What are the reparations for Cambodian victims from Khmer Rouge Tribunal?

Posted date : 27-11-2007
Source : Rasmei Kampuchea
By : Oka
Courtesy of http://krtrial.info

Up to present Cambodian victims of the 1975-1979 Democratic Kampuchea regime are critically observing the process of the trial of former senior Khmer Rouge leaders. Currently, there are five suspects being detained at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. They are charged with genocidal crimes, crimes against humanity, war crimes....
Through their careful observation, the victims look at the trial of those suspects and reparations. They want to know how those former leaders will be tried and punished and what the reparations for the people are if the court finds out that the 5 suspects are guilty. However, apparently, the former senior Khmer Rouge leaders do not have resource to compensate the victims since the scale of devastation is too enormous. The law of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal states that the punishment is from 5 years imprisonment to life imprisonment. Nevertheless, the reparation is not stated clearly in the abovementioned law. There must be reparations. Legal experts who have observed the reparations at other international courts say that there are many kinds of reparations but that the reparations are rarely seen given to each victim family since there are too many victim families to pay for. Therefore, the reparations can be made “collectively”.
Lawyers said that in Rwanda the Rwandan government had built schools and hospitals where the children of the victims could go to study and see doctors without paying. However, in Cambodia the Cambodian government has already practised it so far. “In Chili they have built 3 big chairs as symbols of the killings of 3 teachers, while in northern Iraq Kurds have built a monument to commemorate the killings of Kurds by Saddam Hussein,” said the lawyers, adding that in other countries the governments make public apologia to the people so that they could be consoled. How about in Cambodia? What reparations can be made?
Kompong Thom’s Education, Youth and Sport Department Deputy-Director Kim Visoth, who is also a victim, said that he wanted reparations such as schools, roads, bridges, and hospitals in order to develop the county. “At the present time, although the Prime Minister, donors, and the government have provided a lot of schools, we lack of approximately 100 schools only in Kompong Thom,” he said, adding that there were also shortages of hospitals and roads
“Even though the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders does not try other countries, the countries which once connected to the Democratic Kampuchea regime must “accept” and fund Cambodia to reconstruct the country, since schools, hospitals, infrastructures, and culture in Cambodia have been severely damaged due to the bombing, war, and encouragement for the Khmer Rouge to kill people and destroy the country,” he said.
He said that the reparations had to focus on the human resource since important Cambodian knowledgeable people had been killed by the Khmer Rouge regime. “Consequently, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal must manage to have this kind of reparation in order to reconstruct Cambodia,” he added.
Unofficial Translation-Extracted from Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol. 15, #4446, Sunday-Monday, November, 25-26, 2007