Killing field justice

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Earlier this year I wrote about the tribunal set up in Cambodia to examine the genocidal crimes committed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge three decades ago and to bring the perpetrators, those still alive, to justice -- see here and here.

Even though the government was committed to it, or seemed to be, "procedural differences" threatened to sink the process. The issue had to do with differences between international legal standards and local law.

But, thankfully, the tribunal is up and running, differences overcome. And it is, it seems, working well:

Police and security guards from Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal arrested former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary on Monday, the third Pol Pot henchman to be taken into custody by the UN-backed court.

His wife, Khieu Thirith, another leading member of the Khmer Rouge, was arrested with him, a tribunal spokesman said after the couple had been ferried from their plush Phnom Penh villa in a police convoy with sirens blazing.

They would be questioned by investigating judges in an initial appearance later on Monday, he said. The pair would be charged, the spokesman added without specifying the charges or when they would be brought.

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He and Khieu Thirith were the third and fourth to be arrested after years of delays since the $56-million tribunal got off the ground in earnest this year.

Kaing Guek Eav -- commonly known as Duch -- is a former schoolteacher who ran the notorious S-21, or Tuol Sleng, interrogation and torture centre at a former Phnom Penh high school. He has been charged with crimes against humanity.

So has "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, who is also accused of war crimes.

While Nuon Chea has proclaimed his innocence, Duch, in interviews with Western reporters, has confessed to his role in the mass killings and is expected to be a key witness against other senior regime figures.

Let us hope that justice is finally brought to bear on those who turned Cambodia into a bloodbath.