Two "Killing Fields" leaders get life behind bar, sends message to Iraq and Sudan

PHNOM PENH, August 7, 2014  –Former Khmer Rouge chief ideologue and chairman of parliament Nuon Chea and former head of state Khieu Samphan, were sentenced on Thursday to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity they committed in 1970s. The United States said such move sends message to Iraq and Sudan that “people committed such atrocity cannot escape when the time arrive.”

The Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) found Nuon Chea, 88, and Khieu Samphan, 83, guilty of crimes against humanity committed between 17 April 1975 and December 1977 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Both Cambodia and the United Nations are pleased with the judgment.

His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An, also Chairman of the Royal Government Task Force for the Khmer Rouge Trials, told reporters after the ECCC delivered  judgment that, “it is a historical day, a milestone step that the court delivered justice we have been waiting for so long. We never lost sight of justice for the victims of these horrors so we welcome this delivery of judgment and we are happy to see this is the conclusion."

“The judgment today also means reduce and relief the painfulness and sufferings of the Cambodian people inflicted by the Khmer Rouge. I am quite pleased with this judgment meets the international justice,” said H.E Dr. Sok An.

“The ECCC has fully implemented its due process of law and proved that this tribunal is competent and capable to find justice for the victims although we went through some hiccups along the road in the past,” he said.

The Cambodia’s ruling party has claimed that more than 3 million died under the ‘Killing Field’ is also known as Khmer Rouge regime due to forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and execution committed by the Khmer Rouge between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979.

The country’s infrastructure was grounded zero during Pol Pot, leader of the regime, ruled this Southeast Asian nation.

"We've built up our country from scratch after the liberation from the genocide, the regime of horror," His Excellency Dr. Sok An, also Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers, told journalists.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large of the United States for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, said at the joint conference along with Sok An and David Scheffer, that: “this judgment also sends message to Sudan and Iraq… that there is not escape in this life when the day will arrive.. By this way we can prevent others from harm people.”

David Scheffer, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Expert on the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, told reporters that “I’ve been told before that we will never reach this day, but today we did and the international criminal justice is rendered for Cambodians.”

“This is a great leap forward of this court,” said Scheffer.

Cambodia and U.N. said in its joint statement that: “the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations Secretary-General has repeatedly emphasized that there must be no impunity for the most serious international crimes. The independent judicial process must be permitted to run its course to ensure that those who would perpetrate serious crimes are held accountable”.

The European Union said in its release that, it welcomed the verdict pronounced today by the Judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in the case 002/1 against former senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea: Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

“Their condemnation is an important positive step in the global fight against impunity. It demonstrates that any political leaders can be held accountable for their acts, even decades after they were committed,” said the EU’s release.

A Cambodian survivor of the ‘Killing Fields’, Kob Sa, 65, from the northern province of Kampong Thom province, said: “the judgment can totally heal the old wound I suffered from the Khmer Rouge’s rule 3 years, 8 months and 20 days, but it at least reduces my painfulness and angers inside my heart.”

Kob Sar himself has 10 relative members died under the Democratic Kampuchea regime, known as Khmer Rouge or Killing Fields.

Another survivor, Ya Ly, 66, said that he has two siblings died under Khmer Rouge, and said that he is pleased with the punishment of life sentence behind bar for Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

“I have never thought that the leaders of Khmer Rouge will be brought to stand trial. But the court did now,” said Ly sat in the shade of trees outside the court where he listened to the loudspeaker aired from the tribunal.

Many Cambodians clapping hands outside the court shortly after they heard the judge pronounced life sentence for Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

Nuon Chea was the Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and a member of both the CPK Central and Standing Committees.

Nuon Chea, with Pol Pot, exercised the ultimate decision-making power of the Party. He officially exercised the role of Acting Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) on several occasions from September 1976 up until 1977 when Pol Pot resumed his duties. Due to his seniority within the CPK leadership, Nuon Chea enjoyed oversight of all Party activities extending beyond the roles and responsibilities formally entrusted to him during the DK period.

Khieu Samphan became a candidate member of the CPK Central Committee in 1971 and a full-rights member in 1976. He was one of two members of Office 870 which oversaw the implementation of the decisions of the CPK Standing Committee. As a member of Office 870 he was responsible for commerce and played an important role in matters of economics and foreign trade in the Democratic Kampuchea (DK).

In April 1976, Khieu Samphan was appointed President of the State Presidium. While this was a largely symbolic role with no executive power, he had the confidence and trust of the other members of the Party Centre and he participated in meetings of the Central and Standing Committees.

Challenges

His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An, also Chairman of the Royal Government Task Force for the Khmer Rouge Trials, said that the tribunal, however, is still facing two main challenges which are the old/advanced age of the two convicted.

Pol Pot was never brought to stand trial. He died of natural cause in 1998 in AnglongVeng district in Oddar Meanchey province borders with Thailand.

Ieng Sary, its foreign minister, died in March last year during the trial. His wife Ieng Thirith, Khmer Rouge 'first lady', was discharged from hospital in Thailand recently.

Former Khmer Rouge military chief one-legged Ta Mok, one of Pol Pot's most ruthless henchmen and a key defendant in the "Killing Fields" trials, died in 2006.

Kaing GuekEav, better known as Duch, the former chief of the notorious Tuol Sleng Prison, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2010 for crimes against humanity.

His Excellency Dr. Sok An also raised another challenge which is financial difficulty the ECCC is facing.

The Cambodian component of the ECCC needs $6.4 million to operate for the whole year of 2014.

Scheffer, however, said that the financial issue is “an old story”, given it is not the first time that the national side of the ECCC faced in the past, and he is optimistic that new donors, such as Latin American, will come up with financial contributions to the court in the future.

The ECCC’s expenditure is recorded much less than other UN-funded tribunals such as The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and The Special Court for Sierra Leone.

The ECCC spends about $27 million a year compares with the two other courts spend more than $100 million a year each.

EU, which has contributed substantially to the functioning of the ECCC over the last years, said in its release that, “the EU intends to continue its support in the interest of justice for the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime and to contribute to the national reconciliation process in Cambodia." End.