Cambodia: The long road to justice in Cambodia

Cambodia: The long road to justice in Cambodia
17/02 19:56 CET
From 1975 to 1979.

It took the Khmer Rouge just four years to exterminate up to two million people – around a quarter of the population.

Nearly every family lost loved ones.

So how could Cambodia close one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century without bringing those responsible to justice?

It has been a long journey.

In 1993, UN-run elections produced a government seeking reconciliation. But officials realised that legal action against surviving Khmer Rouge leaders would be needed to bring about national unity.

Hence a letter sent four years later to the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, requesting UN assistance.

But Pol Pot was to escape judgement. He had fled to the jungle near the Thai border when Vietnamese troops drove the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh. Ousted as leader of the movement in 1997 after a power struggle, he died the following year. Journalists were told he had suffered a heart attack.

In 2003, after years of negotiations, the UN and Cambodia signed a deal to set up a joint “Killing Fields” court. But the plan languished for years amid the Cambodian government’s determined efforts to retain control.

Created in the capital, the tribunal’s official name is the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Using a modified form of the country’s French-based judicial system, domestic and foreign judges and prosecutors work jointly in a bid to ensure independence. The trial chamber of three Cambodian and two foreign judges requires four to agree on a verdict.

Duch is among five ageing and infirm senior figures due to face trial on various charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There is former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife. Also facing trial is Nuon Chea, the group’s chief ideologue and Pol Pot’s former right hand man. And there is fomer Khmer Rouge official head of state Khieu Samphan.

Survivors hope the trials will at last bring closure to their grief.