Cambodian fine arts school students take part in a performance to mark the annual 'Day of Anger' at the Choeung Ek killing fields memorial near Phnom Penh on May 20, 2010. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
Cambodian fine arts school students take part in a performance to mark the annual 'Day of Anger' at the Choeung Ek killing fields memorial near Phnom Penh on May 20, 2010. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
CHOEUNG EK, May 20 (AFP) - Tearful Cambodians marked an annual "Day of Anger" with a re-enactment of Khmer Rouge crimes at a notorious "killing field" on Thursday to commemorate relatives killed by the regime.
Some 3,000 people, including Buddhist monks, watched as students mimed raping, bludgeoning, strangling and eviscerating bound victims to remember those who died at Choeung Ek, a field outside the capital Phnom Penh.
Many sobbed during the performance by the black-clad students just metres (yards) from mass graves where Khmer Rouge soldiers murdered thousands of people during the rule of the hardline communist movement in the late 1970s.
"I still feel very much anger toward the regime," Chea Thov, 63, told AFP during Thursday ceremony.
"Justice is near. But I want all bad Khmer Rouge leaders to be sentenced to death," she said, adding that Khmer Rouge killed her husband and 15 relatives.
Up to two million people were executed or died from starvation, overwork and torture during the communist regime's 1975-1979 reign as it emptied Cambodia's cities and enslaved the population on collective farms.
Five Khmer Rouge leaders are being held by a UN-backed genocide court over their roles in the hardline communist government.
Final arguments in the court's first trial, of Khmer Rouge's main prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, ended in November and a verdict is expected later this year.
Four other leaders including the regime's "Brother Number Two" ideologue Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith are expected to stand trial next year.
"I am speechless about Khmer Rouge crimes. I hope justice will be rendered very soon so that sadness will fade away from the people's hearts," said another relative of the regime's victims, Nob Chin, 72.
Phnom Penh - Hundreds of Cambodians marked the annual Day of Anger against the Khmer Rouge regime Thursday at a former killing field outside the capital.The cornerstone of the ceremony was a play in which a dozen Cambodians dressed as Khmer Rouge soldiers acted out executions in a reminder of the mass killings that characterized the regime that ruled from 1975 to 1979.Pa Socheatvong, the deputy governor of Phnom Penh, said the purpose was to remember those who died during the Khmer Rouge regime.The movement was led by Pol Pot, also known as Brother Number One."Pol Pot betrayed the country by using the people's blood as capital, so people are very angry with the Pol Pot regime," Pa Socheatvong told the German Press Agency dpa.The event was first held in 1984, five years after the Khmer Rouge was driven from power.Pa Socheatvong said the May 20 date was selected since it was on that day in 1976 that the Khmer Rouge leadership took the decision to kill people."They made it the strategy of their genocidal regime," he said.Thursday's ceremony was held at Chhoeung Ek, which was where thousands of Cambodians from the regime's main security prison known as S-21 were executed. Both Chhoeung Ek and S-21 are popular sites for tourists visiting the capital.Last year, S-21's commander, Comrade Duch, appeared before a joint UN-Cambodian tribunal charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Judgement in Duch's case is expected in the coming months.Four former Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in detention in Phnom Penh ahead of their trial which is likely to start early next year.An estimated 1.7 million people died during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia from execution, overwork, starvation and illness.
Some 3,000 people, including Buddhist monks, watched as students mimed raping, bludgeoning, strangling and eviscerating bound victims to remember those who died at Choeung Ek, a field outside the capital Phnom Penh.
Many sobbed during the performance by the black-clad students just metres (yards) from mass graves where Khmer Rouge soldiers murdered thousands of people during the rule of the hardline communist movement in the late 1970s.
"I still feel very much anger toward the regime," Chea Thov, 63, told AFP during Thursday ceremony.
"Justice is near. But I want all bad Khmer Rouge leaders to be sentenced to death," she said, adding that Khmer Rouge killed her husband and 15 relatives.
Up to two million people were executed or died from starvation, overwork and torture during the communist regime's 1975-1979 reign as it emptied Cambodia's cities and enslaved the population on collective farms.
Five Khmer Rouge leaders are being held by a UN-backed genocide court over their roles in the hardline communist government.
Final arguments in the court's first trial, of Khmer Rouge's main prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, ended in November and a verdict is expected later this year.
Four other leaders including the regime's "Brother Number Two" ideologue Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith are expected to stand trial next year.
"I am speechless about Khmer Rouge crimes. I hope justice will be rendered very soon so that sadness will fade away from the people's hearts," said another relative of the regime's victims, Nob Chin, 72.
Phnom Penh - Hundreds of Cambodians marked the annual Day of Anger against the Khmer Rouge regime Thursday at a former killing field outside the capital.The cornerstone of the ceremony was a play in which a dozen Cambodians dressed as Khmer Rouge soldiers acted out executions in a reminder of the mass killings that characterized the regime that ruled from 1975 to 1979.Pa Socheatvong, the deputy governor of Phnom Penh, said the purpose was to remember those who died during the Khmer Rouge regime.The movement was led by Pol Pot, also known as Brother Number One."Pol Pot betrayed the country by using the people's blood as capital, so people are very angry with the Pol Pot regime," Pa Socheatvong told the German Press Agency dpa.The event was first held in 1984, five years after the Khmer Rouge was driven from power.Pa Socheatvong said the May 20 date was selected since it was on that day in 1976 that the Khmer Rouge leadership took the decision to kill people."They made it the strategy of their genocidal regime," he said.Thursday's ceremony was held at Chhoeung Ek, which was where thousands of Cambodians from the regime's main security prison known as S-21 were executed. Both Chhoeung Ek and S-21 are popular sites for tourists visiting the capital.Last year, S-21's commander, Comrade Duch, appeared before a joint UN-Cambodian tribunal charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Judgement in Duch's case is expected in the coming months.Four former Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in detention in Phnom Penh ahead of their trial which is likely to start early next year.An estimated 1.7 million people died during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia from execution, overwork, starvation and illness.
1 comment:
The foolish government dictator Hun Xen do like that!!!Only the crazy andy very stupid people like Hun Xen regime want to do the same pol Pot regime!!
We don't want to know about this ,because these black cloths people are living now in Phnom Penh and in the government!!!!
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