PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes court has summoned
six top government and legislative officials as witnesses against leaders of
the late 1970s regime, said documents released Wednesday.
In a move opposed by the Cambodian government, letters signed by the French
investigating judge called on the officials to testify in the second case
against former Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
Current senate president Chea Sim, national assembly president Heng Samrin,
foreign minister Hor Namhong, finance minister Keat Chhon and senators Sim
Ka and Ouk Bunchhoeun were each "asked for a hearing as a witness," said the
letters.
They will have to give testimony to an investigating judge of the tribunal,
which was created in 2006 to try leading members of the regime.
"Except for individuals who volunteer to go, the government's position is no
to this even if they are called as witnesses," government spokesman Khieu
Kanharith told AFP Wednesday.
He said that foreign officials involved in the tribunal "can pack their
clothes and return home" if they are not satisfied.
However Heather Ryan, court monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative,
said the move to release the court documents was an "important step" which
might make members of government feel obliged to cooperate with the
tribunal.
"The fact that the letters are public hopefully increases the chances they
will comply with the summonses," Ryan said.
Critics of Cambodia's administration have previously alleged that it has
interfered in the tribunal to protect former regime members now in
government.
The court's second case is expected to try detained former Khmer Rouge
ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary
and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith.
As the court has sought to investigate other suspects, Prime Minister Hun
Sen has warned further prosecutions could plunge Cambodia back into civil
war. But critics say there is no risk of more fighting after over a decade
of peace.
Final arguments in the court's first trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav,
known by the alias Duch, are scheduled for late next month.
He has used the proceedings to accept responsibility and apologise for
overseeing the execution of more than 15,000 people at the main Khmer Rouge
jail, known as Tuol Sleng.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities
in a bid to forge a communist utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two
million people from starvation, overwork and torture.
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.
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