(Photo : Reuters/Damir Sagolj) Colourful bracelets are left on the fence around one of mass graves at Choeung Ek, a 'Killing Fields' site where thousands of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime were killed, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh August 6, 2014.
The trial for two of the notorious leaders of Khmer Rouge regime responsible for the wide-scale Cambodia genocide from 1975 to 1979 resumed Friday at the UN-supervised court in Phnom Pehn.
Eighty-eight-year-old Khieu Samphan, the former head of the state, and Nuon Chea, also known as Brother Number Two, both were Khmer Rouge leaders, were charged with life sentences after separate court rulings in August. Both were found guilty of crimes against humanity to an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians, Vietnamese and members of the ethnic Muslim community.
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Chea and Samphan sat down as Judge Nil Nonn read the decision while some 300 genocide survivors flocked outside the building demanding monetary compensation for their suffering.
The first trial opened in 2011 under different court sessions considering the accused old ages and to give way for expedited conviction process. The testimony of the first living witness shall be heard on October 27.
According to deputy co-prosecutor William Smith, the reopening of the case is to ensure authorities properly account that all evidence and circumstances so 'Cambodia's past is not buried but built and learnt from.'
Survivor Seth Maly, 64, from the Cham labor camp, narrated her experience under the Khmer Rouge being 'too heinous to describe in words.' She lost at least 100 relatives including daughters, parents, and siblings to crimes such as rape, torture, forced labor, starvation and summary execution.
In the context of early Cambodian culture, rape is forced sexual intercourse within marriages.
Anne Heindel, legal counselor Documentation Center of Cambodia, furthered that a second trial is necessary to bridge gap between intertwined events and hopefully bring closure to traumatized victims.
A court representative followed up that proceedings may extend until 2016 which will include violations in labor camps and those committed by S-21, real name Tuol Sleng.
Khmer Rouge was established by Pol Pot, popularly known in history as Brother Number One, with the goal of dismantling the whole of Cambodia and imposing utopia.
Tags Cambodia genocide , Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia
Posted by Unknown on Friday, October 17, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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