Khmer Rouge victims yesterday welcomed the indictment of four top regime leaders for war crimes and genocide, but some observers voiced concern about potential political interference in the case.
A UN-backed tribunal said on Thursday that the four most senior surviving Khmer Rouge members would face trial in connection with the deaths of up to about 2 million people from starvation, overwork and execution between 1975 and 1979.
“I am really happy with the indictment,” said Chum Mey, one of just a handful of survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s main torture prison, Tuol Sleng in Phnom Penh.
The accused are “Brother No. 2” Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, his wife and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith and former head of state Khieu Samphan.
Mey, who heads an organization that speaks on behalf of Khmer Rouge victims, warned that the court should waste no time in bringing the ailing defendants, who are in their late 70s or early 80s, to justice.
“They are all very old. If they die halfway through the trial, there will be no one to testify at the court and it will be difficult to find justice,” Mey said.
The genocide charges in the case relate to the deaths of Vietnamese people and ethnic Cham Muslims under the regime.
Farina So, who works with Muslim groups at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said the Cham Muslims she had spoken to welcomed the indictments.
“They suffered tremendously during the Khmer Rouge time and they have been longing for this trial,” she said.
The trial — expected to begin early next year — follows the landmark July conviction of former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as “Duch,” for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, his trial was marred by claims that staff paid kickbacks for their jobs and allegations of interference by a government with many former Khmer Rouge figures within its ranks.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS