Full text of Hun Sen's remarks on Khmer Rouge verdict [Hun Sen, don't forget that you were one of the Khmer Rouge leaders who had committed war crimes too!]

Read here about Hun Sen and Heng Samrin committing wars against patients in the hospital.

 

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- It's been a hot month in terms of political developments in Cambodia. On August 8, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party ended its year-long boycott of parliament since last year's elections with their lawmakers finally taking their seats in the National Assembly.

And on Wednesday this week, lawmakers completed a two-day process whereby the ruling Cambodian People's Party agreed to vote for six opposition candidates in the 13-member Permanent Standing Committee of the National Assembly including the post of first deputy speaker of parliament.

But what about the bigger historical picture, namely the Khmer Rouge tribunal judgment on August 7 whereby Pol Pot's former deputy Nuon Chea and former head of state Khieu Samphan were sentenced to life for crimes against humanity?

The long-awaited verdict received the saturation coverage it deserved in both the domestic and foreign media with the government and United Nations among the first to react.

In a joint statement, Cabinet Minister Sok An and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Stephen Mathias said the verdict was a "milestone" for the tribunal and also a "momentous day" for Cambodians. "The process will serve as an invaluable historical record for the people of Cambodia and the wider world," the statement said.

Numerous foreign governments also hailed the historic verdict, notably those of France, Japan and the United States, along with the European Community. Non-governmental organisations, including those with close links to the opposition, also offered their reactions.

BITTERSWEET VINDICATION FOR RULING PARTY

But what about the CPP? After all, it inherited the mantle of the former Khmer People's Revolutionary Party, relaunched after liberation from the Khmer Rouge in 1979. If the judgement was a milestone for the court and a momentous day for the people, wasn't it also a bittersweet vindication for the party after so many years?

In the absence of an official statement from the party, as opposed to the government, Prime Minister Hun Sen is the most senior CPP member to comment on the tribunal's verdict given his post as vice chairman of the ruling party.

In some ways, his remarks carry even more weight than the joint statement by the government and the UN. Hun Sen was one of the 14 founding members of the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea set up in late 1978 to help Vietnamese forces overthrow the Pol Pot regime. As such, he is also the most senior person who actually took part in the events of 35 years ago to offer a public assessment, which is uniquely personal, of the verdict.

Moreover, he was foreign minister when Pol Pot and Ieng Sary were sentenced to death in absentia in 1979, having to defend that ruling for many years against those who dismissed it, notably the Americans, Chinese and ASEAN members at the time.

HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE

Hun Sen made his remarks to reporters outside the National Assembly a day after the verdict. Given the immediate focus on the opposition ending its boycott of parliament, they appeared almost as an historical footnote. As they were overshadowed by the political reconciliation taking place at the National Assembly and not extensively reported at the time, the full text of his remarks is reproduced below:

"As for the verdict for the Khmer Rouge leaders, I followed the whole session closely. I was lucky yesterday that I had time to watch it live on TV.

"I am really satisfied with the verdict reached by the hybrid court. We struggled so hard to achieve this. Sitting down to lunch with my wife after watching the court delivering the verdicts to the former leaders, I said to her that we had to wait 35 years and exactly 8 months for this day.

"We toppled the genocidal regime of Pol Pot on 7 January 1979. At that time they did not recognise it. They blamed us for toppling them. They even accused us of falsifying the evidence of the bones.

"Later, in the course of negotiating the political settlement in Cambodia, I made it clear that the most suitable place for the Khmer Rouge was in a court of justice and not in the Supreme National Council, but they did not believe us.

"When we proposed to include in the Paris Peace Agreements the prevention of the return of genocidal regime, they refused our proposal, and would only allow mention of 'prevention of the return to the recent past'.

"In 1979, the tribunal of the former People’s Republic of Kampuchea issued a sentence against the regime’s leaders, but they did not recognise that either. They gave assistance to the Khmer Rouge to keep attacking the people.

"Yesterday, justice was given to the victims. This proved that what we did 35 years ago was correct. We have waited for justice for 35 years and 8 months. It has been painful and bitter through all those years, but yesterday at last we felt a sense of relief.

"Justice has indeed been delivered. Even though those aging leaders will not live for much longer, they received a sentence of life imprisonment, and the trial should be welcomed by our people."

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