Over three days this week, thousands of protestors gathered together and marched from Freedom Park to the UN offices to deliver their thumbprint petitions. Yesterday they marched to the US and French embassies and today they delivered the petitions to the Australian Embassy as well.
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Protest March in Phnom Penh |
This week, 22 years ago, the Paris Peace Agreement was signed by key members of the international community to set Cambodia on a path towards greater peace, democracy and human rights. The opposition believe the country is a long way off from that and is delivering their petition to offices of the UN and Embassies of countries who signed that Agreement in 1991.
Whilst all this has been going on and with a further reflection into the dark yet quite recent history of Cambodia, proceedings of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) have been taking place.
I know this will be interesting for those of you who have visited us and been out to the Toul Sleng (S-21)prison and The Killing Fields, and for others it may provide some insight into the happenings here back during the Khmer Rouge times.
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Toul Sleng Prison (S-21) |
The ECCC was set up in 2006 to bring to trial senior leaders and those most responsible for crimes committed during the time of Democratic Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge regime, which lasted from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979. During that period atleast 1.7million people are believed to have died from starvation, torture, execution and forced labour.
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Memorial Stupa at The Killing Fields |
The ECCC has been investigating four cases so far, one of which was completed with the conviction of the accused. Duch, the former chairman of the S-21 prison (Toul Sleng) was tried and convicted for crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention of 1949. He was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment in 2010. After appeals by both the prosecution and the defence, a final judgement in 2012 saw his sentence increased to life imprisonment, which he is currently serving.
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Mass grave, Killing Fields (GR) |
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Killling Fields (GR) |
The second case is currently before the court and is against four former Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva code and genocide. One former leader passed away in 2013 and his wife, another defendant, was found unfit to stand trial and her proceedings have been stayed since 2011.
The trial against the remaining two have been ongoing and closing statements have been heard this week with prosecutors requesting the harshest possible sentence – life in prison – for co-defendants Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, saying there were “no grounds” for any lesser punishment.
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Khieu Samphan |
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Nuon Chea |
In her request, national co-prosecutor Chea Leang maintained that the court must hold the two accountable for plunging Cambodia “into darkness and terror”, noting that any punishment would fall far short of the atrocities the pair stands accused of perpetrating against their own people. “Today, on behalf of the Cambodian people and the international community, we ask you for justice – justice for the victims who perished, and justice for the victims who survived today who had to live through such a vicious and cruel regime under the leadership of these two leaders.”
As proceedings continue over the coming months and people wait for the sentencing to be handed down, you are reminded that these are elderly men, and if found guilty, may not spend much of their life in prison,their suffering nothing in comparison to what they inflicted on others, but hopefully there will be closure, compassion and justice for the people who survived this period in Cambodia's history, and a more promising future for all Cambodians
Killing Fields Tree with memorial wristbands
Special thanks to Geraldine Ratcliffe for some of the photos in this post.
