Sam Rainsy held a commemoration ceremony in Choeung Ek Memorial

Friday, April 18, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy participated in a Buddhist commemoration ceremony on 17 April morning at the Choeung Ek Memorial center to pay tribute to the more than 20,000 people who were killed there under the Pol Pot regime. The ceremony included 70 monks and about 2,000 participants. In a speech given during the ceremony, Sam Rainsy said that this religious commemoration is conducted to pay tribute to the more than 20,000 victims who were killed at the Boeng Choeung Ek Lake. Sam Rainsy called on the UN and the International committee to speed up the trial of the KR leaders who are currently being detained, because they are getting older and they could die of natural cause prior to the end of their trial. Sam Rainsy declared that, in the name of the 14 million people of Cambodia, he asked that there is no further delay in this trial. He said that: “We cannot forget this dark historical chapter which started on 17 April 1975, and which led to the killing of more than 2 million people in Cambodia.”

KRouge survivors demand swift trials in Cambodia

Sam Rainsy (C) and Buddhist monks (R) look at skulls on diplay at the Choeung Ek killing fields memorial.

17 April 2008
AFP

CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia - Hundreds of survivors of the Khmer Rouge gathered Thursday at Cambodia's killing fields to demand speedy trials of the regime's leaders on the anniversary of the capital's fall to the ultra-Maoists.

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

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and about 700 people assembled at the sombre memorial to mark 33 years since Phnom Penh fell to the communist guerrillas, who are believed to be behind the deaths of up to two million people.

"I plead to the United Nations and the international community to push for the trials of Khmer Rouge leaders soon. Otherwise, the Khmer Rouge leaders ... will die without any convictions," Sam Rainsy said.

"We demand the UN-backed court quickly try the Khmer Rouge leaders and render justice to the victims," he said.

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

Frustration has been building as a funding crisis has caused delays in the tribunal, leaving many Cambodians fearful that convictions might come too late.

"I have been waiting for justice for years," said villager Sou Phan, who lost more than 10 relatives under the regime. "I pray for the souls of the skulls to help make the court try the Khmer Rouge leaders before they die."

Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools.

Millions more were driven from the cities onto vast collective farms as the ultra-Maoist regime sought to create an agrarian utopia.

A joint Cambodia-UN tribunal convened in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling.

Public trials of the regime's five top surviving leaders, who were recently detained by the court on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, are expected to begin later this year.

Opposition Renews Call for Speedy Tribunal

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
17 April 2008

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy pushed for quicker trials of jailed Khmer Rouge leaders under a hybrid tribunal, as he marked the 33rd anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh Thursday.

“We must realize the trial of former Khmer Rouge as soon as possible,” Sam Rainsy said at a Buddhist ceremony to mark the day at Choeung Ek, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. “We must not hang around.”

To commemorate the day when the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and began emptying Cambodia’s cities, monks chanted before a stupa of skulls, the remains of only some of the nearly 2 million who died under the disastrous policies of the regime.

Sam Rainsy said he was concerned that the five leaders now in custody—Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea and Kaing Kek Iev—might die of “natural causes” before they see trial.

“There is no reason there has been no trial until now,” Sam Rainsy said. “I would like to call, on the behalf of 14 million Cambodians, on the international community not to drag on” the trial.

“The former Khmer Rouge leaders must be judged as soon as possible for the sake of justice for the victims,” he said.

Nearly 1,000 people joined Thursday’s ceremony, most of them victims somehow of the Khmer Rouge who said they feel impatient waiting for justice.

“Seven members of my family were killed,” said Men Thol, a former prisoner of Khmer Rouge cadre in Kandal province. “I was imprisoned for a year with my feet cuffed. I came here for the first time [today] to demand a speedy trial.”

After a bumpy start, the tribunal enacted the arrests of the five leaders in late 2007, and officials say they expect initial hearings in the first half of this year, nearly 30 years after the ousting of the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese forces.

You Bunleng, Cambodia’s investigating judge, said the tribunal wants to act quickly, “faster than Sam Rainsy has urged.”

However, she said, “the court has a full process to ensure complete justice and to ensure an international standard.”

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.