“To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.”(Khmer Rouge slogan)
I am happy to announce that ’30 Years for a Trial’, an e-book for the iPad by John Vink and Robert Carmichael is now available at the iBookstore on iTunes at this link.
This e-book reports on the trial of Duch, alias Kaing Guek Eav, the infamous director of ‘S21’, a Khmer Rouge interrogation center where 15,000 people were tortured and subsequently executed between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia, a fraction of the 1,7 million people estimated to have died during the Pol Pot regime. Taking into account the pace of the ongoing trials at the ECCC (Extraordinary Chambers at the Courts of Cambodia) and the age of the 4 other accused Khmer Rouge leaders, Duch may well be the only Khmer Rouge cadre to be sentenced.
With 123 pages, a text by Phnom Penh based journalist Robert Carmichael about Duch’s trial, a multimedia slideshow, over 200 photographs and a text by John Vink giving an insight on the context of the trial and a reflection on the backstage activities of the ECCC, this e-book sheds some additional light on what in fact is the first international trial of a left wing totalitarian regime.
“Right wing totalitarianism has been judged at Nuremberg and Tokyo. Totalitarianism claiming left wing values has until now never been targeted by a trial. This is the first and probably the only tribunal where crimes committed in the name of the emancipation of the peoples are being judged.” (Raoul Jennar, International Relations Expert, during his testimony on September 14th 2009)
PS: please note that currently there is no bookstore available on the Cambodian iTunes. ’30 Years for a Trial’ is available in 49 other countries.
Posted Monday Mar 11, 2013, in
Khmer Rouge |
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Been Kepping for the week-end, loading the batteries before returning to Ratanakkiri and work more on the ‘Three Rivers Dams’ story next week.
CAMBODIA. Kep (Kep). 9/03/2013: Crab Market.
CAMBODIA. Kep (Kep). 9/03/2013: Crab Market.
The music wasn’t good enough. At least Kro Hom Kor, the red-necked spirit from the Sesan river wasn’t really satisfied with it. So he visited the body of the shamane only one time out of the three attempts. All the attire was ready though: the roasted pig’s head, the little bowls with rice, the jossticks, the thin candles pasted on small stones, the rice wine, the sabre with another candle pasted at its end, the red cloth around the torso of the shamane. Was it because the space between the shamane and the small shrine where people had left a pile of stones, each stone being a wish for fortune, was too crowded? Some say that if the spirit wasn’t very vocal this time it is because one of the musicians who plays for the yearly ceremony was replaced by another one.
But it seems this happened before. It is not that big a deal. What was more important was the fact that the whole Tampuon community from Sre Kor village was gathered under the bamboo stems growing near the rocky banks of the Sesan. They had demonstrated that morning on the main road of the village, carrying banners and shouting through bullhorns. They had paraded the banners in boats on the Sesan river. They then travelled the two hours long journey, having first been duly controlled and photographed by the police at the exit of the village. They were seated on the hard wood of a trailer hooked on a ‘koyun’ or two-wheeled tractor, uncomfortably shaken on the barely visible tracks through the trees, along the huge areas of forest that were cleared by roaring tractors from a rubber company. The heat of the fires burning the chopped down wood sent a column of dust twirling in the air.
The community was together, strengthened in its belief that defending the river is a good cause, aware of the threat caused by the building of the dams. Aware that the dams threaten their livelihood, the fish living in the Sesan, but also aware that the constructions threaten some essential parts of their lives.
For now everything is quiet in Sre Kor. The sun sets on the Sesan river. It is time to fetch water at the river, to wash off the red dust accumulated over the day, next to the buffaloes enjoying some relief from the heat. The following morning will be an important one for the Tampuon community of Sre Kor… Slogans requesting that the Sesan2 dam will not be built are being painted on pieces of blue cloth. Preparations are made for a demonstration in the village, coupled with the yearly ceremony invoking Kro Hom Kor, the Red-necked spirit of the river (see more on this next sunday).
Mam Sonando was in front of the Judges from the Appeals Court for the last two days to determine if the 20 year sentence which was inflicted upon him in September last year (see here) for having supported a so-called secessionist movement will hold or not. Verdict on March 14th.
Sorry for the interruption in the story on the 3 Rivers Dams, but the first hearing of an appeals trial for Mam Sonando took place this morning, after 235 days of detention. Some 500 people voiced their support outside the Appeals Court gates. The trial will go on tomorrow…
Mam Sonando, 71 years, Journalist and Director of Beehive Radio, a popular and independent radio station, was sentenced to 20 years. He was arrested on July 15th and accused of instigating a ‘secessionist’ movement after having met with people from the Kratie protest back in May from this year, when a 14-year old girl was fatally shot by the police about a land issue. Previously, on June 25th Beehive Radio had broadcast a report about a complaint brought to the International Criminal Court accusing the Cambodian Government of crimes against humanity. The next day Prime Minister Hun Sen said Mam Sonando should be arrested…
See at this link what happened during last year’s trial which found Mam Sonando guilty of supporting a so-called ‘secessionist movement’.
Veun Sai is a fairly big commercial hub on the Sesan river, inhabited by Cambodians of Chinese descent (no commerce without Chinese) who often speak Lao, like most of the people here. There is a restaurant with 7 to 8 tables made of precious ‘beng’ wood, 15 centimeters thick, 80 centimeters wide, 2 meters long. It took 8 men to lift one of the freshly cut pieces of timber like that when it arrived on a boat from god knows where. Veun Sai is close to the Virachey National Park. Veun Sai is also one of the areas cited in the documents from the investigating judges for the elusive Case 003 at the ECCC (Khmer Rouge Trials) related to war crimes perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge military. A dredging boat drops by once the stock of sand for construction sites is depleted.
And there is a ferry.
Ferries are nice places. People wait in the shadow on one side of the river, monitoring when the ferry on the other side of the river will be full enough to make the crossing back. When it lands there is a brief shuffle of people, goods, bicycles and motorbikes overloaded with pots and pans going back and forth. There is always one latecomer hurrying down the sandy banks and jumping on the boat when it is moving already. The captain of the ferry complains about the constantly changing water levels (look no further: the Yali dam in Vietnam is to blame). Up one meter is all right, although it floods the volleyball terrain. Down one meter during dry season makes his job difficult as the ferry gets stranded easily. One passenger, a young lad with a rucksack and a baseball cap, said he was heading home to his village and had been on a holiday to Kompong Som, on the seaside. He is working for a nature conservation organisation, teaching the kids in his area about preserving what is left. He was carrying a bottle of seawater to show to his friends back home…
The village of Kahchen is the former Governor of Ratanakkiri’s turf. He is an indigenous Tampuon. He builds a nice big house, painted a shiny light blue, near the centre of the village. He was recently replaced by someone closer to the central power and who is not a Tampuon. Most of the villagers in Kahchen are Tampuon.
The former Governor ‘gave’ the villagers a beautifull space in the middle of the village, shadowed by huge trees, dotted with three buildings. One, airy, made of brick and concrete allows for a peacefull contemplation of the Sesan river or training sessions for farmers organised by an NGO. The second, on stilts, in wood, is where the monthly community meetings take place. Matters strictly Tampuon are discussed there, sometimes quite vehemently. No press allowed. A third construction, much smaller, is some kind of a weather station. It is built next to a gate and a set of stairs leading down to the river. Five measuring sticks are lined up along the stairs, for a total height of 12 meters. That is how high the Sesan river can reach during the rainy season. But when the Yali dam in Vietnam has to let go of an excess of water the Sesan can rise beyond those 12 meters.
The community has experienced it several times already. That might be one of the reasons they oppose the construction of dams on the Sesan. But they also know about the consequences the Three Rivers Dams will inflict on their community: depleting fish stocks, possible relocation, loss of valuable agricultural land along the river banks… What probably troubles them most is that no one higher up seems to read the letters they sent out expressing their concerns. They get frustrated: no one with responsibility seems to listen, there is not enough feedback. It’s not because they are Tampuon that they don’t want electricity. Of course they want it. But they want to have electricity and remain Tampuon. And they don’t see it happen.
See also here, here, here, here, here, and here…
