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.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese