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For Cambodia, worries that death may beat justice

Decades after Cambodia‘s brutal Khmer Rouge movement oversaw the deaths of 1.7 million people by starvation, overwork and execution, the regime’s imprisoned top leaders are escaping justice one by one. How? Old age.

Thursday’s death of 87-year-old Ieng Sary, foreign minister under the Khmer Rouge, is fueling urgent calls among survivors and rights groups for the country’s U.N.-backed tribunal to expedite proceedings against the increasingly frail and aging leaders of the radical communist group, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

Ieng Sary‘s wife, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, was ruled unfit to stand trial last year because she suffered from a degenerative mental illness consistent with Alzheimer’s disease. Now, only two people — ex-head of state Khieu Samphan, who is 81, and the movement’s former chief ideologist Nuon Chea, who is 86 — remain on trial for their alleged roles in some of the 20th century’s most horrific crimes.

There are growing fears that both men could die before a verdict is rendered. Both are frail with high blood pressure, and have suffered strokes.

“The defendants are getting old, and the survivors are getting old,” said Bou Meng, one of the few Cambodians to survive Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21, where up to 16,000 people were tortured and killed during the Khmer Rouge era. “The court needs to speed up its work.”

“I have been waiting for justice for nearly 40 years,” Bou Meng, who is 70, told The Associated Press. “I never thought it would take so long.”

When the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh in April 1975, they began moving an estimated 1 million people — even hospital patients — from the capital into the countryside in an effort to create a communist agrarian utopia.

By the time the bizarre experiment ended in 1979 with an invasion by advancing Vietnamese troops, an estimated 1.7 million people had died in Cambodia, which had only about 7 million people at the time. Most of the dead were victims of starvation, medical neglect, slave-like working conditions and execution under the Maoist regime. Their bodies were dumped in shallow mass graves that still dot the countryside.

The tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, was tasked with seeking justice for crimes committed during that era.

Khmer Rouge's Ieng Sary dies amid genocide trial

Ieng Sary, who co-founded the communist Khmer Rouge regime responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s, and who decades later became one of its few leaders to be put on trial, died Thursday morning before his case could be finished. He was 87.

The brother-in-law of late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, Ieng Sary died before any verdict was reached in the trial, which began in late 2011 with four defendants and now has only two.

His death dashed hopes among survivors and prosecutors that he would be punished for his alleged crimes against humanity during the darkest chapter in his country’s history.

Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the joint Cambodian-international tribunal where Ieng Sary had been on trial, confirmed his death. Chea Leang, a co-prosecutor for the tribunal, told the press that he died of “irreversible cardiac failure.”

Ieng Sary had suffered from high blood pressure and heart problems and been admitted to a Phnom Penh hospital March 4 with weakness and severe fatigue. His body was being taken Thursday by ambulance from the hospital to Malai in western Cambodia, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold where his family lives, for his funeral.

Ieng Sary was being tried along with two other former Khmer Rouge leaders, both in their 80s, and there are fears that they, too, could also die before justice is served. Ieng Sary‘s wife, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, had also been charged but was ruled unfit to stand trial last year because she suffered from a degenerative mental illness, probably Alzheimer’s disease.

“We are disappointed that we could not complete the proceeding against Ieng Sary,” Olsen said, adding that the case against his colleagues Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge‘s chief ideologist, and Khieu Samphan, an ex-head of state, will continue and will not be affected.

Ieng Sary founded the Khmer Rouge with leader Pol Pot. The communist regime, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, claimed it was building a pure socialist society by evicting people from cities to work in labor camps in the countryside. Its radical policies led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Ieng Sary was foreign minister in the regime, and as its top diplomat became a much more recognizable figure internationally than his secretive colleagues.

Khmer Rouge's Ieng Sary Dead at 87

By Matt Cantor Ieng Sary, the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister and Pol Pot‘s brother-in-law, has died at age 87, Cambodia says. His death comes amid his trial for genocide between 1975 and 1979, the BBC notes; he’d been hospitalized since March 4, said a rep for the country’s UN-supported court. “We are… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

Ieng Sary Dead: Co-Founder Of Cambodia’s Brutal Khmer Rouge Movement Dies At 87

By The Huffington Post News Editors

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Ieng Sary, who co-founded Cambodia‘s brutal Khmer Rouge movement in 1970s, was its public face abroad and decades later became one of its few leaders to be put on trial for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, died Thursday morning. He was 87.

Khmer Rouge insider Ieng Sary dies while on trial

Ieng Sary, who co-founded Cambodia‘s brutal Khmer Rouge movement in 1970s, served as its public face abroad and decades later became one of its few leaders to face justice for the deaths of well over a million people, died Thursday morning. He was 87.

His death came during the course of his trial with two other former Khmer Rouge leaders by a joint Cambodian-international tribunal. Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, confirmed his death.

Ieng Sary founded the Khmer Rouge with leader Pol Pot, his brother-in-law. The communist regime, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, claimed it was building a pure socialist society by evicting people from cities to work in labor camps in the countryside. Its radical policies led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Ieng Sary was foreign minister in the regime, and as its top diplomat became a much more recognizable figure internationally than his secretive colleagues. In 1996, years after the overthrown Khmer Rouge retreated to the jungle, he became the first member of its inner circle to defect, bringing thousands of foot soldiers with him and hastening the movement’s final disintegration.

The move secured him a limited amnesty, temporary credibility as a peacemaker and years of comfortable living in Cambodia, but that vanished as the U.N.-backed tribunal built its case against him.

The Khmer Rogue came to power through a civil war that toppled a U.S.-backed regime. Ieng Sary then helped persuade hundreds of Cambodian intellectuals to return home from overseas, often to their deaths.

The returnees were arrested and put in “re-education camps,” and most were later executed, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group gathering evidence of the Khmer Rouge crimes for the tribunal.

As a member of the Khmer Rouge‘s central and standing committee, Ieng Sary “repeatedly and publicly encouraged, and also facilitated, arrests and executions within his Foreign Ministry and throughout Cambodia,” Steve Heder said in his co-authored book “Seven Candidates for Prosecution: Accountability for the Crimes of the Khmer Rouge.” Heder is a Cambodia scholar who later worked with the U.N.-backed tribunal.

Known by his revolutionary alias as “Comrade Van,” Ieng Sary was a recipient of many internal Khmer Rouge documents detailing torture and mass execution of suspected internal enemies, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

Science & Technology

Rare sun bears found abandoned in Cambodia factory

February 22, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Two rare Malayan sun bears have been rescued in Cambodia after being discovered in an abandoned garment factory, a zoo official said Friday. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

By Michael Charles Tobias, Contributor

How the Life of a Chipmunk in Michigan Came to Save Elephants and a Million Acres in Cambodia

February 21, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

Cambodia‘s Paradise …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Toddler is Cambodia's 7th bird flu death this year

February 21, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

A 20-month-old boy has become Cambodia‘s seventh bird flu fatality this year, as authorities warn the virus remains a serious health threat, especially to children.

Cambodia‘s Health Ministry and the World Health Organization said Thursday the boy came from a village in southern Kampot province where there was evidence of recent poultry deaths. He was the eighth Cambodian this year to test positive for the disease and the seventh to die.

Bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, normally spreads among poultry, but can sometimes be transmitted from poultry to humans. There were 32 cases reported worldwide last year of which 20 were fatal. The only other cases reported this year outside Cambodia are two non-fatal cases in China, and one fatal case in Egypt.

Toddler is Cambodia's 6th bird flu death of year

February 13, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

A 3-year-old Cambodian girl has become the sixth person to die from bird flu in the country this year.

Cambodia’s Health Ministry and the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the child was in contact with poultry in her village in southern Kampot province, where there were recent deaths among poultry.

Cambodia has registered seven human cases this year of the virus, also called avian influenza, or H5N1. Only one has survived.

The H5N1 virus normally spreads between sick poultry, but it can sometimes spread from poultry to humans.

The WHO says bird flu has killed 365 other people worldwide since surfacing in 2003.

Veterans Association Slams Obama’s Drone Policy

February 8, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Breaking News

Obama Feeds America SC Veterans Association Slams Obamas Drone Policy

National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition

Position Paper on Drones targeting American citizens:

Ever since “UBL died” and “Obama lied”, this administration has had a record of smoke and mirrors unrivaled in the annals of American political history. The latest is the “wise” and “legal” and “ethical” drone strikes on Americans and others associated with Al Qaeda and its “associates.”

The Coalition has examined the sixteen page document “leaked” to NBC News justifying these drone strikes and finds several problems with this “document.” First, it found justification for the much maligned operation(s) into Cambodia during the Vietnam era. Second, it found justification for enhanced interrogation, also much maligned. Third, but not finally, it found justification for the much maligned operation into Iraq. All justifications made by the very same political forces that maligned these operations in their different time frames.

To a degree, it also found justification for drone strikes against Al Qaeda and its allies. They were justifications for normal counterinsurgency operations using these advanced weapons. However, missing was justification for going outside Executive Order 12333 banning assassinations as a national policy, outside the normal bounds of the rules of land warfare. The so-called justifications showed that the Obama Administration is either contemplating or justifying a national policy of assassination against the terrorist network that the administration has belatedly acknowledged we are at war with.

Previously, most notably in Vietnam through the Phoenix Program, the legally accepted way to operate against a “terrorist” organization was to identify first the positions that were to be “targeted” (regardless of who held those positions) and previously made illegal by whatever appropriate means. Once the prior illegality had been established and decision made to dismantle the organization, priorities were set.

First would be recruit in place. Second would be to cause the target to defect to the legitimate side. Third would be to run an operation to capture the target. Fourth would be to run an operation; and due to circumstances of the operation, the target is killed. The other priorities will not be discussed because of the nature of the new threat and the probability they have no relevance today.

The document “leaked” shows none of these backgrounds and legalities. The bulk of the document deals with details not relevant to operations against American citizens in a terrorist organization. It lacks in details making these operations “legal” under the rules of land warfare. It stretches the outer boundaries of the rules of land warfare, almost to extinction. For example, “National Self Defense” (page 15) appears to be a huge stretch, if not an outright violation of Executive Order 12333.

The rules on the “feasibility of capture” bear little relevance to what is known about operations, like the assassination of Usama Bin Laden and the drone assassination of Anwar al Awlaki. Bin Laden was unarmed and unresisting when shot and killed. This was a violation of “Further, under this framework, the United States would also be required to accept a surrender if it were feasible to do so…” (page 9). …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Girl is Cambodia's 5th bird flu fatality this year

February 8, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

A 5-year-old Cambodian girl has become the country’s fifth bird flu fatality this year.

Cambodia‘s Health Ministry and the World Health Organization announced Friday that the girl had a history of contact with poultry in her village in southeastern Takeo province, where there was evidence of recent deaths among poultry.

Only one of Cambodia‘s six victims this year of the virus, also called avian influenza, or H5N1, has survived the disease. The country reported three cases in 2012, all fatal.

WHO statistics issued Feb. 1 show Cambodia as the only country so far reporting human cases of the disease in 2013.

The U.N. agency says bird flu has killed 365 other people worldwide since surfacing in 2003. Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected poultry.

Chen Lip Keong's gamble on Cambodian casino makes him a billionaire

February 5, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Suzy Nam, Forbes Staff Chen Lip Keong, who trained as a medical doctor before turning to property development and gaming, becomes a billionaire for the first time on the stellar performance of NagaCorp, the Hong Kong listed company that owns and operates NagaWorld, Cambodia’s biggest casino.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Author Insults Thai King, Editor Gets 10-Year Sentence

January 23, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Liam Carnahan A Thai magazine editor was today sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting the king. If that sounds extreme, consider this: Somyot Pruksakasemsuk didn’t actually write the insults, he just published them. (The author has since fled to Cambodia.) And they didn’t appear in articles of fact, but…
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Great Finds

Defendant at Cambodian genocide trial hospitalized

January 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

The former head of state of Cambodia‘s notorious Khmer Rouge regime, now facing trial for crimes against humanity, has been sent to a hospital. He’s the second defendant in the case to be hospitalized this week.

Tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said 81-year-old Khieu Samphan was hospitalized Wednesday suffering fatigue and shortness of breath. Co-defendant Nuon Chea, chief ideologist for the Khmer Rouge, was hospitalized Sunday and is being treated for acute bronchitis, causing temporary suspension of the trial.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal is trying the pair and former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary for crimes against humanity and other offenses. The communist group’s fanatical efforts to realize a utopian society led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution from 1975 to 1979.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Vietnam sentences democracy activist to 3 years

January 15, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

A Vietnamese court has sentenced a democracy activist to three years in prison in an ongoing government crackdown on dissent.

The state-controlled Laborer newspaper said Vo Viet Dzien was convicted Tuesday in southern Tay Ninh province of carrying out “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.”

The 41-year-old was found guilty of working with Phuc Hung Vietnam, a relatively unknown dissident group the paper said was based in the United States.

The newspaper said Dzien was arrested in April 2012 when he entered Vietnam from Cambodia after attending two training courses organized by that group.

Vietnam‘s Communist government doesn’t allow freedom of speech or political organization.

Last week, a court in central Vietnam sentenced 14 democracy activists to up to 13 years in prison for attempted subversion.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News