This marks Germany's fourth donation to the VSS since its official recognition as an organ of the ECCC. Family relationships were strongly discouraged. [67], Khieu Samphan acted as one of the Khmer Rouge's most powerful officials. Assisted by China and Thailand, Khmer Rouge leaders fled and reestablished their forces in Thai territory. Contrary to Cambodian judges not to proceed with his case because he is not most responsible for attrocities, Meas Muth is considered most responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide and other crimes. The effort split the Cambodian rebels into two factions—the original Khmer Issaraks and the Khmer Viet Minh, controlled by Ho Chi Minh’s Indochinese Communist Party. Thousands of people died of starvation, disease, and exposure during these mass evacuations. In November 2011, Ieng Thirith was found to be mentally unfit to stand trial, due to Alzheimer's disease. [31] The sentence was upheld on appeal. Initially, Kang Kek Iew was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment. Seeing this as a chance to advance their communist agenda, the Viet Minh tried to take over the Khmer independence movement. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC; French: Chambres extraordinaires au sein des tribunaux cambodgiens (CETC); Khmer: អង្គជំនុំជម្រះវិសាមញ្ញក្នុងតុលាការកម្ពុជា), commonly known as the Cambodia Tribunal or Khmer Rouge Tribunal (សាលាក្ដីខ្មែរក្រហម), is a court established to try the senior leaders and the most responsible members of the Khmer Rouge for alleged violations of international law and serious crimes perpetrated during the Cambodian genocide. [9], The Office of the Co-Prosecutors (OCP) is an independent office within the ECCC staffed by both Cambodian and international personnel provided by the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT). There are also Reserve judges who may be called upon to serve. The VSS is responsible for informing victims of their rights in the proceedings, and connecting them with legal representatives if they desire it. Out of the $173.3 million, Cambodia has contributed $42.1 million, while the United Nations has donated the other $131.2 million. It is considered a hybrid court, as the ECCC was created by the government in conjunction with the UN, but remains independent of them, with trials held in Cambodia using Cambodian and international staff. Ieng remained a member of the Khmer Rouge government in exile until 1996 when he was granted a royal pardon for his conviction and royal amnesty for this outlawing of the Khmer Rouge. [59] The Supreme Court Chamber terminated the proceedings against him on 13 August 2019[37] but his defense lawyers filed a request before the Supreme Court Chamber arguing that, in absence of any appeal judgment, Nuon Chea should be considered innocent and that trial judgement issued on 16 November 2018 against him should be vacated. Though the Khmer Rouge continued to exist, all of its leaders had defected to the Royal Government of Cambodia, been arrested, or had died by 1999. Meeting the rice quota forced most people to perform backbreaking fieldwork 12 hours a day without rest or adequate food. The Court, as with all other tribunals established by the United Nations, does not have the power to impose the death penalty. Alex Bowie/Getty Images. [13][14][15], Author Mary Kozlovski addresses problems at the Court, including issues impacting fair trial rights, in an essay entitled Bringing the Khmer Rouge to Justice in the June 2012 issue of Global Insight, the journal of the International Bar Association (IBA). [49][50], On 26 July 2010, the tribunal found Kang Kek Iew guilty of crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. Public gatherings and discussions were outlawed. Pol Pot, who had been placed under house arrest in 1997, died in his sleep due to heart failure on April 15, 1998, at age 72. The ECCC has received broad public support. The Open Society Justice Initiative calls for the UN to investigate the proceedings of the ECCC. Under the increasingly repressive Khmer Rouge regime, the people were denied all basic civil rights and freedoms. His charges included Phnom Penh's S-21—the notorious interrogation and torture center. [69], On August 7, 2014, he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment, in Case 002/1. [5] In November of the same year, Andrew T. Cayley was appointed as new international Co-Prosecutor, and his Cambodian co-prosecutor is Ms. Chea Leang. Many of these people were held and tortured in prisons before being executed. He is believed to responsible for crimes committed by Khmer Rouge cadres in Takeo Province from 1975 to 1978, in Pursat Province in 1978 to 1979, and later in Battambang Province in 1978 to 1979. Khmer Rouge leaders, known as the Angkar Padevat, demanded that all Cambodians behave as if everyone was everyone else’s “mother and father.”. After two years of frustration, the Khmer Issaraks sought the assistance of Vietnam’s powerful communist Viet Minh independence coalition. The Khmer Rouge village chief who lorded over the "new people" ate better, dressed better, and was apparently not above trading extra food for gold at exorbitant prices. Germany has donated in total 1.9 million euro to the VSS. Khmer Rouge: Regime Origins, Timeline, and Fall. Victims have the opportunity to actively participate in judicial proceedings through Complaints and Civil Parties, and they can seek collective and moral reparation. [32], The victims' role is crucial since the tribunal is an important mechanism for them to cope with their trauma. The program provides an opportunity for Cambodian law students and lawyers to gain experience practicing international law in the hopes that the court will lead to a lasting improvement in the Cambodian legal system. Dismissal Order by the National Co-Investigating Judge[43], Dismissal Order by the National Co-Investigating Judge[45], Dismissal Order by the National Co-Investigating Judge[47], Kang Kek Iew, or "Comrade Duch", was one of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Like the Khmer Republic before it, the Khmer Rouge made the Vietnamese, whom Pol Pot considered arrogant intellectuals, the main target of the regime’s extreme brand of nationalism. The OCP is responsible for the prosecution of cases throughout the investigative, pre-trial, trial and appellate stages. Definition and Examples, Timeline of the Vietnam War (Second Indochina War), The Differences Between Communism and Socialism, Biography of Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam. [48], Kang Kek Iew was the first of the five brought before the tribunal. During that time, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million In 1993, the PRK was replaced by the Royal Government of Cambodia, a constitutional monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. One of history’s greatest episodes of … His lieutenant Mam Nay, the feared leader of the interrogation unit of the Santebal, gave testimony on 14 July 2009 and, although implicated in hands-on torture and execution along with Duch, he was not charged. Meas Muth was also the Commander of Division 164, the largest division of the RAK that included the Navy, was a reserve member of the General Staff Committee and was the Secretary of the Kampong Som Autonomous Sector. After lengthy negotiations, an agreement between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations was reached and signed on 6 June 2003. In Case 001, 36,493 people observed the trial and appeal hearings. The Vietnamese then installed a puppet government consisting of Khmer Rouge defectors. [20] In early 2012, Germany donated 1.2 million euros to the VSS. Despite being targeted by the massive American covert “Operation Menu” carpet bombing campaign during 1969 and 1970, the Khmer Rouge won the Cambodian Civil War in 1975 and overthrew the American-friendly Lon Nol government. The financial assistance will go primarily towards legal representation for the victims, effective legal participation, and information dissemination. By the end of 1975, the Khmer Rouge had forced as many as 2 million people from Phnom Penh and other cities into the countryside to live and work on agricultural communes. His case, number 002, has been under investigation since 2007 and hearings began in 2011. What happened when the regime fell? Since then, Ta Tith has become a wealthy businessman in Cambodia and Im Chaem has become a commune chief in Cambodia's Anlong Veng District, further speculating political pressure would come to drop charges if these three were ever tried together. The list below details the counts against each individual indicted in the Court and his or her current status. He was appointed Democratic Kampuchea's Head of State and succeeded Pol Pot as leader of the Khmer Rouge in 1987. [65], Thirith remained with the Khmer Rouge until her husband, Ieng Sary, was pardoned by the Cambodian government in 1998. The OCP also participates in the judicial investigations (second investigatory stage), filing Supplementary Submissions as necessary when new facts come to light and original allegations require additions or amendments. Public displays of affection, pity, or humor were forbidden. As a result of extensive outreach initiatives, more than 353,000 people have observed or participated in the court's proceedings. The Cambodian court invites international participation in order to apply international standards. In accordance, many urge countries such as Japan, Germany, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom to stop financing the ECCC until it becomes a more transparent and independent court. The role of the OCP is to prosecute the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge and others most responsible for the crimes committed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea. The Khmer Rouge’s formal control came to an end when Vietnam invaded the capital on Jan. 7, 1979. [31] On 23 November 2016, The Supreme Court Chamber, although reversing some of the convictions, upheld this sentence. The Khmer Rouge was the name applied to a brutal autocratic communist regime led by Marxist dictator Pol Pot, who ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Travel outside the communes was forbidden. The judges were sworn in early July 2006. Definition and Examples, What Is Totalitarianism? “The tribunal facilitates reconciliation and at the same time provides an opportunity for Cambodians to come to terms with their history,” ECCC spokesman Neth Pheaktra said in an interview with D+C.[33]. [75], After Siegfried Blunk resigned from his job unexpectedly in March 2012 over the government's statements opposing further prosecutions, it was said that while he was not influenced by political statements, "his ability to withstand such pressure by government officials to perform his duties independently, could always be called in doubt, and this would also call in doubt the integrity of the whole proceedings" of Cases 003 and 004. What Is a Military Dictatorship? Allegations against Thirith include crimes against humanity, genocide and breaches of the Geneva Convention. In December 1978, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, capturing the capital city of Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979. This includes crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Children of Khmer Rouge guerrillas attend a make-shift school in western Cambodia, 1981. Of the 14,000 prisoners held in the notorious S-21 Tuol Sleng prison, only 12 survived. Pol Pot was a political leader whose communist Khmer Rouge government led Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. [2], In 1997, Cambodia's two Co-Prime Ministers wrote a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations requesting assistance to set up trial proceedings against the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Children of Khmer Rouge guerrillas attend a make-shift school in western Cambodia, 1981. With the support of the North Vietnamese army and the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Khmer Rouge army grew in size and strength during the Vietnam War. Meanwhile in Phnom Penh, Vietnam helped the Salvation Front, a faction of Cambodian communists who had become dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge, establish a new government called the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) led by Heng Samrin. Judge Blunk had been a controversial figure since he assumed the seat of French judge Marcel Lemonde who resigned in 2010, to investigate cases 003 and 004. "Khmer Rouge: Regime Origins, Timeline, and Fall." The office is also responsible for managing the ECCC's relationships with UNAKRT donors. Origin. The Khmer Rouge was ousted in January 1979 and replaced by the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, which was subsequently replaced by the current Royal Government of Cambodia in 1993. To date, three have been convicted and all sentenced to life imprisonment. The investigation in Case 003 focuses on the crimes committed by Meas Muth, high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAK) during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979. Accordingly, Cambodian society under the Khmer Rouge was divided into the peasant “base people,” who were to be revered, and the urban “new people,” who were to be reeducated or “liquidated.”. Pol Pot’s attempts to create a [70] In the second case against him, the Trial Chamber found him guilty of the crime of genocide against the Vietnamese people on 16 November 2018. [78], As early as November 2010, the Defence Support Section attempted to assign lawyers to represent the interests of the suspects in Cases 003 and 004.[17]. When he took power in 1975, Pol Pot declared it “Year Zero” in Cambodia and began systematically isolating the people from the rest of the world. [79] However, as of 2014, the ECCC had cost over $200,000,000, in which, at that point, only one case has been completed. [66], Thirith is allegedly responsible for the planning, instigating, and aiding/abetting the crimes of the Khmer Rouge against Cambodians during the time of Khmer Rouge control. The agreement was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly. [77], Similar allegations of political pressure have been alleged in case 004. Muth is charged with homicide and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed in a number of different locations around the country and its islands. The lingering physical and psychological effects of the Cambodian Genocide, one of the worst human tragedies of the 20th century, are considered one of the key causes of the poverty that plagues Cambodia today. In 1945, a group of Cambodian patriots known as the Khmer Issaraks launched a hit-and-run guerrilla rebellion against the French. (2020, August 29). During the Khmer Rouge’s four-year reign of terror now known as the Cambodian Genocide, as many as 2 million people died from execution, starvation, or disease as a result of Pol Pot’s attempt to create a loyal society of “pure” Cambodians. In financing the tribunal, the Cambodian government and the United Nations are both responsible for managing the cost of operations of the ECCC. Meas Muth was navy chief of Khmer Rouge. However, communism did not begin to take hold in Cambodia until the people's simmering opposition to French colonization reached a boiling point. In 1997, Cambodia's two Co-Prime Ministers wrote a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations requesting assistance to set up trial proceedings against the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge.After lengthy negotiations, an agreement between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations was reached and signed on 6 June 2003. During 1977, border clashes between Cambodian and Vietnamese forces became more frequent and deadly. Schools, shops, churches, and government buildings were converted into prisons and crop storage facilities. Modeled after Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward initiative for Communist China, Pol Pot moved to devalue individualism in favor of communal living and economy. Also in charge of land close to sea and shores [1]. G the number of counts of the crime of genocide, H the number of counts of crimes against humanity, W the number of counts of war crimes, DCP the number of counts of destruction of cultural property, and CAD the number of crimes against diplomats. Attempting to create a classless society, the Khmer Rouge abolished money, capitalism, private property, formal education, religion, and traditional cultural practices. [31], Victims of the Khmer Rouge are defined as "any person or legal entity who has suffered from physical, psychological, or material harm as a direct consequence of the crimes committed in Cambodia by the Democratic Kampuchea regime between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979 that are under the jurisdiction of the ECCC". [63], Ieng Thirith, wife of Ieng Sary and sister-in-law of Pol Pot, was a senior member of the Khmer Rouge. He was arrested on 12 November 2007 on the allegations of the commission of crimes against humanity, genocide and violations of the Geneva Conventions. A trial monitor for the OSJI claimed that the recent proceedings "don't meet basic requirements or adhere to international standards or even comply with the court's own prior jurisprudence. [83], The court has also been criticized for its rejections of victim applications. Thus far, five people have been indicted by the Court for genocide, crimes against humanity and/or war crimes. [1], The remit of the Extraordinary Chambers extends to serious violations of Cambodian penal law, international humanitarian law and custom, and violation of international conventions recognized by Cambodia, committed during the period between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979. The Khmer Rouge was a brutal regime that ruled Cambodia, under the leadership of Marxist dictator Pol Pot, from 1975 to 1979. Yet not all of Cambodian history is dark and blood-drenched. He was arrested and put into custody in 2007. Khmer Rouge ideology was also characterized by its efforts to create feelings of extreme nationalism driven by a not unfounded fear for the very survival of the Cambodian state, which had fallen on multiple occasions during periods of French imperialism followed by Vietnam’s attempts to dominate Southeast Asia. [53], Nuon Chea joined the Communist Party of Kampuchea (the Khmer Rouge's official name) while studying law at Thammasat University in Bangkok. In addition, Kang Kek Iew ran the notorious Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison in Phnom Penh. Travel outside the communes was forbidden. For instance there has been significant controversy surrounding the closings of Case 003 and Case 004.