Fri, Aug 27, 2004 - Page 5 News List

Khmer rape victim tells her story

DEEP WOUNDS A short film which revisits the darkest era of Cambodian history shows that rape crimes by the Khmer Rouge have been largely forgotten or ignored

AP , PHNOM PENH

In the film, Tang Kim says she didn't tell her story to her second husband, whom she married in 1980 but left four years later.

She cries as she recalls sucking juice from a cornstalk to survive during her escape.

vindictive

Struggling for reconciliation, she nonetheless admits she can never stop feeling vindictive toward her Khmer Rouge attackers.

If any are still alive, she says, she would like them to be "taken to be killed so that I can have some peace of mind."

"Blood must be paid by blood. I want my dignity back," she says, her voice rising in anger.

Youk Chhang said that the film would be released on Monday and shown with English, French and Japanese subtitles. It will also be screened every day for visitors at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former Khmer Rouge prison in Phnom Penh where some 16,000 people were jailed before execution.

This story has been viewed 54925 times.
TOP top