Cambodians show patience in waiting for long-overdue justice

It reads like a secret service dossier.

Name: Ieng Thiraith, alias Phea. Born on March 10, 1932 in Phnom Penh. Arrested on November 12, 2007. Status: Indicted and sent to trial for crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Convention of 1949, genocide, homicide and torture, and religious persecution pursuant to the 1956 Penal Code. Position in the Democratic Kampuchea Regime: minister of social affairs. Personal background: Ieng Thirith … went to study in Paris, where she majored in Shakespeare studies at the Sorbonne. She became the first Cambodian to receive a degree in English literature.

The feisty Cambodian, who was the sister-in-law of the late "Brother Number One" Pol Pot is known for off-colour outbursts, such as saying three years ago that those accusing her of murder would "be cursed to the seventh circle of hell".

Indeed, there is a cast of many colourful characters in this story.

A similar sheet on defendant Nuon "Brother Number Two" Chea says that he "studied law at Bangkok's prestigious Thammasat University", which makes his academic background appear similar to the judges overseeing the trial he is being targeted in, until the description continues to say, "where he became a member of the Thai Communist Party".

The man who compared Ieng Thiraith to a summer's day, her husband Ieng Sary, who studied in Paris along with Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, is also expected to go on trial.

Rounding out the fierce foursome of former Khmer Rouge leaders - the most senior surviving members of the regime - is Khieu Samphan, who in addition to the genocide and crimes against humanity that the other three Cambodians are on trial for, is also accused of religious persecution and the murder of Muslim and Vietnamese minorities. He too studied in Paris, where he joined the Marxist-Leninist Circle, a society of youthful communists.

The late US actor and monologist Spalding Gray, in his film "Swimming to Cambodia", related how the US bombing of Vietnamese communists in Cambodia in the early 1970s "had a reverse effect on the Vietcong. Instead of driving them back into Vietnam, it drove them further into the Cambodian jungles, where they hitched up with this weird bunch of rednecks headed by Pol Pot - the Khmer Rouge. Now no one knows how they got so weird up there. They were eating bark, bugs, lizards and leaves up there, for about five years, basically going wacko. Now, there are some theories: one is that Pol Pot was educated in Paris, in a strict Maoist doctrine, and someone threw into the soup a perverse bit of Rousseau," whose teachings influenced the French Revolution.

Now, after a three-decade delay, the four are on trial, the first cases being tried since Case 001 against Kaing Guek Eav, alias "Duch", who was convicted of crimes against humanity last year. He was sentenced to a 35-year prison sentence, which was reduced to 30 years.

The work of the ECCC was highlighted at a panel discussion at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand earlier this month.

Panelist Anne Heindel, a legal adviser for the Humanitarian Centre, noted that time is of the essence, saying, "The perpetrators are probably older than anyone else tried in an international court."

Slowing down the meting out of long-put-off justice is the makeup of the cases' not one but two co-prosecutors, (one Cambodian and one international) and two co-investigating judges (one Cambodian and one international).

Still, fellow panellist Lars Olsen, legal communications officer of the ECCC, said that despite the defendants' ages - all of them are at least 78 years old - the court should not cut corners.

Heindel also raised the crucial issue of financing the ECCC, with its chief money provider Japan, as well as other countries such as the US and UK, experiencing donor fatigue. More than US $100 million has so far been spent on the legal proceedings.

"The question," said Heindel, is the "processing of five people for a whole lot of money".

That issue was partially addressed by another panellist, Supreme Court Chamber Judge Agnieszka Klonowiecks-Milart, who said "The judgement will outlive the court. It will live forever."

Neth Pheaktra, the Cambodian press officer with the ECCC said, "It is very important for [the Cambodians] to understand the legal process. It is very important for them to understand and attend the hearings. They want to know what the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is. We've got a lot of support from the Cambodian people."

Neth said that in recent years there has been increased understanding of the proceedings.

Olsen said that the movement for a trial started in 1997. He noted that "Every day all 482 seats in the KRT are filled" by Cambodians from all walks of life plus some foreigners who want to witness this important and painful piece of global history. He noted that Cambodian villagers often start travelling to the capital in the middle of the night so that they can arrive in the courthouse in Phnom Penn in order to be a part of history.

While for many the results of the cases should be a foregone conclusion of guilty verdicts, Heindel noted that defendants' rights and due process must be looked after.

In a pamphlet handed out at the event by the ECCC, Cambodia's strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen says, "Not a single one of our people has been spared from the ravages brought upon our country during the three years, eight months and twenty days that Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge held power."

Also stated in the booklet is the hope expressed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the work of the ECCC is "enabling the Cambodian people, who have been waiting for justice for so long, to bring a sense of closure to the darkest chapter in their history."

The glacial speed of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal presents plenty of time for reflection on the cost and theatre regarding Cambodia's ongoing search for reconciliation with its brutal recent history.

Carleton Cole is a Bangkok-based writer who has previously worked at The Nation.