Cambodian Genocide Victim Testimony
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21 Century Show # 45
21ST CENTURY SHOW # 45 SHOW OPEN AND MUSIC (16.00”) Coming up on 21st Century… (2.01”) [CAMBODIA] For the thousands imprisoned here, it was hell on earth. (Sound Up: Chum Mey: “This place was full of cries … the screams of children, of mothers, of fathers.”) Finally the alleged mastermind of this inferno will face his victims. (Sound Up: “The whole of humanity demands a just and proportionate response to these crimes.”) But some are asking: what would you have done in his place? (ROUX: “Who today can say that they would have acted differently under these circumstances?”) (35.82”) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANCHOR INTRO #1 (35.82”) Hello and welcome to 21st Century. I’m Daljit Dhaliwal. Hello, I am Daljit Dhaliwal. From Nazi Germany … to Rwanda … to Yugoslavia, the world has attempted to bring some measure of justice to the victims of mass atrocities. But there has never been an international tribunal like the one in Cambodia where a reign of terror decimated more than one quarter of the population more than three decades ago. In this special edition of 21st Century, we take you inside the first case heard by this unique court. 1 SCRIPT – SEGMENT # 1 (23’ 26”) Cambodia: A Quest for Justice VIDEO AUDIO NARRATION: PASSENGERS ON A BUS They came by the busload … gathered in villages throughout Cambodia … about to witness history in the making. (11.27”) PROSECUTOR LEANG: (In Khmer) PROSECUTOR LEANG IN THE “Today, in this courtroom, before the COURTROOM Cambodian people and the world, at long last justice begins … and justice will be done.” (9.72”) NARRATION: PAN ACROSS EXTERIOR OF It’s the first post-genocide tribunal ever held S-21 BUILDING in the nation where the atrocities were committed. -
TODAY, HE TOOK IT to DUCH June 30
THIRTY YEARS AGO, DUCH TOOK HIS TOENAILS; TODAY, HE TOOK IT TO DUCH June 30, 2009 By Laura MacDonald, Member of the New York Bar and Consultant to the Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law In some respects, today was a lot like yesterday as a packed public gallery again listened to the testimony of an aging male survivor of Tuol Sleng prison (S-21) spared only because of a useful skill. However, mechanic Chum Mey’s testimony was much, much more than a repeat of artist Vann Nath’s testimony yesterday. With Chum Mey’s testimony, finally, the passion and anger of an S-21 victim has been properly injected into the trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch). Chum Mey’s Story When the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, 79-year-old civil party Chum Mey was a mechanic working in Phnom Penh. Chum Mey and his family were forced to evacuate the city, but a series of tragedies and events brought him back to Phnom Penh to fix sewing machines and other equipment in a Khmer Rouge factory where the black clothes worn by the soldiers were produced. After over three years there, Chum Mey was called away from the factory under the pretext of fixing a Khmer Rouge vehicle. He was delivered to a place he later learned was S-21 where he was arrested, accused of being CIA or KGB, handcuffed, blindfolded, photographed, and stripped to his underwear. Chum Mey was shackled in a two meter by one meter individual cell containing only an ammunition box for feces and a plastic jug for urine. -
Samlaut Uprising
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samlaut_Uprising ζរបះបោរនងិ ζរបង្ក្រា បបៅសំឡូត ᯒនំ១៩៦៧ Samlaut Uprising The Samlaut Uprising, or Samlaut Rebellion, was an incident that took place in 1967 in Battambang Province in Cambodia, in which the rural peasantry revolted against the Sangkum regime of the then-Head of State, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The incident is seen by some academics as the starting point of the Cambodian Civil War, which ultimately led to the victory of the Communist forces of the Khmer Rouge and the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea. Causes It is thought that the revolt was, at least in part, caused by the heavy-handed conduct of government officials during the building of a sugar refinery at Kompong Kol, Banan District, in 1966. Land was expropriated without adequate compensation, aggravating a situation in which government troops had been deployed to assist in collecting taxes and rice from local farmers. Resentment against the government had been building for some years in the province. After independence in 1953, King Sihanouk had selected Battambang as a suitable area to resettle farmers from the south-west of the country. The newcomers received a subsidy, and existing residents found themselves displaced from land or economically disadvantaged. The employment, in early 1967, of a new system of rice collection (known as ramassage du paddy), which essentially forced farmers to sell their rice to the government at gunpoint, caused further tensions. Demonstrations in Battambang in February of that year were blamed by Sihanouk on the three Communist members of the Sangkum, Hu Nim, Hou Yuon and Khieu Samphan: although the latter had used the issue to call for the end of the ramassage, it is thought that the protests were in fact spontaneous. -
KRT TRIAL MONITOR Case 002 ! Issue No
KRT TRIAL MONITOR Case 002 ! Issue No. 32 ! Hearing on Evidence Week 27 ! 13-16 August 2012 Case of Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI), a project of East-West Center and UC Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center …Let me apologize to the Cambodians who lost their children or parents. What I am saying here is the truth. And I personally lost some of my relatives, aunts and uncles. And for those brothers in their capacity as leaders, they also lost relatives and family members. - Witness Suong Sikoeun I. OVERVIEW* After the suspension of Monday’s hearing caused by Ieng Sary’s poor health, trial resumed on Tuesday with the conclusion of the testimony of Mr. Ong Thong Hoeung, an intellectual who returned to Cambodia during DK and found himself performing manual labor in re- education camps to “refashion” himself. Next, the Chamber called Mr. Suong Sikoeun, the director of information and propaganda of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA), to resume his testimony. Suong Sikoeun expounded on the MFA, FUNK and GRUNK, and Pol Pot’s role in DK. Giving due consideration to his frail health, the Trial Chamber limited his examination to half-day sessions. To manage the time efficiently, reserve witness Ms. Sa Siek (TCW-609), a cadre who worked at the Ministry of Propaganda during the regime, commenced her testimony. Sa Siek focused on the evacuation of Phnom Penh, the structure of the Ministry of Propaganda, and DK radio broadcasts. Procedural issues arose during the hearing on Wednesday, when the Trial Chamber issued unclear rulings on the introduction of documents to witnesses. -
The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia: a Trial of Errors
The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia: A Trial of Errors by: Elizabeth Kelliher-Paz On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered the cities of Cambodia and forced people to abandon their homes and businesses to live in cooperatives in the countryside.1 Three years later, Vietnamese forces invaded and KR leader Pol Pot fled the country; by this time, over 1.7 million people had been executed or died from torture, starvation, illness, or exhaustion.2 The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) was formed in 2003 by the Royal Cambodian Government in conjunction with the United Nations to bring the perpetrators to justice.3 This paper will focus on the ECCC’s first case, against Comrade Duch, as illustrative of the Court’s problems with corruption, achieving international legitimacy, and failing to convict criminals for genocide. I. Background History of the Khmer Rouge & Cambodia To fully comprehend the atrocities of the Cambodian genocide, it is important to understand the context in which the Khmer Rouge formed and came to power. As a former colony of France (part of what was called “French Indo-China”) and as a country formerly occupied by Japan during World War II, Cambodia has gone through several governmental changes that influenced the Khmer Rouge ideology. The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) was formed in Vietnam in 1930, and its influence spread to other East Asian nations.4 In Cambodia, the ICP opposed the French government, and the French jailed many of its members.5 When the Japanese came to power in March 1945, they released some of the ICP guerillas from jail, mostly due to the Japanese superior 1 David Chandler, The Khmer Rouge in a Cold War Context, 2 (2011), (unpublished speech, transcript at: www.cambodiatribunal.org/sites/default/.../genocide_education.pdf ). -
Khmer Rouge Jail Survivor 'Tortured' Patrick Falby June 30, 2009
Khmer Rouge jail survivor ‘tortured’ Patrick Falby June 30, 2009 A rare survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime's main jail says torturers ripped out his toenails and gave him electric shocks to make him confess to being a Soviet and US agent. Former mechanic Chum Mey described to Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal on Tuesday how he pleaded for his life as he was tortured for 12 days and nights at the 1975- 79 communist movement's Tuol Sleng detention centre. The 79-year-old is the second survivor to give evidence at the trial of prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the facility. "Because I kept telling them I didn't know about the KGB and the CIA, they used pliers to twist my toenails. The nail was completely detached from my toe, they pulled it out," Chum Mey said. He then stood in the centre of the courtroom and removed his sandals to show that his toenails had grown back deformed. "I have been paying so much attention to the court and I would really like the court to find justice for me," said Chum Mey, who has been regularly attending hearings since they began in February. The former inmate described how he buried his two-year-old son who died of illness as the hardline Khmer Rouge emptied the capital Phnom Penh in 1975, and talked of his two daughters who disappeared under the regime. Chum Mey said he had been working at a sewing machine factory when he was brought to Tuol Sleng in 1978, while his pregnant wife was held in an adjacent "re-education centre". -
The Continuing Presence of Victims of the Khmer
Powerful remains: the continuing presence of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in today’s Cambodia HUMAN REMAINS & VIOLENCE Helen Jarvis Permanent People’s Tribunal, UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme [email protected] Abstract The Khmer Rouge forbade the conduct of any funeral rites at the time of the death of the estimated two million people who perished during their rule (1975–79). Since then, however, memorials have been erected and commemorative cere monies performed, both public and private, especially at former execution sites, known widely as ‘the killing fields’. The physical remains themselves, as well as images of skulls and the haunting photographs of prisoners destined for execution, have come to serve as iconic representations of that tragic period in Cambodian history and have been deployed in contested interpretations of the regime and its overthrow. Key words: Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, memorialisation, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, dark tourism Introduction A photograph of a human skull, or of hundreds of skulls reverently arranged in a memorial, has become the iconic representation of Cambodia. Since the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime on 7 January 1979, book covers, film posters, tourist brochures, maps and sign boards, as well as numerous original works of art, have featured such images of the remains of its victims, often coupled with the haunting term ‘the killing fields’, as well as ‘mug shots’ of prisoners destined for execution. Early examples on book covers include the first edition of Ben Kiernan’s seminal work How Pol Pot Came to Power, published in 1985, on which the map of Cambodia morphs into the shape of a human skull and Cambodia 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death, edited by Karl D. -
02-15-12 CTM Blog Entry Trial
International Civil Party Lead Lawyer Elisabeth Simmoneau Fort leads off the civil parties’ document submissions. Victim Statements Highlighted and Defense Documents Deferred: Document Presentation Continues in Case 002 Present the documents “now or never.” - Judge Claudia Fenz By: Randle DeFalco J.D. Rutgers School of Law – Newark Legal Advisor, Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) On Wednesday, February 15, 2012, the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) continued to hear evidence in Case 002 against accused Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan. The day’s proceedings were dedicated to the ongoing process of highlighting certain documents by placing them before the Chamber in open court. The Use of Civil Party Application Documents Still Undetermined The Chamber gave the floor to the civil parties to place documents before the Chamber to start the day’s proceedings. Prior to placing documents before the Chamber, civil party co-lead lawyer Elisabeth Simonneau-Fort made submissions to the Chamber regarding the use of civil party application documents during this process. She informed the Chamber that the civil parties chose 14 civil party applications to highlight before the Chamber and that these documents were selected because they are specifically relevant to the topic of the historical background of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) period currently at issue. Ms. Simonneau-Fort also submitted that translation had been completed as far as possible for the documents, but asked that for certain, short excerpts, the Court’s live translation service be permitted to simultaneously translate the Page 1 of 8 The Cambodia Tribunal http://cambodiatribunal.org document as it is read out. -
The Perpetrator's Mise-En-Scène: Language, Body, and Memory in the Cambodian Genocide
JPR The Perpetrator’s mise-en-scène: Language, Body, and Memory in the Cambodian Genocide Vicente Sánchez-Biosca Abstract: Rithy Panh’s film S-21. The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2003) was the result of a three- year shooting period in the Khmer Rouge centre of torture where perpetrators and victims exchanged experiences and re-enacted scenes from the past under the gaze of the filmmaker’s camera. Yet, a crucial testimony was missing in that puzzle: the voice of the prison’s director, Kaing Guek Eav, comrade Duch. When the Extraor- dinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) were finally established in Phnom Penh to judge the master criminals of Democratic Kampuchea, the first to be indicted was this desk criminal. The filmDuch, Master of the Forges of Hell (Panh, 2011) deploys a new confrontation – an agon, in the terminology of tragedy – between a former perpetrator and a former victim, seen through cinema language. The audiovisual document registers Duch’s words and body as he develops his narrative, playing cunningly with contrition and deceit. The construction of this narrative and its deconstruction by Panh can be more fully understood by comparing some film scenes with other footage shot before, during and after the hearings. In sum, this ‘chamber film’ permits us to analyse two voices: that of the perpetrator, including his narrative and body language; and the invisible voice of the survivor that expresses itself through editing, sound effects, and montage. Keywords: Perpetrator, audiovisual testimony, body language, cinema, Khmer Rouge, Cambodia Gémir, pleurer, prier est également lâche. Fais énergiquement ta longue et lourde tâche Dans la voie où le Sort a voulu t’appeler. -
02-08-12 CTM Blog Entry Trial
Nuon Chea continues his testimony in Case 002 before the ECCC on Wednesday. Trial Chamber Concludes Examination of Accused Nuon Chea in Case 002 “People needed to be controlled, conquered; the more the better.” - Nuon Chea By: Randle DeFalco J.D. Rutgers School of Law – Newark Legal Advisor, Documentation Center of Cambodia On Wednesday, February 8, 2012, the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) resumed hearing substantive evidence in Case 002 following three days of testimony by Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC- Cam), regarding the Center’s process of collecting and cataloguing documents related to the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) period (1975-1979). The accused in Case 002 are Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan. Ieng Sary Retires Earlier than Usual Before the day’s proceedings could begin, national counsel for Ieng Sary, Ang Udom, rose and informed the Chamber that Ieng Sary was experiencing “swelling in his feet” and back pain. As a result, Ieng Sary wished to retire to the holding cell for the entire day’s proceedings to participate via audio-visual link. This request was early, even for Ieng Sary, who recently has adopted the custom of requesting to be excused prior to the morning session break at 10:30 a.m. Chamber The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor 1 http://cambodiatribunal.org President Nil Nonn granted this request and reminded Ang Udom of the need to submit a written waiver signed by Ieng Sary. International counsel Michiel Pestman revisits a previous application by the Nuon Chea defense. -
The Complexities of Representing the Cambodian Genocide (2016)
The Complexities of Representing the Cambodian Genocide (2016) The twentieth century saw many genocides; Europe, Asia, Africa, South and Central America all suffered brutal efforts to exterminate and erase whole populations. One might think that in the century of the ubiquitous camera that documentation of these events would be thorough but the perpetrators, well aware of their actions and potential reaction, often forbid or destroyed documentation. Nonetheless, even with only a few images, documents, and first-hand stories we can begin to piece together what happened and how it happened. This source material has been fodder for filmic documentaries and fictional Hollywood productions. We have testimonies, academic studies, and photographs. All together, these representations and re- presentations enable us to peer into the darker side of human behavior presumably with the hope of not allowing these events to ever happen again. But, it is not so simple; the representation of genocide is a complex matter. It raises many questions: What end do the representations serve? Can it be too graphic or not graphic enough? Do the images serve only shock value or can we learn something truly valuable? Do the artifacts of genocide elicit compassion or fear or anxiety? Does it do justice to history, to our memory, and to the memory of those who experienced genocide first hand to exhibit these images? In this paper I will consider two drastically different but related representations of the Cambodian genocide: Rithy Panh’s documentary S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2003) and Photographs From S-21: 1975-1979 an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in 1997. -
6 Documenting the Crimes of Democratic Kampuchea
Article by John CIORCIARI and CHHANG Youk entitled "Documenting the Crimes of Democratic Kampuchea" in Jaya RAMJI and Beth VAN SCHAAK's book "Bringing the Khmer Rouge to Justice. Prosecuting Mass Violence Before the Cambodian Courts", pp.226-227. 6 Documenting The Crimes Of Democratic Kampuchea John D. Ciorciari with Youk Chhang John D. Ciorciari (A.B., J.D., Harvard; M.Phil., Oxford) is the Wai Seng Senior Research Scholar at the Asian Studies Centre in St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. Since 1999, he has served as a legal advisor to the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) in Phnom Penh. Youk Chhang has served as the Director of DC-Cam since January 1997 and has managed the fieldwork of its Mass Grave Mapping Project since July 1995. He is also the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of DC-Cam’s monthly magazine, SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH, and has edited numerous scholarly publications dealing with the abuses of the Pol Pot regime. The Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime was decidedly one of the most brutal in modern history. Between April 1975 and January 1979, when the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) held power in Phnom Penh, millions of Cambodians suffered grave human rights abuses. Films, museum exhibitions, scholarly works, and harrowing survivor accounts have illustrated the horrors of the DK period and brought worldwide infamy to the “Pol Pot regime.”1 Historically, it is beyond doubt that elements of the CPK were responsible for myriad criminal offenses. However, the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of that period have never been held accountable for their atrocities in an internationally recognized legal proceeding.