Cambodia KRouge court leaves victims disappointed

The former chief of Khmer Rouge prison, S-21, Kaing Guek Eav, in the court room of the Cambodian war crimes tribunal

Sunday, Sep 13, 2009
By Patrick Falby
AFP

PHNOM PENH — Hav Sophea hoped for a sense of closure after telling Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal how her father was killed in the late 1970s at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison.

But after testifying at the ongoing trial of former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, she is worried she was not allowed to properly put her father's memory to rest.

"The court does not treat civil parties like me, who are victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, well enough. They don't give us enough privileges to speak up about our pain," the 33-year-old told AFP.

Hav Sophea is one of 93 regime victims known as civil parties participating in the unique initiative at Duch's trial in which they have brought parallel civil cases against him.

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