Source: Deum Ampil newspaper
Reported in English by Khmerization
A key witness in the Khmer Rouge trial has accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of being a key member of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed more than 1.7 million people in the 1970s, reports Deum Ampil newspaper.
Mr. Nayan Chanda (pictured), an expert on the Khmer Rouge regime who wrote a book titled "Brother Enemy", claimed on Monday that "Prime Minister Hun Sen used to be a member of the Khmer Rouge regime."
Nayan Chanda, an Indian academic of politics and history of South Eas Asia, was called as an expert witness in the trial of Duch. He claimed that Mr. Hun Sen used to be a member of the Khmer Rouge leadership based in the Eastern Zone who had actively led the fight to expel the Vietnamese settlers out of Cambodia in 1977.
Responding to Mr. Chanda's allegations, Mr. Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, said that the charge that the head of a government was a member of the Khmer Rouge regime is the duty of the prosecutor and the trial judges and not the duty of a witness. He said that the prosecutor and the judges have the duty to investigate how true is the accusations that have been made by the witness. He added that any witnesses who wrongly told untrue information will lead the court to make a wrong conclusion. He also claimed that Mr. Chanda's testimonies had further added confusions to the court, which has already been confused.
This is the first time that Prime Minister Hun Sen, who held powers for more than 30 years, had been mentioned in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as a key player in the Khmer Rouge regime which was responsible for the deaths of more than 1.7 million people.
However, experts believe that Prime Minister Hun Sen will never be brought to trial because the Khmer Rouge Tribunal has jurisdiction to try only 5 key members of the Khmer Rouge leadership.
Attempts by the Tribunal to widen its scope of jurisdiction on several occasions have failed.
Reported in English by Khmerization
A key witness in the Khmer Rouge trial has accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of being a key member of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed more than 1.7 million people in the 1970s, reports Deum Ampil newspaper.
Mr. Nayan Chanda (pictured), an expert on the Khmer Rouge regime who wrote a book titled "Brother Enemy", claimed on Monday that "Prime Minister Hun Sen used to be a member of the Khmer Rouge regime."
Nayan Chanda, an Indian academic of politics and history of South Eas Asia, was called as an expert witness in the trial of Duch. He claimed that Mr. Hun Sen used to be a member of the Khmer Rouge leadership based in the Eastern Zone who had actively led the fight to expel the Vietnamese settlers out of Cambodia in 1977.
Responding to Mr. Chanda's allegations, Mr. Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, said that the charge that the head of a government was a member of the Khmer Rouge regime is the duty of the prosecutor and the trial judges and not the duty of a witness. He said that the prosecutor and the judges have the duty to investigate how true is the accusations that have been made by the witness. He added that any witnesses who wrongly told untrue information will lead the court to make a wrong conclusion. He also claimed that Mr. Chanda's testimonies had further added confusions to the court, which has already been confused.
This is the first time that Prime Minister Hun Sen, who held powers for more than 30 years, had been mentioned in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as a key player in the Khmer Rouge regime which was responsible for the deaths of more than 1.7 million people.
However, experts believe that Prime Minister Hun Sen will never be brought to trial because the Khmer Rouge Tribunal has jurisdiction to try only 5 key members of the Khmer Rouge leadership.
Attempts by the Tribunal to widen its scope of jurisdiction on several occasions have failed.
2 comments:
It is interesting to read different reports about the same event. I cannot find in other reports that Nayan Chanda "accused" Prime Minister Hun Sen to have been "a key member of the Khmer Rouge regime" - there is nothing new when it is said again (what nobody denies) that the present prime minister, when he was not yet 20 years old, had joined the Khmer Rouge movement. This fact is not new at all. But then soon he changed sides to fight the Khmer Rouge movement, while other Khmer political groups cooperated with the Khmer Rouge for many years to come.
Comparing the Rasmei Kampuchea report which is translated here:
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/witness-talks-about-armed-conflict-between-cambodia-and-vietnam-tuesday-26-5-2009/
or the report in the Phnom Penh Post, here:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/component/option,com_myblog/Itemid,149/show,Yuon.html
one wonders how Deum Ampil got this perspective, so different from the others. And presenting old well known facts as if they were new.
It is really good to have the possibility to compare different perspectives as the basis to come closer to the historic realities.
The word "accused" was Khmerization's own word. Deum Ampil's own word was that Nayan Chanda "claimed" on Monday that "Prime Minister Hun Sen used to be a member of the Khmer Rouge regime."
I would imagine that Nayan Chanda testified in English and I don't know if Deum Ampil has a reporter who can understand English very well to pick up the exact words of Mr. Nayan Chanda.
Please bear in mind that Deum Ampil newspaper is owned by Mr. Soy Sopheap, CTN anchorman and a very close advisor of Mr. Hun Sen. He has no interests to report anything negative or anything that is untrue which may be detrimental to Mr. Hun Sen's reputation.
I took Deum Ampil's information in face value and I hope Deum Ampil get it's information right.
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