By Guy Taylor
World Politics Review
The start of a U.N.-backed war crimes trial for the four surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge may finally set the stage for Cambodia to bring real closure to the graphic horrors it suffered during the latter half of the 20th century.
“The trial is highly important in terms of Cambodian culture,” says Luke Hunt, a World Politics Review contributor and freelance journalist who has covered Cambodia and greater Asia for the past three decades.
“I’ve spoken to many Khmers who believe in the total cathartic experience of seeing their tormentors put in the dock and their personalities laid bare along with their actions,” Hunt told Trend Lines in an email interview this morning.
The Khmer Rouge caused the death of more than 2 million Cambodians during the late-1970s under the leadership of deceased leader Pol Pot, according to statements made to the war crimes court established in Phnom Penh.
The four on trial now are Khieu Samphan, who served as president under Pol Pot; Ieng Sary, who was foreign minister, and his wife Ieng Thirith, who was social action minister; and Nuon Chea, who was Pol Pot’s deputy. The youngest of the accused is 79 years old, so convictions would probably be most meaningful to Cambodia’s elderly.
But, said Hunt, the trial has global significance. Convictions after so many years would underscore the internationally backed message to “despotic fanatics who murder and maim by the thousands — in the case of the Khmer Rouge it was actually millions — that we will come after you,” he said.
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