This is absolutely frightening. The kids start off singing songs now they march about doing some bizarre chicken wing thing. Remember, the rank and file of the Khmer Rouge were under age of 18.
Showing posts with label Khmer Rouge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khmer Rouge. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Khmer Rouge On Trial
Ex-Khmer Rouge on trial for killing British deminer
Phnom Penh (dpa) - Five former Khmer Rouge soldiers went on trial Friday in the Cambodian capital, charged in the 1996 murders of a British deminer and his Cambodian translator.
Briton Christopher Howes and his interpreter, Houn Hourth, were abducted along with a group of Cambodian co-workers in March 1996 by Khmer Rouge guerrillas while clearing mines near the Angkor Wat temple complex in northwestern Cambodia.
Howes, 37, a former soldier, was said to have behaved heroically during the ordeal, persuading the kidnappers to free all his colleagues except himself and Hourth.
Their fate remained a mystery for more than two years, but Scotland Yard confirmed in 1998 that they had been killed in the remote, northern former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng.
Among the defendants at Friday's trial was Khem Ngun, a former rebel commander who defected to the government soon after the killings. He is accused of ordering the killings.
The abduction was just one of a spate of kidnappings by the Khmer Rouge during the mid-1990s when the embattled group was attempting to shore up the movement financially with hijackings of cars and trains, abductions of foreigners and other brutal crimes.
The suspects have been charged with premeditated murder and illegal confinement and face life in prison.
The Cambodian government was accused at the time of being slow to make arrests in the killings because negotiations for Khmer Rouge leaders to defect were at a crucial stage. In November, police arrested two accused ringleaders, grabbing three more men in May.
Cambodian trials usually take one day, but judges often reserve verdicts for weeks.
Phnom Penh (dpa) - Five former Khmer Rouge soldiers went on trial Friday in the Cambodian capital, charged in the 1996 murders of a British deminer and his Cambodian translator.
Briton Christopher Howes and his interpreter, Houn Hourth, were abducted along with a group of Cambodian co-workers in March 1996 by Khmer Rouge guerrillas while clearing mines near the Angkor Wat temple complex in northwestern Cambodia.
Howes, 37, a former soldier, was said to have behaved heroically during the ordeal, persuading the kidnappers to free all his colleagues except himself and Hourth.
Their fate remained a mystery for more than two years, but Scotland Yard confirmed in 1998 that they had been killed in the remote, northern former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng.
Among the defendants at Friday's trial was Khem Ngun, a former rebel commander who defected to the government soon after the killings. He is accused of ordering the killings.
The abduction was just one of a spate of kidnappings by the Khmer Rouge during the mid-1990s when the embattled group was attempting to shore up the movement financially with hijackings of cars and trains, abductions of foreigners and other brutal crimes.
The suspects have been charged with premeditated murder and illegal confinement and face life in prison.
The Cambodian government was accused at the time of being slow to make arrests in the killings because negotiations for Khmer Rouge leaders to defect were at a crucial stage. In November, police arrested two accused ringleaders, grabbing three more men in May.
Cambodian trials usually take one day, but judges often reserve verdicts for weeks.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Brother Number 2 Under Arrest
Khmer Rouge's Nuon Chea Arrested, Facing Questioning By U.N. Tribunal
The man known as Brother Number 2, Nuon Chea, in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge faced questioning on Wednesday by a war crimes tribunal. Cambodian court officials began interrogating the 82-year-old former leader at his rural village home on the Thai border. The Cambodian court set up to bring former leaders of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime is tasked to look into alleged crimes against humanity and had Chea transported via helicopter to the capital for official criminal processing.
According to an official statement, "Nuon Chea was brought before the office of the co-investigating judge of the ECCC in execution of the arrest warrant. An initial appearance will be held today during which he will be informed of the charges against him."
A court spokesperson said it should be clear by Wednesday evening if charges will be issued immediately to the defendant or whether authorities will place him in custody while they investigate.
Chea was once regaled as one of Pol Pot's top leaders his arrest is notable because of his alleged decision-making role in execution role. He is also believed to be one of the key architects in the execution policies of the 1975-1979 communist regime. The group is blamed in the deaths of over two million people.
"It's such a relief -- even though Nuon Chea's indictment cannot bring back what we have lost," said top Cambodian genocide researcher Youk Chhang in an AFP report.
"It's ... a sense that something has been done."
The man known as Brother Number 2, Nuon Chea, in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge faced questioning on Wednesday by a war crimes tribunal. Cambodian court officials began interrogating the 82-year-old former leader at his rural village home on the Thai border. The Cambodian court set up to bring former leaders of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime is tasked to look into alleged crimes against humanity and had Chea transported via helicopter to the capital for official criminal processing.
According to an official statement, "Nuon Chea was brought before the office of the co-investigating judge of the ECCC in execution of the arrest warrant. An initial appearance will be held today during which he will be informed of the charges against him."
A court spokesperson said it should be clear by Wednesday evening if charges will be issued immediately to the defendant or whether authorities will place him in custody while they investigate.
Chea was once regaled as one of Pol Pot's top leaders his arrest is notable because of his alleged decision-making role in execution role. He is also believed to be one of the key architects in the execution policies of the 1975-1979 communist regime. The group is blamed in the deaths of over two million people.
"It's such a relief -- even though Nuon Chea's indictment cannot bring back what we have lost," said top Cambodian genocide researcher Youk Chhang in an AFP report.
"It's ... a sense that something has been done."
Friday, August 24, 2007
Khmer Rouge Trials Update
As they used to say in those old Westerns... Hangings too good for him..
Khmer Rouge torture chief seeks bail
Duch, the chief Khmer Rouge inquisitor and the only person charged with atrocities by a joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal so far, is seeking his release on bail, a court spokesman said on Wednesday.
Also known as Kang Kek Ieu, the head of Pol Pot's infamous S-21 interrogation centre in Phnom Penh, has been in the court's custody since he was charged last month with crimes against humanity.
Before that, the former schoolteacher and born-again Christian had been in a military prison since his arrest in 1999.
Trial spokesman Reach Sambath said the Cambodian and international judges serving jointly on the long-awaited tribunal would hold a hearing soon to decide whether to grant his request.
Despite progress in bringing charges against Duch, seen as a key witness, the $53 million trial continues to be plagued by allegations of interference by the Cambodian government, packed with former Khmer Rouge cadres.
In the latest spat, Prime Minister Hun Sen has been accused of trying to delay the process by appointing co-investigating judge You Bun Leng as head of the national appeals court.
U.N. rights officials said they were concerned at the appointment, although Hun Sen insisted there would be no need for You Bun Leng to give up his Khmer Rouge trial role and no delays.
An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of starvation, disease or forced labour under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror.
Khmer Rouge torture chief seeks bail
Duch, the chief Khmer Rouge inquisitor and the only person charged with atrocities by a joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal so far, is seeking his release on bail, a court spokesman said on Wednesday.
Also known as Kang Kek Ieu, the head of Pol Pot's infamous S-21 interrogation centre in Phnom Penh, has been in the court's custody since he was charged last month with crimes against humanity.
Before that, the former schoolteacher and born-again Christian had been in a military prison since his arrest in 1999.
Trial spokesman Reach Sambath said the Cambodian and international judges serving jointly on the long-awaited tribunal would hold a hearing soon to decide whether to grant his request.
Despite progress in bringing charges against Duch, seen as a key witness, the $53 million trial continues to be plagued by allegations of interference by the Cambodian government, packed with former Khmer Rouge cadres.
In the latest spat, Prime Minister Hun Sen has been accused of trying to delay the process by appointing co-investigating judge You Bun Leng as head of the national appeals court.
U.N. rights officials said they were concerned at the appointment, although Hun Sen insisted there would be no need for You Bun Leng to give up his Khmer Rouge trial role and no delays.
An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of starvation, disease or forced labour under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
UN Urges Cambodia to Reconsider Judge's Transfer
Excuse me but what was the UN doing when the Khmer Rouge were bashing babies heads against trees? Oh right. Nothing. As usual.
UN urges Cambodia to reconsider judge's transfer from genocide tribunal
The U.N. urged Cambodia to reconsider its decision to transfer a judge from the Khmer Rouge tribunal, saying the move could disrupt efforts to convene the long-awaited genocide trials, a spokesman said Wednesday.
You Bun Leng, one of two investigating judges at the U.N.-backed tribunal, was recently appointed by the Cambodian government to head the country's Appeals Court.
After numerous delays, he and Marcel Lemonde, the U.N.-appointed judge, only recently began investigations of former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of crimes against humanity, genocide and other atrocities that caused the deaths of some 1.7 million people in the late 1970s.
The world body has urged Cambodia "to consider keeping Judge You Bun Leng in his current function as co-investigative judge" of the tribunal, said Peter Foster, a U.N.-appointed tribunal spokesman, in a statement Wednesday.
He said the U.N. officially delivered a note of concern to the Cambodian permanent representative in New York last Thursday, and was now awaiting a response.
"Both sides are working on this issue to ensure that justice is moving forward," said Reach Sambath, a spokesman from the Cambodian side of the tribunal.
The tribunal was established last year following years of negotiations between Cambodia and the United Nations. Disagreements about tribunal rules kept the judges' investigations from starting until last month.
The judges have so far indicted one of five suspects. Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, headed the former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison. The other four have not been publicly named and still remain free in Cambodia.
S-21 or Tol Sang was a former school that the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians or Commie Bastards) used to "process" anyone who was considered an enemy of the revolution. This included children who had been trained in traditional Khmer dance and music. If this fellow IS the head of that place he deserves a slow and painful death.
UN urges Cambodia to reconsider judge's transfer from genocide tribunal
The U.N. urged Cambodia to reconsider its decision to transfer a judge from the Khmer Rouge tribunal, saying the move could disrupt efforts to convene the long-awaited genocide trials, a spokesman said Wednesday.
You Bun Leng, one of two investigating judges at the U.N.-backed tribunal, was recently appointed by the Cambodian government to head the country's Appeals Court.
After numerous delays, he and Marcel Lemonde, the U.N.-appointed judge, only recently began investigations of former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of crimes against humanity, genocide and other atrocities that caused the deaths of some 1.7 million people in the late 1970s.
The world body has urged Cambodia "to consider keeping Judge You Bun Leng in his current function as co-investigative judge" of the tribunal, said Peter Foster, a U.N.-appointed tribunal spokesman, in a statement Wednesday.
He said the U.N. officially delivered a note of concern to the Cambodian permanent representative in New York last Thursday, and was now awaiting a response.
"Both sides are working on this issue to ensure that justice is moving forward," said Reach Sambath, a spokesman from the Cambodian side of the tribunal.
The tribunal was established last year following years of negotiations between Cambodia and the United Nations. Disagreements about tribunal rules kept the judges' investigations from starting until last month.
The judges have so far indicted one of five suspects. Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, headed the former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison. The other four have not been publicly named and still remain free in Cambodia.
S-21 or Tol Sang was a former school that the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians or Commie Bastards) used to "process" anyone who was considered an enemy of the revolution. This included children who had been trained in traditional Khmer dance and music. If this fellow IS the head of that place he deserves a slow and painful death.
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