Khmer Rouge were not 'bad people,' No.2 tells court
Source: Agencies |
December 6, 2011, Tuesday
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THE No. 2 leader of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime told a Phnom Penh court yesterday that he and his comrades were not "bad people," denying responsibility for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during their 1970s rule.
Nuon Chea's defiant statements came as the UN-backed tribunal began questioning him for the first time since the long-awaited trial of three top regime leaders began late last month. Nuon Chea and two other Khmer Rouge leaders are accused of crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture stemming from the group's 1975-79 reign of terror. All have denied wrongdoing.
The trusted deputy of the late Pol Pot, Nuon Chea blamed neighboring Vietnam for the atrocities that occurred, reiterating Khmer Rouge claims that mass graves discovered subsequently were of people killed by Vietnamese armed forces.
This week the court is expected to focus on charges involving the forced movement of people and crimes against humanity. After the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, it began moving 1 million people - even hospital patients - from the capital into the countryside in an effort to create a "communist agrarian utopia."
After a court clerk read a background of the Khmer Rouge and the three defendants, Nuon Chea defended the notorious movement.
"I don't want the next generation to misunderstand history. I don't want them to believe the Khmer Rouge are bad people, are criminals," Nuon Chea said. "Nothing is true about that."
The 85-year-old one-time chief ideologist insisted that no Cambodian was responsible for atrocities during the Khmer Rouge's reign.
"These war crimes and crimes against humanity were not committed by the Cambodian people," Nuon Chea said. "It was the Vietnamese who killed Cambodians."
Vietnam, whose border suffered attacks by Khmer Rouge soldiers, sponsored resistance and invaded, toppling the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
Nuon Chea said the Khmer Rouge had been set up to liberate the country from the rich and powerful.
Later, Nuon Chea twice asked the court to adjourn early, complaining of heart problems and breathlessness. Judge Nil Nonn then adjourned proceedings until today.
The other defendants are Khieu Samphan, an 80-year-old former head of state who also told the court last month that he bore no responsibility for atrocities, and 86-year-old Ieng Sary, who has said he will not participate until a ruling is issued on a pardon he received in 1996.
Pol Pot died in 1998 in Cambodia's jungles, and a fourth defendant, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, Ieng Sary's wife, was ruled unfit to stand trial as she has Alzheimer's disease.
Nuon Chea's defiant statements came as the UN-backed tribunal began questioning him for the first time since the long-awaited trial of three top regime leaders began late last month. Nuon Chea and two other Khmer Rouge leaders are accused of crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture stemming from the group's 1975-79 reign of terror. All have denied wrongdoing.
The trusted deputy of the late Pol Pot, Nuon Chea blamed neighboring Vietnam for the atrocities that occurred, reiterating Khmer Rouge claims that mass graves discovered subsequently were of people killed by Vietnamese armed forces.
This week the court is expected to focus on charges involving the forced movement of people and crimes against humanity. After the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, it began moving 1 million people - even hospital patients - from the capital into the countryside in an effort to create a "communist agrarian utopia."
After a court clerk read a background of the Khmer Rouge and the three defendants, Nuon Chea defended the notorious movement.
"I don't want the next generation to misunderstand history. I don't want them to believe the Khmer Rouge are bad people, are criminals," Nuon Chea said. "Nothing is true about that."
The 85-year-old one-time chief ideologist insisted that no Cambodian was responsible for atrocities during the Khmer Rouge's reign.
"These war crimes and crimes against humanity were not committed by the Cambodian people," Nuon Chea said. "It was the Vietnamese who killed Cambodians."
Vietnam, whose border suffered attacks by Khmer Rouge soldiers, sponsored resistance and invaded, toppling the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
Nuon Chea said the Khmer Rouge had been set up to liberate the country from the rich and powerful.
Later, Nuon Chea twice asked the court to adjourn early, complaining of heart problems and breathlessness. Judge Nil Nonn then adjourned proceedings until today.
The other defendants are Khieu Samphan, an 80-year-old former head of state who also told the court last month that he bore no responsibility for atrocities, and 86-year-old Ieng Sary, who has said he will not participate until a ruling is issued on a pardon he received in 1996.
Pol Pot died in 1998 in Cambodia's jungles, and a fourth defendant, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, Ieng Sary's wife, was ruled unfit to stand trial as she has Alzheimer's disease.
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