Khmer Rouge Trial

Today I went with a bunch of the Chab Dai staff to actually see part of the Khmer Rouge criminal trial.  If you do not know, the Khmer Rouge was the "political party" that came to power in the late 1970s in order to establish Cambodia as a communist nation.  In order to do this, they killed many people who either showed signs of intelligence or education in order to "even out" the Cambodian race.  This is now known as Genocide and has been seen in Germany with the Nazis, as well as in other countries such as Rawanda, Africa.  There is much more to the history of the Khmer Rouge, so if you get a chance, look it up and do some research.  It is very interesting, especially seeing as how in America it is something that is not very widely taught in school or anything.

This week they are finishing up the first part of the trials, in which they are trying Khang Khek leu also known as Duch.  Duch was actually the man that ran Tuol Sleng, a former High School that was turned into a prison during the Khmer Rouge reign where captives were taken, held, interrogated, tortured & then later killed.  Only a few people survived Tuol Sleng, where almost 17,000 were admitted to the prison during the three year period.  Duch worked under the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.


The trial was very interesting today.  The court is comprised of both Cambodian and foreign judges as well as representation on both sides.  They were in the closing arguments in order to determine the verdict for Duch.  He faces anywhere from 5 years to life in prison.  It was interesting to hear as the defense proceeded to explain how Duch was actually working under the command of other leaders and really had no choice but to proceed with the tortures and killings.  The way that justice works is always very intriguing and often has a lot of twists in it.

It was almost an eerie feeling in the courtroom.  You look at this man, and he really looks just like you and me.  Clean cut and very put together.  It's hard to imagine the atrocities that he committed and took part in.  Nonetheless, this is a very historical time for the Cambodians here.  Although these trials cannot bring back loved ones or undo the hurt and trauma some people are still dealing with, it is a sign that Cambodia is working to better their system of justice and hold people responsible for their actions.  I won't say what I believe the sentence should be for this man, but I will say that I hope whatever it is, that it would be only the beginning to moving away from what Cambodia has been through.