A Change of Guard

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Thursday 30 June 2011

Landmark Khmer Rouge genocide trial: Do Cambodians care?


In this photo, Cambodian Buddhist monks gather during the second trial of the top leaders of Khmer Rouge in the court hall of the UN-backed war crimes tribunal, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, June 29. The UN-backed war crimes tribunal on Wednesday held its 3rd day trial on top four surviving members of the Khmer Rouge regime, blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s.

Mark Peters/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia/AP

The Cambodian government is stepping up efforts to inform the country about the Khmer Rouge's bloody rule.

By Simon Montlake,
Correspondent / June 29, 2011
Read original article at Christian Science Monitor.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Inside a purpose-built courtroom, four elderly Khmer Rouge leaders went on trial here this week in a case that was hailed as a landmark for Cambodian justice under a UN-backed war-crimes tribunal.

But on the streets of the capital, many ordinary Cambodians seemed unsure about what exactly was unfolding and why they should take time out from their daily struggles to pay attention. Others expressed bafflement at the circuitous path of the hearings, the rights afforded to truculent suspects and the tribunal’s lavish budget in a war-ravaged country mired in poverty.

“They spent a lot of money. So where is the verdict?” asks Kosal Kong, a motorized-cart driver who lost relatives during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-79 genocidal reign.

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