articles-reviews

=**First They Killed My Father**= =**Michele Lonsdale**= =**The Age Monday June 14, 2004**= =**Surviving the Killing Fields**=

Loung Ung's tale of life under Pol Pot celebrates the human spirit, writes Michele Lonsdale.

Since writing First They Killed My Father, a chilling account of life in Cambodia under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, Loung Ung has become national spokeswoman for the Campaign for a Landmine Free World and a renowned activist on issues to do with refugees, child soldiers and genocide in Cambodia.

Loung has said that writing about her history and speaking publicly about the appalling effects of the landmines that are a legacy of the Pol Pot years is a kind of atonement: ``As I tell people about genocide, I get the opportunity to redeem myself. I've had the chance to do something that's worth my being alive.''

The theme of guilt surfaces intermittently in the book, such as when she steals rice from her family's meagre rations or when her brother Kim endures physical beatings in exchange for food scraps. For Loung, writing about these experiences so that others may know the horror helps justify the fact that she has survived when so many others did not.

``I have to be strong'' is a constant refrain in the book. She cannot afford to grieve for Pa because to do so will leave her emotionally and physically depleted. She cannot afford to look back at Ma and Geak because to do so will weaken her resolve. She cannot afford to help others if it compromises her own capacity to survive.

Loung's description of her Phnom Penh years conveys an impression of a lively, wilful child. Her ``troublesome'' nature, which her father interprets as a sign of strength and intelligence, suggests tenacity and astuteness.

During the labour camp years these qualities enable her to survive malnutrition, intense emotional trauma and appalling living conditions. One survival strategy she uses is to go inside herself ``where no one can reach''. Another is to create a fantasy world in which she imagines how Keav, Pa, Ma and Geak meet their respective deaths.

At intervals when knowledge becomes intolerable there is a blessed kind of mental shutdown that blocks out the pain. After learning that Ma and Geak are most likely dead, for example, she returns to the labour camp with no idea of how she has spent the past three days. She holds fast to her hatred of the Khmer Rouge, deliberately choosing rage over sadness and using it to fuel thoughts of future revenge. So convinced is she of the need to remain ``strong'' that she cannot understand how her gentle, submissive sister Chou could possibly have survived.

While her resourcefulness and inner strength are integral to her survival, other factors also play a part. Above all, the memory of her father's belief in her keeps her strong. She treasures his description of her as a ``diamond in the rough who will one day ``shine. Kim's selflessness in the face of brutality, the irregular visits of older brothers Meng and Khouy with leftover food for the family, the dignity of Pa as he is taken from his family for the last time, the incredible courage of her mother in sending three of her young children away

=News about Genocide Trials=

=Genocide tribunal delves into Cambodia's dark past= Posted Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:20pm AEDT Updated Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:21pm AEDT Well over 500,000 people died during the Khmer Rouge's reign. (Reuters: file photo) The long-awaited prosecutions of former Khmer Rouge officials accused of genocide in the 1970s are reaching a crucial stage in Cambodia. While some victims are keen to see justice done, many ordinary Cambodians would rather see the time and the money spent improving their lives. This month marks 30 years since the Khmer Rouge; the red communist Cambodians were driven from power in Cambodia. During their four-year reign well over 500,000 people died, accused of being spies for their country or for refusing to embrace the changes forced upon them by Pol Pot - the cold-blooded leader of the movement who wanted to build an agrarian utopia free of western influence and meddling. Today tourists flock to the killing fields site in Phnom Penh and elsewhere to view piles of skulls and bones and to walk among the dusty graves. And soon they'll be able to see the Khmer Rouge accused. In December the Khmer Rouge head of state, Khieu Sampan, was in court for a procedural hearing. He's now 77 and is ailing, but maintains his innocence. He is one of five former members of the KR who are set to face trial under the extraordinary chambers in the courts of Cambodia - a United Nations-backed process more commonly known as the KR or genocide tribunal. It is proving to be a laborious process, running several years and more than $100 million over budget. It's been dogged funding shortfalls, internal bickering, and allegations of corruption, but within a matter of months the first trial should begin. Bruno Carette is a Paris-based film maker who has released a feature film on the genocide tribunals. He believes the role China and the US played in the region at that time needs to be addressed. He says there is little popular support for the tribunal process. "Nowadays Cambodia is trying to join the world, they have been at war for 30 years... with this terrible story and most of the people are very poor and living with less than $1 per day - especially the farmers [who make up] 90 per cent of the population - and they don't think this trial is necessary," he said. Cambodia has come a long way since the Khmer Rouge time. It has one of the fastest growing economies in South East Asia and it's rapidly changing. But the tribunal is now getting down to the serious end of business and regardless of the critics it will deal with the country's dark past. //Based on a report by Karen Percy for AM on January 16, 2009.// [|http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/16/2468083.htm]
 * Tags:** [|community-and-society], [|law-crime-and-justice], [|courts-and-trials], [|human-rights], [|unrest-conflict-and-war], [|cambodia]

=Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunals delayed= Updated October 10, 2008 14:40:45 Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders remain in detention awaiting trial at the UN-backed tribunal. [AFP] Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal has announced trials will be delayed until next year.
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It says the delay is due to appeals and other necessary legal procedures.

The court says it recognizes that it can be frustrating for the millions who have been waiting for decades to see justice done.

However the statement says successfully conducting trials of this significance is a complex process and each step of the process must be followed carefully and conducted in line with the highest standards of justice

Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders, mostly aged in their 70s and 80s, remain in detention awaiting trial for their alleged roles in carrying out the genocidal policies of Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979.
 * **Tags:**
 * [|cambodia]
 * [|law-crime-and-justice]
 * [|courts-and-trials]

=The Cambodian Tribunal's Trials=
 * OCTOBER 2, 2008

[|FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA]
Cambodia's new government was sworn in last week, and Prime Minister Hun Sen wasted no time announcing his intention to target corruption and improve the rule of law during his next five years in office. A place to start is with a full investigation of corruption complaints at the Khmer Rouge War Crimes tribunal. The United Nations Office of International Oversight Services in New York presented the Cambodian government with a letter last month describing complaints of corruption at the tribunal from multiple staffers. But instead of investigating the allegations, Phnom Penh demanded that the original complaints be given directly to "the competent authorities" in Cambodia. It's unclear whether the complainants' identities will be protected. Since allegations of corruption were publicized in these pages last year, the U.N. has taken steps to clean things up at the tribunal. The Cambodian government has also made a few efforts to shore up its anticorruption credibility -- appointing two new ethics monitors in August and creating a formal mechanism for complaints, albeit one that increases secrecy. The court spokeswoman, who is also one of the monitors, told us one complaint is currently under investigation. Yet donor nations want to see more serious action. The United Nations Development Program, which oversees donations to the Cambodian side of the court, has suspended salaries to around 250 Cambodian staffers since June and plans to "delay the further release of UNDP-managed funds until the recent allegations of corruption have been resolved," a UNDP staffer told us in an email. The tribunal also needs to do more to eliminate conflicts of interest. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An is chairman of the government task force responsible for high-level Cambodian staff appointments at the tribunal; a serious corruption case could implicate either him or people he appointed. If Sok An is serious about cleaning up corruption, he will recuse himself from any investigation. Cambodians deserve a clean and fair trial to redress the deaths of their 1.7 million countrymen who were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. With the first trial due to begin in a few months, there's little time to waste.

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our [|Subscriber Agreement] and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit [|www.djreprints.com] More In [|Opinion] =Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunals delayed= Updated October 10, 2008 14:40:45 Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders remain in detention awaiting trial at the UN-backed tribunal. [AFP] Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal has announced trials will be delayed until next year.
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It says the delay is due to appeals and other necessary legal procedures.

The court says it recognizes that it can be frustrating for the millions who have been waiting for decades to see justice done.

However the statement says successfully conducting trials of this significance is a complex process and each step of the process must be followed carefully and conducted in line with the highest standards of justice

Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders, mostly aged in their 70s and 80s, remain in detention awaiting trial for their alleged roles in carrying out the genocidal policies of Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979.
 * **Tags:**
 * [|cambodia]
 * [|law-crime-and-justice]
 * [|courts-and-trials]

=KRouge foreign minister denied release before trial= 1 day ago PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court on Friday denied former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary release from jail before he faces trial for war crimes. Ieng Sary, 82, who appeared at the court wearing a blue shirt buttoned to the collar, had appealed to be let out of detention on the grounds that he was granted a pardon for a 1979 genocide conviction, and that the jail at the court did not have facilities to care for his frail health. But Judge Prak Kimsan rejected Ieng Sary's appeal, saying that his previous amnesty did not apply to the UN-backed court. "Provisional detention is a necessary measure to ensure the security of the charged person, the presence of the charged person at proceedings and to preserve public order," Prak Kimsan said. Ieng Sary's defence lawyer Ang Udom told reporters after the ruling that he was disappointed by the decision. "The court seemed to make this decision based on one item: provisional detention," Ang Udom said. Ieng Sary was convicted of genocide in absentia in a 1979 trial conducted by the government installed after Vietnam occupied the country and ended the Khmer Rouge's bloody reign, but then granted amnesty. Resolving how to reconcile his past amnesty with the international court's authority poses one of the key challenges facing the tribunal, which operates under a mixture of Cambodian and international law. Ieng Sary has been hospitalised several times for treatment of a chronic heart condition, and has also been rushed to hospital from jail after urinating blood. Ieng Sary is one of five senior leaders scheduled to be tried for crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed 1.7 million people by torture, execution, overwork and starvation during its 1975 to 1979 rule.

Here is a link for a website specifically written for and about cambodians http://cambodia.ka-set.info/hot-news/news-films-tuol-sleng-s21-duch-evidence-khmer-rouge-trial-090130.html