism in the Dream for Darfur event organization in Phnom Penh

19.01.08
DPA

US actress Mia Farrow appeared on a collision course with Cambodian authorities Saturday after her supporters vowed she would proceed with an anti-China rally at a former Khmer Rouge jail Sunday despite Cambodian government objections. The 62-year-old's supporters posted fliers advertising the Dream For Darfur event Friday night.

Her local partner Theary Seng, director of the German-funded Centre for Social Development, told local media they would proceed with the symbolic torch burning at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in the capital despite a government ban.

Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naroth warned the rally would not be tolerated.

" Cambodia is a sovereign nation. We have laws, and if they are not respected we will use them," he said.

Farrow, previously better known for her acting, haircuts and husbands, has become a respected humanitarian through her Dream For Darfur campaign, which aims to highlight China's economic support of Sudan in the lead-up to the August Olympics in Beijing.

China is one of Cambodia's strongest allies.

The government and the museum's director have also voiced concerns that the ceremony fails to respect Buddhist beliefs.

Farrow's supporters reject the claims.

Up to 16,000 people were tortured or killed at Toul Sleng during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 regime. Buddhism is the state religion.

The Cambodia Daily, the local English-language newspaper, Saturday quoted government spokesman Khieu Kanharith as saying those who participated in Sunday's protest would be subject to arrest and deportation.

Seng, an American-Cambodian, was quoted as saying she was undaunted and put freedom of expression first.

On Thursday, Kanharith accused the group of being "foreigners" with little insight into Cambodian history who hoped to raise funds using the memory of Khmer Rouge victims as a vehicle.

Many Cambodians still blame the US for the rise of the Khmer Rouge after it backed Marshall Lon Nol's 1970's coup which toppled former King Norodom Sihanouk's government from power. The US later mounted a secret and devastating bombing campaign against Cambodia allegedly aimed at destroying travel routes for Viet Cong.

Some have jokingly dubbed Farrow's ally Seng 'Toul Sleng Theary' in reference to the moniker 'Hanoi Jane' earned by US actress Jane Fonda when she visited the capital of neighbouring Vietnam in 1972.

Up to 2 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge regime. Millions more were displaced during and after the 30-year civil war.

Hun Sen's cops may have to arrest US Ambassador Mussomeli who will be attending the Symbolic Darfur Olympic Torch Relay in Tuol Sleng also

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact:

• In Cambodia: Saing Soenthrith, +855.12.947.499 and Rany Pen, rany@csdcambodia.org, +855.17.702.763
• International: Jonathan Freedman: jf@groupsjr.com / +1.212.751.3326 (US code)

MIA FARROW LIGHTS SYMBOLIC OLYMPIC TORCH IN CAMBODIA, UNITING GENOCIDE SURVIVORS IN A CALL FOR AN END TO THE DARFUR CRISIS

Special Plea to China, as host of ’08 Olympics: “Bring the Olympic Dream to Darfur”

What: Symbolic Olympic Torch Relay to be passed among Cambodian survivors of genocide and Darfur advocates.

Who:

• Mia Farrow, actor and human rights activist who has travelled to the Darfur region 7 times
• Van Nath, Khmer survivor and artist at the Toul Sleng prison
• Jill Savitt, Director of Dream for Darfur, which runs the Olympic Dream for Darfur campaign
• Theary Seng, Khmer survivor, author, Executive Director of the Center for Social Development
• Omer Ismael, Sudanese from Darfur and human rights advocate
• Freddy Mutanguha, Rwandan survivor and director of the Kigali Memorial Center
• Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli, US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia

Where: Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Press Conference to follow inside the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.

When: January 20, 2008: Torch lighting ceremony at 9.30am, Press conference to follow at 10am.

Why: The Toul Sleng Genocide Museum is a former high school that was used as a security prison (called S-21) and torture center by the Khmer Rouge. Dream for Darfur is holding a torch lighting ceremony there both to commemorate past victims of genocide and to remind us what happen when the world looks away, as is happening in Darfur currently. In particular, the torch relay will call attention to the constructive role that China could play in the Darfur crisis. The symbolic Olympic Torch Relay is urging the Chinese government as both Olympic host and Sudan's strongest political and economic partner, to use its special influence with the Sudanese government to ensure a robust civilian protection force in Darfur before the Games begin.

Cambodia is the sixth stop on an international symbolic Olympic Torch Relay that began in August near the Darfur border and continued to Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Bosnia & Herzegovina over the last five months. For video and photos of past torch lightings:
www.dreamfordarfur.org

Background:

Dream for Darfur, is a US based advocacy group that is organizing the Olympic Dream for Darfur torch relay. The Cambodia torch lighting is being co-hosted with the Center for Social Development that has been conducting grassroots dialogues with victims and perpetrators all over the country. In solidarity with the global Olympic Torch Relay, there have been relays organized in several other countries, including a US relay that traveled through over 60 cities. The relays seek to use the Olympic ideals of peace and international cooperation to raise awareness about Darfur and as a step toward growing an international anti-genocide movement. The campaign does not support a boycott of the Olympics and does not advocate withdrawal by any nation from this essential forum.

Seng Theary: "The older generation in Cambodia is afraid of change. But the new generation is not afraid"

Seng Theary, Executive Director of the Center for Social Development.

Cambodia's Changes Not All Positive, Rights Leader Says

By Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
14 December 2007

Cambodia has changed greatly since first elections were held in 1993, nearly 15 years later, not all those changes have been positive, a rights activist said Thursday.

Cambodians do enjoy more freedoms than they did before the UN-sponsored elections, and their access to information is better, but problems like human trafficking, AIDS and the theft of land have followed, said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development.

"For example, Cambodia has a big problem with human trafficking that did not exist before Untac," she said. "Now that the infrastructure is better, the rich people can go out to the countryside and grab the poor people's land."

Seng Theary was born in Cambodia and lived through the Khmer Rouge regime. She emigrated to the United States when she was nine and but returned to Cambodia as an adult and became the head of CSD in 2006.

Despite the problems, Seng Theary said she has high hopes for the future of the country, especially through the motivation and open-mindedness of the young.

"The older generation in Cambodia is afraid of change. But the new generation is not afraid," she said. "They seize the opportunity in front of them."