Cambodian FM says genocide trial a balancing act

Cambodian FM says genocide trial a balancing act
By KELLY OLSEN - Associated Press Writer
© AP
2009-06-01 13:51:04 -

SEOGWIPO, South Korea (AP) - Cambodia's genocide tribunal
must balance the need for justice with that of ensuring stability in the
Southeast Asian country, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that expanding
the tribunal's scope beyond thea five senior Khmer Rouge leaders in custody
could divide the country. During its rule in the late 1970s, a total of 1.7
million people died and critics say that such a small number of defendants
is unrealistic given the scope of the genocide.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said «we have to seek justice
for our people» while considering the «peace and stability in the country.»
He said the government is not interfering with the operation of the
tribunal.
He was speaking in an interview with The Associated Press
on the sidelines of a summit between South Korea and the countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations that began Monday.
Hun Sen, who is also attending the summit, said in March
that expanding the genocide tribunal could spark a war and cause the deaths
of hundreds of thousands of people in his impoverished country. But the
comments merely seemed aimed at putting pressure on the tribunal.
Critics of the tribunal, which is jointly run by Cambodia
and the United Nations, charge that the government has sought to limit its
scope because other suspects are now loyal to Hun Sen, and to arrest them
could cause political trouble. There have even been suspicions that the
trials may be halted.
Human Rights Watch said in February that the tribunal's
credibility was threatened by allowing «political considerations» to get in
the way of additional indictments.
International prosecutor Robert Petit has said he wants as
many as six more possible defendants charged, but Cambodian prosecutor Chea
Leang has resisted that.
Hor Namhong also said that watching the genocide trials,
which are televised in Cambodia, is difficult as it dredges up the suffering
he and his family endured during the reign, which lasted from 1975-1979. He
said that he and his wife lost more than 30 members of their family.
But he added that convictions may also ultimately prove
cathartic.
«Maybe that could help people to calm down their moral
suffering,» he said.
Hor Namhong's own role during the Khmer Rouge regime has
been controversial and the subject of several lawsuits. He was among
hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals who were living abroad and returned home
at the request of the Khmer Rouge.
Upon their return many were held at the Boeng Trabek
re-education camp and eventually executed. Hor Namhong sued an opposition
leader for suggesting that he held a position of authority at the camp.
APTN producer Jerry Harmer contributed to this report from
Seogwipo and Associated Press Writer Grant Peck from Bangkok.

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