Jul 22, 2010
Khmer Rouge's notorious security prison Tuol Sleng (S-21). -- PHOTO: REUTERS
PHNOM PENH - THE brother of one of a handful of Westerners killed by the Khmer Rouge returned to Cambodia for a landmark verdict in a war crimes tribunal, saying there can never be adequate justice for his family.
It was not clear how Rob Hamill's brother, Kerry, fell into the hands of the brutal communist regime. Kerry Hamill was 28 when his yacht was blown off course into Cambodian waters in 1978 and he was captured. He and shipmates Briton John Dewhirst and Canadian Stuart Glass were taken to Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, tortured and killed.
When the news reached his hometown of Hamilton, New Zealand more than one year later, it tore apart what had been a close-knit family. One brother committed suicide months later; Rob Hamill became a teenage drunk. His parents never recovered.
'There'll never be justice for our family,' said Mr Hamill, 46, noting his mother died seven years ago and did not get to witness the trial or hear its verdict. 'I can't quite reconcile how justice can ever be served with the nature and the way these people's lives were taken.' A UN-backed war crimes tribunal will issue its first verdict on Monday against a senior member of the Khmer Rouge, the ultra-communist regime blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during their 1975-79 rule.
About a dozen Westerners were among the estimated 16,000 people held at S-21 before being killed.
As commander of S-21, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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