Members of Cambodia’s Cham and Vietnamese groups in Phnom Penh welcomed word from the Khmer Rouge tribunal this week that regime leaders in custody will be charged with genocide, as well as other atrocity crimes.
In interviews with VOA Khmer Thursday, Chams and Vietnamese alike said they expected the charges of genocide to help bring reconciliation [...]
Khmer Rouge Tribunal – Feature : For Two Groups, a Chance for Reconciliation
Amnesty Calls for Expanded Tribunal Prosecution
Amnesty International has called on prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge tribunal to expand their strategy and reveal their decision publicly, following the appointment of a new UN-appointed prosecutor to the court.
“Three years into the work of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the prosecution has identified only ten suspects as being ‘senior leaders’ [...]
CPP Marks Anniversary of ‘United Front’
National Assembly President Heng Samrin on Wednesday praised Cambodian soldiers deployed to the Thai border, as he marked the 31st anniversary of the formation of a front that helped oust the Khmer Rouge and led to the creation of today’s ruling party.
Speaking at the Chaktomuk Theater in Phnom Penh, Heng Samrin said soldiers were defending [...]
Judges Find Difficulty in Tribunal’s Second Case
Judges at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal said Monday they face a number of complications in preparation of the court’s second trial, the combined indictment of four senior leaders, which has stalled investigations.
The trial of Case No. 002 pits the court against alleged atrocity crimes suspects Nuon Chea, the chief ideologue of the regime; Khieu [...]
Indictments Hint at Tribunal Independence: Scholar
An American professor who has been following and writing crucial articles about the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday offered a cautious congratulations to the court’s latest development which could lead to more prosecutions of the regime’s senior leaders.
John Hall, a law professor at Chapman University School of Law, said in a letter to VOA [...]
On Seeing a Khmer Rouge Embassy in Beijing
Ten years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Hei Han Khiang, who had survived the regime, found himself in Beijing, studying. He was shocked to find an embassy of the regime, formally known as Democratic Kampuchea, still operating. He was shocked further to be invited inside.
Hei Han Khiang had been sent by the State [...]
Khmer Rouge fighter relates “killing fields” horror
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – A former fighter for the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s told a Cambodian court Wednesday how he was suspected of turning against the Pol Pot regime, arrested and beaten unconscious, waking up beneath bodies in a burial pit.
Phork Khan, 57, was testifying at the trial of Duch, head of the Khmer [...]
Khmer Rouge torture survivor saw “hell on earth”
PHNOM PENH, July 1 (Reuters) – One of the few survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious Tuol Sleng prison gave chilling testimony of “hell on earth” when he faced his former torturer at a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal on Wednesday. Like another survivor who testified at the joint United Nations-Cambodian tribunal, Bou Meng said he [...]
Photographer Hei Han Khiang, ‘Right Place, Right Time’
After Hei Han Khiang survived a forced labor camp for children under the Khmer Rouge, he wanted little more than to live a life of peace. But innate talent and dogged pursuit enabled him to become an accomplished photographer.
Now living in the New York, Hei Han Khiang was born in 1968 to a family of [...]
Prison Survivor Takes Stand in Duch Case
One of the few remaining survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng prison testified in tribunal court Monday, tears streaming down his face as he recalled his ordeal at the prison run by Comrade Duch.
Vann Nath, 63, was arrested Dec. 30, 1977, at his home in Battambang province, accused of being an enemy of the [...]