UN Expert To Khmer Rouge Court Sees Promise Over Problems

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Tuesday, 17 July 2012 

Though ECCC’s international prosecutors and judges have resigned one after another, Scheffer expressed optimism to VOA Khmer in June.

David Scheffer, UN special expert to Khmer Rouge tribunal.

In spite of the recent hurdles faced by the ECCC – ranging from the resignation of international prosecutors and judges and a lack of salary for its staffers – the recent appointment of a prominent academic expert on world war crime as a special expert to the tribunal by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon promises the continued success of the court’s efforts.

Regime’s History Should Not Just Come From Tribunal: Researcher

Say Mony,VOA Khmer
Friday,23 December 2011

Dy Khamboly, author of "A History of Democratic Kampuchea" and Huy Vannak,  a Public Affairs Officers at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, discuss the importance  of youth participation in the Khmer Rouge trial process.

The Khmer Rouge trial currently under way at the UN-backed court should not be the only source of information Cambodians have, especially the youth, a researcher said Monday. Dy Khamboly, who authored a book on the regime for the Documentation Center of Cambodia, told “Hello VOA” that Cambodian youth must understand the history of the regime to avoid confusion or misinformation; however, that history should come from multiple sources.

Top Healthcare of Tribunal Suspects Upsetting for Some

Say Mony, Kong Sothanarith,VOA Khmer

Saturday, 09 September 2011

When Khmer Rouge prison survivor Vann Nath died earlier this week in a quiet Phnom Penh clinic, family members had been scrambling for cash to pay for his treatment.

Staff at the Khmer Rouge tribunal pooled $500 to offset costs, as Vann Nath lay in a coma after a heart attack Aug. 26. Friends scrambled to collect money online. He died on Monday.

Meanwhile, the former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of widespread atrocity crimes and responsibility for the deaths of 1.7 million people are getting free health care with good doctors under the UN-backed tribunal. Vann Nath’s family members and other regime victims did not fail to notice.

Among Students, Doubts Over Tribunal Suspects’ Defense

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Friday, 14 July 2011 

Cambodian Students line up to attend the Khmer Rouge trial in Phnom Penh, June 27, 2011.

As more Khmer Rouge leaders are put on trial by a UN-backed tribunal, some Cambodians students say they don’t believe their defense claims, that they established an ultra-Maoist regime to prevent Cambodia from falling into foreign hands. The tribunal has put the crimes of the Khmer Rouge back into the public consciousness, and many of the young generation are now learning more about the regime than they learned from parents who often withhold their own stories of atrocities.

New Film Exhibit Gives Khmer Rouge a Voice

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Monday, 28 February 2011

An unidentified former soldier looks on near the once Khmer Rouge-stronghold border town of Pailin. The video installation, co-produced by filmmakers Thomas Webner Carlsen and Jan Krogsgard, runs 43 hours in total and examines the lives of the former so

Low-ranking Khmer Rouge cadre, 30 in all, will have their say and then some in a massive video installation opening this week in Phnom Penh. The “Voices of the Khmer Rouge” exhibit contains 30 lengthy interviews with former Khmer Rouge now living in pockets along the Thai border, as men and women aged 38 to 70 give their reasons for joining the movement. And staying with it.

Youth Can 'Bridge Gap' for Legacy of Khmer Rouge

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Long Khet, executive director of Youth for Peace, on 'Hello VOA' on Monday.

Youth can play a vital role in bringing back some of the trust that was lost in the Khmer Rouge and intervening war years, an youth leader said Monday. “In our community, we've lost our values, solidarity and trust among each other, especially with the Khmer Rouge survivors,” said Long Khet, executive director of Youth for Peace, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Pailin to Tribunal Prosecutors: No Further Indictments

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Thursday, 30 September 2010

An unidentified former soldier looks on near the once Khmer Rouge-stronghold border town of Pailin, Cambodia.

Residents in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin told a delegation from the UN-backed tribunal last week they do not want to see the prosecution of further cases at the court after the second one is completed. Andrew Cayley, the international prosecutor for the court and head of the delegation, told the residents that no more than 10 people would be further prosecuted in cases No. 3 and No. 4.

No Widespread Release Yet for 'Enemies of the People'

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Friday, 23 July 2010

Thet Sambath, filmmaker of the 'Enemies of the People', talking to former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea.

Phnom Penh cinema owners say they are ready and willing to show a groundbreaking documentary on the Khmer Rouge, but the filmmakers say they are so far waiting for government permission for its widespread release. “Enemies of the People,” which includes lengthy interviews with Pol Pot's lieutenant, Nuon Chea, who is now facing trial for atrocity crimes charges at the UN-backed tribunal, will premier in a small arts theater this week.

Tribunal Prosecutor Allays Cham Concerns

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Thursday, 13 May 2010

White-haired and toothless, Leb Sarem was riding his bicycle from his home to pray at a nearby mosque in Preah Sihanouk province. Along the way, he stopped at a neighbor’s housing compound where last month he and other residents here in the village of Prek Torl met with an international prosecutor from the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The visit, from UN prosecutor Andrew Cayley, set his mind at ease, Leb Sarem told VOA Khmer at the compound last week.

“Before he came here, I felt very tense,” the 67-year-old Muslim said. “But now I feel more relieved, because I hope that he will find justice for me by taking the Khmer Rouge leaders to trial sooner.”

Cham Son Seeks Tribunal ‘Justice’ for Father

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Thursday, 29 April 2010

Ly Sukei’s father was a well-educated Cambodian Muslim who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in 1975.

Now Ly Sukei is one of 228 Chams filing as civil parties at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, as the UN-backed court prepares to try at least four jailed leaders of the regime for genocide and other atrocity crimes.

“I filed a complaint to find justice for my father,” Ly Sukei told VOA Khmer at his home in Kampong Cham province, where many Chams lived and died under the Khmer Rouge.

On Island of Massacre, Chams Remember

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Tuesday, 27 April 2010 

On an island in the Mekong River in Krouch Chhmar district, about 50 km from Kampong Cham provincial town, lies a Cham village that is little more than a few bamboo, thatched-roof houses.

The village is on Koh Phal, or “Island of Harvest,” where Cham Muslims resisted the Khmer Rouge in an uprising in September 1975, just five months after the radical Maoists took power in Cambodia.

“The reason for the rebellion was that there was no more Islam,” Chet Sman, a 75-year-old widower and the head of one of the four families living here, told VOA Khmer in an interview recently. “The Khmer Rouge collected our Quran for burning and cut women’s hair, including my mother’s. This is the reason.”