by Bryce Westervelt
celebs.gather.com
October 25, 2011
This is the kind of press that Angelina Jolie (pictured) doesn't want. Jolie, a long-time advocate of environmental conservation efforts, better education, infrastructure and health care in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia may now be linked to the purchase of property from the 'wrong' person. That person in question was a high-ranking official under Pol Pot, leader of the notorious Khmer Rouge.
The Communist Khmer Rouge's reign of terror for four years in Cambodia led to the genocide of more than two million people. According to reports, Angelina Jolie purchased land from Ta Tith, a high-ranking leader of the Khmer Rouge, for her charity. The land was reportedly purchased for $25,000.
The problem is that Ta Tith is sought after by the United Nations to face 'crimes against humanity' charges stemming from the genocide that occurred in the late 1970s.
Jolie had been granted citizenship by the current Cambodian government in 2005, and had purchased the land back in December 2002. The land was purchased as for the Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation and she had been informed that the person she was buying land from was a former higher-up in the Khmer Rouge.
One major issues is that, until recently, there has been no real pressure within Cambodia, though there has been international pressure, to seek justice for the crimes against humanity that were performed by the Khmer Rouge. Still now, more than 30 years after the fact, former Khmer leaders live among the population with little to no fear.
Did Angelina Jolie really know who she was dealing with? One person close to Jolie in dealing with the land deal says yes:
She knows that Yim Tith (Ta Tith) and everybody are the Khmer Rouge. We talked like we have to, like Mr. Yim Tith is a big man there and he's very important person.
How big? The people currently prosecuting the war crimes who seek Ta Tith say that he controlled execution and prisons sites where "71,000 and 83,000 people, if not more, were murdered." Estimates of total death toll in land he controlled...an unimaginable 600,000 people.
Still, the issue here is so much larger than Angelina Jolie. The current fragile Cambodian government is actually afraid of prosecuting too many of the Khmer Rouge suspects for fear of reprisals. Still the actress seems to have a high tolerance for risk, knowing exactly who she was dealing with and still saying yes. She is obviously not the first Hollywood star to have dealings with unsavory people.
While all the specifics may not have been known to Jolie, she must have known or should have known that doing business...meant working with former ranking Khmer Rouge who were necessarily involved in the regime's crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The question is this: Should Angelina Jolie, who was trying to do the right thing to help people in a third world country, be held accountable for dealing with someone who should be held accountable for war crimes? Talk about a complete mess!
This is the kind of press that Angelina Jolie (pictured) doesn't want. Jolie, a long-time advocate of environmental conservation efforts, better education, infrastructure and health care in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia may now be linked to the purchase of property from the 'wrong' person. That person in question was a high-ranking official under Pol Pot, leader of the notorious Khmer Rouge.
The Communist Khmer Rouge's reign of terror for four years in Cambodia led to the genocide of more than two million people. According to reports, Angelina Jolie purchased land from Ta Tith, a high-ranking leader of the Khmer Rouge, for her charity. The land was reportedly purchased for $25,000.
The problem is that Ta Tith is sought after by the United Nations to face 'crimes against humanity' charges stemming from the genocide that occurred in the late 1970s.
Jolie had been granted citizenship by the current Cambodian government in 2005, and had purchased the land back in December 2002. The land was purchased as for the Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation and she had been informed that the person she was buying land from was a former higher-up in the Khmer Rouge.
One major issues is that, until recently, there has been no real pressure within Cambodia, though there has been international pressure, to seek justice for the crimes against humanity that were performed by the Khmer Rouge. Still now, more than 30 years after the fact, former Khmer leaders live among the population with little to no fear.
Did Angelina Jolie really know who she was dealing with? One person close to Jolie in dealing with the land deal says yes:
She knows that Yim Tith (Ta Tith) and everybody are the Khmer Rouge. We talked like we have to, like Mr. Yim Tith is a big man there and he's very important person.
How big? The people currently prosecuting the war crimes who seek Ta Tith say that he controlled execution and prisons sites where "71,000 and 83,000 people, if not more, were murdered." Estimates of total death toll in land he controlled...an unimaginable 600,000 people.
Still, the issue here is so much larger than Angelina Jolie. The current fragile Cambodian government is actually afraid of prosecuting too many of the Khmer Rouge suspects for fear of reprisals. Still the actress seems to have a high tolerance for risk, knowing exactly who she was dealing with and still saying yes. She is obviously not the first Hollywood star to have dealings with unsavory people.
While all the specifics may not have been known to Jolie, she must have known or should have known that doing business...meant working with former ranking Khmer Rouge who were necessarily involved in the regime's crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The question is this: Should Angelina Jolie, who was trying to do the right thing to help people in a third world country, be held accountable for dealing with someone who should be held accountable for war crimes? Talk about a complete mess!
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