|
Marchers demand speedier KR trials |
More than 600 Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as Muslim leaders,
marched to Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide tribunal last
Tuesday to demand speedier trials of Khmer Rouge cadre.
The group marched silently to the courthouse, with the clergy in
white robes, carrying banners that read
“reconciliation” and “the tribunal is a remedy
for the cycle of vengeance”.
“We are marching because we want peace and justice to be
rendered in the Khmer Rouge cases”, Buddhist nun Chou Salean
said.
“We want the court to speed up the prosecutions because we
have been waiting for nearly 30 years”, said the 60-year-old
woman, who said she lost seven relatives under the genocidal Khmer
Rouge regime in the 1970s.
Many of the nuns said they had hoped to see the five suspects who
have been arrested by the tribunal.
“The marchers support the court. The court will try its best
to respond to the demands of the victims under the regime”,
said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath, who greeted the march.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were
executed under the Khmer Rouge.
The Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia’s cities, exiling millions
to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia
during its rule.
Established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations
between Cambodia and the United Nations, the joint Cambodian-UN
tribunal seeks to prosecute crimes committed by senior Khmer Rouge
leaders.
Five top Khmer Rouge leaders have been detained to face charges for
crimes committed by the regime’s brutal 19975-79 rule. Trials
are expected to begin in mid-2008.
All the defendants claim to be suffering from serious health
ailments, causing concern among those hoping to find justice for
Cambodia’s genocide victims before the alleged perpetrators
die.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
