The Phnom Penh Post

A recent commentary in the New York Times describes the general lack of attention the Khmer Rouge tribunal has received in the United States. I have to say that, sadly, since I returned to the U.S. in August, I have found this largely to be the case.

It is particularly inexcusable considering the role America played in decimating the country and creating circumstances that allowed the Khmer Rouge to come to power in the first place.

As Richard Bernstein writes, the lack of attention is "strange, given that tens of millions of Americans are old enough to remember when Cambodia was a preoccupying and deeply emotional issue for the United States, a tragic sideshow, as the writer William Shawcross put it, to the larger war in Indochina."

Recapping a week of closing arguments:

Monday:  Judges should not be fooled by the partial confessions and feigned contrition Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, has employed in a bid to downplay the savage crimes he committed as Tuol Sleng prison commandant, civil party lawyers argued Monday during the first round of closing statements in the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s first case.

Tuesday: A lengthy prison sentence for Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, would serve as a resounding repudiation of the facility he ran and the sadistic policies he so zealously promoted, prosecutors told the Khmer Rouge tribunal in their closing statements Tuesday.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal on Thursday concluded the hearing of evidence in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch. A statement put out by the tribunal noted that, in 72 days of substantive hearings, the court heard from nine expert witnesses, 17 fact witnesses, seven character witnesses and 22 civil parties. Closing statements are set to begin on November 23.

International defence lawyer Francois Roux on Wednesday concluded testimony in dramatic fashion, with questions clearly intended to demonstrate the sincerity of his client’s apologies and statements of remorse. The Trial Chamber allowed him to show a video of Duch's February 2008 visit to the Cheoung Ek killing fields, during which he expressed “indescribable remorse” for the atrocities of the regime. Scroll to the bottom of this link to read the account of the testimony that ran in the Post.

On Thursday, civil party lawyers submitted a joint filing for reparations, in which they asked for free medical care, memorial pagodas and education programmes, among other things. Beyond the joint filing, lawyers plan to include individual reparations claims in final submissions to the Trial Chamber. A decision on reparations will likely be announced at the same time as the verdict, which is expected early next year.

The Trial Chamber announced last week that closing statements in the case of Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, would be heard beginning on November 23. 

The tribunal's internal rules call for closing statements to be given by civil parties, the co-prosecutors, Duch's defence lawyers and Duch himself.

During the last two days of testimony last week, the Khmer Rouge tribunal heard from the relatives of detainees whom Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, knew personally.

Im Sun Thy and Phung Sunthary, the wife and daughter of the respected law professor Phung Ton, described for the court on Wednesday how his death had affected them. Phung Ton had at one point taught Duch.

Phung Sunthary said she did not believe Duch's past claims that he had no idea what happened to the professor at Tuol Sleng. But Duch stood by his assertion that he did not know at the time that the professor was being held there, adding that he had been upset himself when he learned of Phung Ton's fate. 

Rob Hamill capped an emotional day of civil party testimony Monday with an intimate account of how the death of his brother Kerry, who was executed at Tuol Sleng after his yacht drifted off course into Cambodian waters in 1978, devastated his family.

(Rob Hamill/Sovan Philong)

The former Olympic rower described the torture he longed to inflict on prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, for crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge regime:

"Duch, at times I have wanted to 'smash' you, to use your words, in the same way that you smashed so many others," Hamill said in the most confrontational testimony the Khmer Rouge tribunal has yet heard. "At times I have imagined you shackled, starved, whipped and clubbed viciously. I have imagined your scrotum electrified, being forced to eat your own faeces, being nearly drowned and having your throat cut. I have wanted that to be your experience, your reality."

The Khmer Rouge tribunal last week heard from three witnesses -- two men who said they survived Tuol Sleng and a Prey Sar survivor who described losing her husband and all four children to the regime.

Chhun Phal, who on Monday concluded testimony that began on August 6, said he worked for about one month at the Choeung Ek killing fields, where he dug mass graves and filled one with naked, bloodied corpses.

The 47-year-old rice farmer at first said he had not been tasked with digging mass graves, prompting Trial Chamber President Nil Nonn to refer back to statements given to investigators in which he said he dug "two or three pits". After consulting with his lawyer, Chhun Phal said that he stood by the earlier statements.

After nearly a year and a half in Cambodia, the time has come for me to return to the U.S. While I certainly plan to come back to Cambodia in the future, it most likely won't be before the trial of Comrade Duch has wrapped up. Luckily, a talented journalist at the Post has offered to help me maintain the blog.

Robbie Corey-Boulet received an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University and wrote for publications in India and Seattle before coming to the Phnom Penh Post. A strange coincidence: We actually worked together at The Brown Daily Herald in college, where he served as Editor-in-Chief several years after I held the same position.

While I will continue to blog about tribunal issues from afar, there is no replacement for having someone on the ground who can tell us what is really happening. I'm sure Robbie will do a wonderful job and am so happy he has signed on for this project!

In recent days, scholar David Chandler has testified to Khmer Rouge stupidity, and a former S-21 gravedigger has described how he helped dispose of bodies. 

Luckily, it seems that our webmaster at the Post has been able to work out some of the kinks with the new format, and I am able to post entries again. I still need to correct formatting issues with old entries, but this will be done in the near future.

Since I last wrote, the court has continued interviewing former S-21 staffers. Recaps of these testimonies are available in the Post's recent archives and also at the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor (the latter source is a bit more extensive).

As a backdrop to all this, the atmosphere at the court itself has changed considerably in recent months. I've mentioned this before, but because the difference is so striking, I recently interviewed newly appointed Public Affairs head Reach Sambath about his office's outreach efforts. Since he took over his new role in June, hearings have gone from generally sparsely attended events (often with only a couple dozen people staying for afternoon sessions), to overflow audiences.