Las víctimas de los jémeres rojos declaran ante el tribunal

Como ya he posteado con anterioridad, un tribunal de la ONU (algo que han hecho bien, veremos cómo termina, si con condena o con un chupa-chups por carnicero) está juzgando a los Jémeres Rojos, los comunistas que mataron a más de 2 millones de camboyanos (directamente a 1 millón, el resto de hambre y enfermedades derivadas) para poner al país en el camino correcto, por motivos tan elevados como llevar gafas o tener carrera universitaria. Mataban incluso a los niños.

De todos los jémeres que hay ante el Tribunal, el más importante es el Hermano nº 2 (el número 1 era Pol Pot, de quién me ahorraré los calificativos), Noun Chea. Considerado el ideólogo de la matanza, del sistema represivo y de las torturas sin término, dijo en principio que iba a contar todo en el Tribunal, para después decir que era inocente y que la culpa la tenía los militantes. Por supuesto, no se lo creía ni él mismo…

Pues bien ahora ha sido el turno a las víctimas, quienes se han opuesto que le den la libertad condicional a Noun Chea, que ha sido acusado de crímenes contra la humanidad. Una de ellas es Theary Seng, una de los cuatro supervivientes que han sido admitidos como «parte civil» en el procedimiento. Perdió a sus padres bajo el régimen de los Jémeres Rojos y describió cómo fue encarcelada con siete años, con su hermano pequeño. «No fuimos informados de nuestros derechos. No hubo proceso y fuimos arrestados arbitrariamente. Nos trataron de forma inhumana. Para nosotros, la tumba era nuestro lugar de juegos«.

Se oponen a que le den la libertad condicional porque hay riesgo de fuga.

Survivors of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime have addressed a UN-backed genocide court for the first time.The survivors spoke at a bail hearing for top Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, who has been charged with crimes against humanity.

Victims had been waiting 30 years for justice, one woman said, urging the court not to grant bail to Pol Pot’s former deputy.Nuon Chea is one of five senior Khmer Rouge officials awaiting trial.More than one million people are thought to have died during the regime’s 1975-1979 rule.

Tens of thousands of people were executed while others starved to death or died of overwork as the Maoist regime sought to create an agrarian utopia.

Theary Seng was one of four survivors named as «civil parties» in the case.

She lost her parents under the Khmer Rouge and described to the court how she was jailed at the age of seven, along with her younger brother.»We were not informed of our rights. There was no due process and we were arrested arbitrarily,» she said.»They treated us inhumanely – for us, the graveyard was our playground.»

She urged against bail for Nuon Chea, the regime’s ideological driving force who is now in his eighties.»There is a risk that the accused will fail to appear in court and without his presence we will suffer a great loss,» she said.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Khmer Rouge victims address court

Posts anteriores:

1. Rechazado el recurso de Duch, otro de los Jémeres Rojos.
2. Otro Jémer Rojo arrestado.
3. Arrestados más líderes de los Jémeres Rojos.
4. Khmer Rouge no.2 to tell all at trial.
5. I’m innocent, says Khmer Brother no.2 at trial.

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Rechazado el recurso de Duch, uno de los jémeres rojos

Duch, el Jémer Rojo que estaba encargado de una de las peores cárceles de Camboya (S-21), había recurrido aduciendo que sus derechos humanos habían sido violados porque ha estado 8 años en la cárcel sin juicio. El recurso ha sido rechazado porque podría escaparse o amenazar a los testigos que todavía quedan en libertad si se le deja libre. Han añadido que su seguridad también puede verse amenazada por los familiares de las víctimas que busquen venganza.

Al Jazeera:

A United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia has rejected an appeal by the former Khmer Rouge prison chief against his continued detention.

Passing their ruling at a special court in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday, the panel of judges ruled that Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, might try to flee the country or threaten witnesses if he were set free ahead of his trial.

The former boss of the notorious S-21 torture and interrogation centre is awaiting trial on crimes against humanity, expected to begin next year

Duch’s defence lawyers had argued last week that he should be freed because his human rights had been violated by the more than eight years he has already been in jail without trial.

But prosecutors said that Duch’s release would pose a threat to public order in Cambodia, and he could attempt to escape justice by fleeing the country.

They argued that he should remain behind bars for his own safety because he could be harmed both by «accomplices wishing to silence him and by the relatives of victims seeking revenge».

Anteriores posts:

1. Otro Jémer Rojo arrestado.
2. Arrestados más líderes de los Jémeres Rojos.
3. «I’m innocent», says Khmer Bother No.2 at trial.
4. Khmer Rouge no.2 to tell all at trial.

Otro Jémer rojo arrestado

Se trata del confidente de Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan.

Former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan has been arrested by Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide tribunal. A close confidante of Pol Pot, Samphan has denied any knowledge of atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. Last week two former Khmer Rouge ministers, Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, were arrested by the tribunal and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their alleged role in Cambodia’s 1970s genocide. An estimated 1.7 million people were killed under the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-79.

Khmer Rouge leader arrested | At a Glance | Deutsche Welle | 19.11.2007

AFP/AFP

Kieu Samphan arrivant à Pékin, en août 1975, pour une visite d’Etat.

Es el último miembro del entorno cercano de Pol Pot

Ex líder de los Jemeres Rojos de Camboya oficialmente acusado de crímenes contra la humanidad

Jieu Samphan fue acusado de crímenes contra la humanidad por el tribunal que juzga los «campos de la muerte» del país asiático, dijo un portavoz. Samphan, de 78 años, fue arrestado por la mañana por agentes armados tras ser dado de alta de un hospital de la capital, Phnom Penh. 

Wikipedia: Khieu Samphan:

Khieu Samphan (born July 27, 1931) was the president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as the country’s head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, though Pol Pot was the group’s true political leader and held the most extensive power. He is of Chinese–Khmer ancestry.^[1]

[…] During the years of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), Khieu remained near the top of the movement, assuming the post of president of the central presidium in 1976. His loyalty and closeness to Pol Pot and apparent dedication to the former’s harshly doctrinaire vision of the revolution meant that Khieu survived the bloody purges of the last few years of Khmer Rouge rule.

El artículo en español:

Khieu Samphan hizo parte del selectivo grupo de intelectuales izquierdistas jemer que estudiaron en París en la década de los 50 junto a Salot Sar (Pol Pot) y su Grupo de Estudio de París. Obtuvo en 1959 el doctorado con la tesis «desarrollo industrial y económico de Camboya» en donde advoca por una autonomía nacional de acuerdo con las teorías de la dependencia que critican a los estados ricos e industrializados y les acusan de ser la principal razón de la pobreza del llamado Tercer Mundo. Fue uno de los fundadores de la «asociación de estudiantes jemer» del cual se generaría el Grupo de Estudio de París, célula que daría origen al movimiento de los jemeres rojos y que cambiaría la historia de la Camboya contemporánea. Dicha asociación fue prohibida por las autoridades francesas en 1956 y entonces Samphan fundaría la llamada Unión de Estudiantes Jemer. Las relaciones con sus compañeros revolucionarios Pol Pot e Ieng Sary se estrecharía aún más cuando ellos dos se casarían con miembros de la familia de Samphan.

El ideólogo. Un hombre peligroso. Me imagino su defensa: yo no sabía que esto estaba ocurriendo…

La BBC informa de que hoy ha comenzado el proceso con la primera sesión de la vista oral en la que ha prestado declaración Kang Kek Ieu, o Duch, que supervisaba la cárcel de Sleng, conocida como «la máquina de matar».

POsts anteriores:

• Arrestados más líderes de los Jémeres Rojos.
• «I’m innocent», says Khmer Rouge no.2 at trial.
• Khmer Rouge no.2 to tell all at trial.

Arrestados más líderes de los Jémeres Rojos

La policía camboyana ha arrestado a dos importantes figuras de los Jémeres Rojos

Police in Cambodia have arrested two leading figures from the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime to face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, were taken into custody in the capital, Phnom Penh.

The pair, who deny any wrongdoing, are due to appear before judges at a UN-backed genocide tribunal.

The brutal Maoist regime, which ruled between 1975 and 1979, is blamed for more than one million deaths.

A tribunal was established last year to bring surviving leaders to the dock.

«Today Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith have been arrested in execution of an arrest warrant… for crimes against humanity and war crimes as regards Ieng Sary and for crimes against humanity concerning Ieng Thirith,» a statement from the tribunal said.

Purge of intellectuals

Police surrounded the couple’s Phnom Penh house early in the morning.

They searched the house for three hours and then drove Ieng Sary and his wife to the tribunal in a convoy of vehicles.

The couple, who have been living freely in the Cambodian capital for more than 10 years, were key members of the Khmer Rouge leadership.

Ieng Sary was Pol Pot’s brother-in-law – his wife’s sister was married to the Khmer Rouge founder. His wife, Ieng Thirith, was the Khmer Rouge’s social affairs minister.

As foreign minister, he was often the only point of contact between Cambodia’s rulers and the outside world.

He was responsible for convincing many educated Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge to return to help rebuild the country.

Many were then tortured and executed as part of the purge of intellectuals, some of them diplomats from his own office.

Prosecutors for the tribunal have said there is evidence of Ieng Sary’s participation in crimes, including planning, directing and co-ordinating forced labour and unlawful killings.

Ieng Sary has repeatedly denied any crime. In 1996 he became the first senior leader from the Maoist regime to defect and as a result was granted a royal pardon.

But analysts say the validity of that agreement looks set to be tested with his arrest by the court.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Key Khmer Rouge figures arrested

Más sobre los Jémeres Rojos:

Brutal Khmer Rouge regime

WHO WERE THE KHMER ROUGE?

Maoist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979

Founded and led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998

Abolished religion, schools and currency in a bid to create agrarian utopia

Brutal regime that did not tolerate dissent

More than a million people thought to have died from starvation, overwork or execution.

Also in IHT.

Leading Khmer Rouge figures arrested
Guardian Unlimited – 39 minutes ago
Police and officials from Cambodia’s UN-backed Khmer Rouge genocide trial today arrested the movement’s former foreign minister and his wife, who were among the most senior cadres in the brutal regime responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people in …
krouge husband and wife arrested by genocide court AFP
Timeline of US-supported Cambodian genocide tribunal for former … International Herald Tribune
Reuters – NDTV.com – New York Times – Belfast Telegraph
all 475 news articles

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Han detenido a otros dos jefes de los Jémeres Rojos. Se trata de el antiguo Ministro de Exteriores Ieng Sary y su mujer Ieng Tirinth, acusados de crímenes contra la Humanidad y crímenes de guerra (en el caso de él), por supuesto ellos lo niegan.

Está acusado de convencer a ciudadanos camboyanos en el exilio para que volvieran, a los que luego se asesinó. Su mujer contribuyó a la planificación.

La policía camboyana detuvo este lunes a Ieng Sary, ex ministro de Exteriores de los Jemeres Rojos, y a su esposa, Ieng Thirith, ex ministra de Asuntos Sociales durante el régimen, responsable de la muerte de 1,7 millones de personas tras el golpe de Estado de 1975.

Ambos fueron arrestados en su casa de Phnom Penh, la capital, en una operación en la que también participaron representantes de la ONU en el tribunal que tiene previsto juzgar el próximo año a los líderes vivos del grupo maoísta. Según indicó la policía, la pareja fue conducida a las oficinas del tribunal patrocinado por la ONU, aunque de momento no se han emitido cargos contra ellos.

Ieng Thirith es hermana de Khieu Ponnary, la mujer de Pol Pot, el máximo líder de los Jemeres Rojos, o hermano número uno, fallecido en 1998.

Anteriores posts:

1. Khmer Rouge no.2 to tell all at trial.
2. I’m innocent,  says Khmer Brother no.2 at trial.

"I’m innocent", says Khmer Brother no.2 at trial

This man is a total sinvergüenza: He is going to blame others for the horrors which were made in Cambodia. Oh, no we didn’t know. The culprits were the militants. Bahhhh!!!
And he promised to tell all at trial!!
“I’m innocent,” says Khmer Rouge Brother No. 2 – Yahoo! News

Khmer Rouge Brother Number Two Nuon Chea proclaimed his innocence when he appeared before Cambodia’s U.N.-backed “Killing Fields” tribunal on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the court said on Friday.
According to a summary released two days after his indictment, Pol Pot’s right-hand man said he bore no responsibility for the 1.7 million people thought to have died. Many were tortured and executed. Others died of starvation, overwork or disease.
During the Khmer Rouge’s four years in charge from 1975 to 1979, real power lay in the hands of the ultra-Maoist movement’s Military Committee of which he was not a member, Nuon Chea was quoted as saying. “We did not have any direct contact with the bases and we were not aware of what was happening there,” he told the court. He said he had lost 40 relatives during the upheaval.
Nuon Chea’s official rank within the Beijing-backed regime was Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, as the Khmer Rouge called Cambodia, a role scholars say put him in charge of party and state security.
This included Phnom Penh’s notorious S-21 interrogation and torture centre at the Tuol Sleng high school. More than 14,000 prisoners are known to have entered Tuol Sleng’s barbed-wire gates. Around 10 lived to tell the tale.

These are the kind of things that really enrage me. How on earth in a Communist dictatorship so tight as was the Khmer’s the Chiefs of the country did not know what was happening there. And now, he would add he knew it thanks to the MSM…. What a jackass…
But the worst thing is that he was the ideologue of the system of tortures, political and religious persecutions, repression, …
So, of course, lying for him is pecatta minuta…
______________________________
Como ya escribí ayer, han detenido en Camboya al “hermano número dos“, el considerado ideólogo de la matanza de casi 2.000.000 de camboyanos, una cuarta parte del país. Y ¿qué hace el sinvergüenza de él? “Los militantes, fueron ellos, nosotros no sabíamos nada“. Vamos, como se dice vulgarmente, , silbando el puente sobre el río Kwai. Que nadie se cree que un grado tal de represión, torturas, persecución política y religiosa…, lo hicieron los militantes sin conocimiento de los hermanos.
Y eso que prometió contarlo todo… Se necesita tener caradura…
Aunque claro para él la mentira es algo menor, considerando los crímenes cometidos…

Khmer Rouge no. 2 to tell all at trial

Khmer Rouge No. 2 to tell all at trial – Yahoo! News

Khmer Rouge “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea is ready to lift the lid on Pol Pot’s
murderous regime when he appears in court on charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity, a trial judge said on Thursday.”He has no complaints. He said
he would elaborate on the regime when the trial comes,” You Bunleng, a Cambodian
investigating judge on the $56 million United Nations-backed tribunal, told
Reuters.
Nuon Chea, Pol Pot’s right-hand man during the Khmer Rouge’s
1975-79 reign of terror, was arrested at his simple wooden home on the Thai
border on Wednesday and flown to Phnom Penh by helicopter to face the
long-awaited tribunal.
An estimated 1.7 million people died during Pol Pot’s
Beijing-backed “Year Zero” revolution as his dream of transforming the Southeast
Asian nation into an agrarian peasant utopia descended into the nightmare of the
“Killing Fields.”
Despite many reports in the last five years of the
octogenarian guerrilla’s imminent demise, court spokesman Reach Sambath said
Nuon Chea was in good health and had 24-hour access to medical care to ensure he
was fit to stand trial.

Well, let’s see if this man is really tried and all the crimes the Khmer Rouge committed are brought to light.
For more info on Khmer rouge, visit Wikipedia.

In power, the Khmer Rouge carried out a radical program that included isolating the country from foreign influence, closing schools, hospitals and factories, abolishing banking, finance and currency, outlawing all religions, confiscating all private property and relocating people from urban areas to collective farms where forced labor was widespread. The purpose of this policy was to turn Cambodians into “Old People” through agricultural labor. These actions resulted in massive deaths through executions, work exhaustion, illness, and starvation.

The Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured and eventually executed anyone suspected of belonging to several categories of supposed “enemies”:

• anyone with connections to the former government or with foreign governments,
• professionals and intellectuals – in practice this included almost everyone with
  an education,
• or even people wearing glasses (which, according to the regime meant that they were literate),
• ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Chinese, Cambodian Christians, Muslims and the Buddhist monks
• Homosexuals
• “economic sabotage” for which many of the former urban dwellers (who had not starved to death in the first place) were deemed to be guilty of by virtue of their lack of agricultural ability.

Through the 1970s, and especially after mid-1975, the party was also shaken by factional struggles. There were even armed attempts to topple Pol Pot. The resultant purges reached a crest in 1977 and 1978 when thousands, including some important KCP leaders, were executed.
Today, examples of the torture methods used by the Khmer Rouge can be seen at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The museum occupies the former grounds of a high school turned prison camp that was operated by Khang Khek Ieu, more commonly known as “Comrade Duch”. Some 17,000 people passed through this centre before they were taken to sites (also known as The Killing Fields), outside Phnom Penh such as Choeung Ek where most were executed (mainly by pickaxes to save bullets) and buried in mass graves. Of the thousands who entered the Tuol Sleng Centre (also known as S-21), only ten are known to have survived.

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El Jémer rojo nº2 va a ser juzgado en Camboya por crímenes de guerra