Saturday, July 31, 2010
Pittsburgh Tribune (USA)
Opinion
The ridiculously short prison sentence that a United Nations-backed court handed to the man who was the commandant of the Khmer Rouge's central prison is one more example of the U.N. failing to deliver true justice for violators of human rights and their victims.
Convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity -- he oversaw the killing and torture of more than 14,000 people -- Kaing Guek Eav, 67, ostensibly was sentenced to 35 years in prison, a term far short of punishment in proper proportion to his perpetration of evil. But due to time served, including time in "illegal military detention," the court reduced his sentence to just 19 years.
Survivors of Khmer Rouge brutality rightly are outraged. He deserves the death penalty, which Cambodia lacks -- but he's just the sort of butcher for whom an exception is in order.
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