Wednesday, 1 April 2009

Former Khmer Rouge leader asks for forgiveness

The Christian Science Monitor

In the first genocide trial in Cambodia, "Duch" acknowledged he was guilty of crimes against humanity and apologized to victims' families.

By Huma Yusuf
March 31, 2009

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

A former Khmer Rouge leader claimed responsibility on Tuesday for crimes committed during the regime's cruel rule. Kaing Guek Eav, widely known as "Duch," is the first Khmer Rouge leader to face a tribunal. He is accused of torture, crimes against humanity, and premeditated murder. His testimony in the ongoing proceedings is expected to implicate four other senior figures of the Khmer Rouge who are currently in custody and awaiting trial.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Duch asked for forgiveness from the families of his victims when admitting to his crimes.

"May I be permitted to apologise to the survivors of the regime and also the loved ones of those who died brutally during the regime," said the man who ran Tuol Sleng prison, known as S21.

"My current plea is that I would like you to please leave me an open window to seek forgiveness," he said, adding he felt "regret and heartfelt sorrow."

The indictment against Duch, read out before the tribunal on Monday, included gruesome details, reports the BBC.

It described medieval methods of torture and execution allegedly carried out by Duch when he was in charge of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison.

Duch's job was to extract confessions from prisoners of counter-revolutionary activity, but "every prisoner who arrived at S-21 [Tuol Sleng] was destined for execution", the document said.

But AFP adds that even while Duch acknowledged responsibility for his crimes and expressed regret, "he insisted his role was more minor than that portrayed by prosecutors," saying, "I am just a scapegoat and a person who played a role in the killing of the regime."

Duch's confession will not, however, end the trial, reports the Los Angeles Times.

He is expected to make a full confession, but that will not end the trial. According to the tribunal's rules, he cannot plead guilty – a confession will be treated as an element of evidence. Kang is also expected to argue in court that he was following orders and would have been killed had he not obeyed.

Al Jazeera explains that "Duch, who was a teacher before becoming the Khmer Rouge's chief torturer, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. Cambodia has no death penalty."

According to The Christian Science Monitor, Duch's testimony is expected to be help secure the convictions of the four other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial before the tribunal. These include Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's former deputy leader; Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was the regime's social affairs minister.

In his trial, Duch is likely to implicate his fellow cadre, who have denied all the charges and have sought to blame foreign powers for the killings. He cooperated fully with the investigating judges probing the grisly events at SS-21, a former school that is now a museum of torture.

"It's important that someone who was a participant in the crimes – a key link in the chain of command – can set the record straight," says Nic Dunlop, a British photographer who discovered Duch in 1999 while working in a refugee camp in Cambodia.

Duch's trial has initiated a campaign to hold more Khmer Rouge figures accountable for their actions, reports the Los Angles Times. But current Cambodian government officials are resisting the idea of further trials.

Observers have urged the Cambodian side of the court to allow further investigations to begin. Canadian prosecutor Robert Petit's move to add to the docket a handful of unidentified figures he describes as key enforcers was blocked by his Cambodian colleague, Chea Leang, a niece of the current deputy prime minister.

She has argued that additional prosecutions could prove destabilizing, overstretch the tribunal's limited resources and would run against the spirit of the 2003 U.N. treaty establishing the court, which called for only "senior leaders" of the regime and "those who were most responsible" to be tried.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also believes that further Khmer Rouge trials could result in civil war, reports Reuters.

"I would prefer to see this tribunal fail instead of seeing war return to my country," Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, said a day after the joint U.N.-Cambodian court resumed its trial of Pol Pot's chief torturer....

Hun Sen ... said the trials should not go beyond the five charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"If as many as 20 Khmer Rouge are indicted to stand trial and war returns to Cambodia, who will be responsible for that?" he told the audience.

An editorial in London-based daily The Guardian points out the shortcomings of the tribunal that is overseeing Duch's case.

For the last decade Hun Sen has assiduously undermined efforts to establish a credible tribunal and progress of the cases under investigation has been glacial. Duch confessed to his sins 10 years ago, but his trial is starting only now. The tribunal called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, have been extraordinary indeed. The Cambodian judges have been accused of taking kickbacks. The prosecutors are reluctant to investigate despite the wealth of evidence from survivors.

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