Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)’s Living Documents Program is hosting a forum about the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)’s first verdict on November 12 in a former Khmer Rouge stronghold Pramoy commune, Veal Veng district, Pursat province.
Veal Veng, which was led by Uon Yang, today the Head of District Council and a former district chief, was not widely known for its stronghold military base but was used as an important road to transport weapons from Thailand to Khmer Rouge controlled areas in Kampong Speu and Kampot to fight with the government armies. In July 1997, a small group of former Khmer Rouge from Samlot bordering commune, Krapeu 2 in Veal Veng area joined with the KR groups in Samlot to resist against the defection to the government. After 10 months of resistance, the resistant group which led by Iem Phon, a Khmer Rouge Commander, agreed to join with the government in exchange of government positions to their leader. Today approximately 90% of the whole population in Veal Veng district is former Khmer Rouge mostly from Takeo and Kampot who escaped to the mountainous area in 1979. Although the town held its first election to select commune and district chief in 2002, many former KR remain in their leadership position as a result of negotiation with the government.
On July 26, the ECCC issued its judgment against Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch for crimes committed in connection with the S-21 detention center. Since then, DC-Cam has hosted live and replayed screenings of the verdict pronouncement in eight provinces and Phnom Penh to collect and evaluate participants’ reactions. The purpose of these forums is to encourage discussion about the meaning of the verdict in advance of the trial of Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, and Ieng Thirith—the four most senior living Khmer Rouge leaders.
Although limited to one detention site, the Duch trial raised numerous legal, political, historical, and moral challenges. It also provided the first opportunity for Cambodians to hear public discussion and debate on policies of the Democratic Kampuchea period that resulted in the deaths of nearly two million people in only three years, eight months, and twenty days. Duch’s confession of his crimes and the Court’s judgment of his actions can be meaningful even for survivors unconnected to S-21, as they speak to the responsibility of the many other prison chiefs still living who will never be held accountable for similar acts.
After screening the ECCC verdict pronouncement, the Living Documents Team together with Ms. Kim Huoy, a civil party applicant in Case 002, will lead an exchange of views on the judgment and Duch’s 30-year sentence and discuss her prospect for the upcoming Case 002. Ms. Kim is a Khmer Kampuchea Krom who fled to live in Bakan district, Pursat in her grandparents' generation from lower Mekong delta in Vietnam. In 1977, during the Khmer Rouge regime, 26 of her family members including her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, were targeted for killing for they were identified as Khmer Krom. Discussion of the court's decision and Ms. Kim's participation in the court process is expected to attend by approximately 200 villagers and centers around two questions:
(1) How does the Duch verdict contribute to forgiveness?
(2) How does the Duch verdict contribute to genocide education?
The team will also screen two films: “Behind the Walls of S-21” and “Tuol Sleng 1979.” It will also distribute copies of the Duch verdict, DC-Cam’s booklets entitled Genocide: The Importance of Case 002 and The Duch Verdict: Is Justice Being Served for the 14, 000 Prisoners at S-21, Searching for the Truth magazine, the textbook “A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979),” and ECCC materials.
The Living Document’s Program seeks to increase the participation of ordinary Cambodians in the work of the ECCC, help them better understand DK history and the Court’s legal processes, and provide them with an opportunity to see Court proceedings and to speak to Court officials. Since ECCC proceedings began in 2007, the Program has brought around 10,000 people, including 1500 commune chiefs and nearly 400 Cham Muslim religious leaders, to Phnom Penh to receive legal training, observe proceedings at the ECCC, and participate in discussions about what they have seen. In addition, the Program holds forums about the ECCC around Cambodia.
For more information about the forums, please contact Living Document’s team leader Savina Sirik at 012-688-046.
Independently Searching for the Truth since 1997.
MEMORY & JUSTICE
“...a society cannot know itself if it does not have an accurate memory of its own history.”
Youk Chhang, Director
Documentation Center of Cambodia
66 Sihanouk Blvd.,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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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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