Brother of NZ victim rages at Khmer Rouge trial

A Cambodian man watches television at a restaurant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2009 as it shows Rob Hamill from New Zealand whose brother was killed by the Khmer Rouge during its 1975-1979 rule in Cambodia. The TV program is broadcast during the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who is tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the U.N.-backed tribunal. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
By SOPHENG CHEANG
AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The brother of a New Zealander tortured and killed by the Khmer Rouge three decades ago told the man who ordered the execution on Monday that he wished him a similarly gruesome fate.

Kerry Hamill was 28 when his yacht was blown off course into Cambodian waters in 1978, and he was captured by the radical communist regime. He and a shipmate, Briton John Dewhirst, were taken to Phnom Penh's S-21 prison and later killed.

Kerry's brother, Rob, wept as he testified at the trial of S-21's commander, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch — the first of five senior Khmer Rouge defendants to be tried by a U.N.-assisted tribunal and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions.

"Duch, at times I have wanted to smash you, to use your words. The same way that you smashed so many others," Rob Hamill said, sitting in a suit and tie, his hands folded before him. "Smash" was the euphemism the Khmer Rouge used when ordering executions.

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