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The Khmer Chronicles / Issue Nr 4: Gathering Pace
It is the first time Duch appeared in public since over 8 years, and there was a long line of people at the entrance of the courtroom. They filled the hall where two big screens showed what happened in the crammed pretrial chambers nearby. Press photographers and cameramen were alllowed five minutes at the beginning of two hearings. The first time we were about sixty and inevitably there was some pushing and shoving. Luckily it was in my back... The second time, before the judges would tell Duch he would stay in prison, things were better organised and only five photographers were allowed in, pooling for those who had to stay outside. The light in the pretrial chamber was kind of gloomy neon. It was a weird impression to stand two or three meters from someone who is tried for crimes against humanity and who is accused of being responsible for the death of some 15000 people. It is weird because he is just an old man, with glassy eyes looking at us, late at standing up when the judges come in, but seemingly healthier looking than eight years ago. It is as if the monster has disappeared with the system which created it... Another area where things are speeding up is the eviction of Dey Krohom by 7NG company. The area located near the new National Assembly is under intense pressure since 2000, and several slums have been evicted over the years. Only two are remaining, Sambok Chhap and Dey Krohom (Red Soil).
Pressure on those who have resisted until now has increased one notch. There were incidents and stones thrown when an excavator showed up near the Dey Krohom market. A few days later, just before Human Rights Day (which is an official holiday here) 7NG employees put up a fence at the edge of the land, just in front of several houses, preventing the owners from running their business. It seems the final "assault" on a community which makes a precarious living from the proximity of the center of town is imminent. The place where they will be evicted to is located on the edge of Phnom Penh. The price of petrol increasing regularly, the evicted will not have the possibility to go back and forth, and the fragile balance between poverty and hunger will be disrupted for many. With the Volleyball World Cup Standing Disabled taking place at the Olympic Stadium, the first time an international event of this level happens since the sixties', and the shooting of "Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique", an adaptation of Marguerite Duras' novel by cambodian filmmaker Rithy PANH (sorry, no pictures until the release of the movie...) it was a busy month indeed. Related Links: Links:
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It has been a busy month in Cambodia. Things around and at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal itself have taken an accelerated pace with the arrests of Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, of Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea and probably others in the pipeline. But most of all the first public hearings took place regarding the appeal against his detention of Kang Guek Eav, alias Duch, in charge of the S21 interrogation center during the Pol Pot regime.
Reader comments (2)
this one is a good photo. it combines art photography added with journalism
Comment posted by dannyboy pata on January 2, 2008
Curious about the outcome. The Khmer have delayed justice for so long...difficult to imagine it will be rendered now. This said, relatively small potatoes such as Duch could get what they deserve and the big potatoes could live out their lives in tranquility. Such is the way of the world....
Comment posted by Peter on January 13, 2008