KR Victims in the US demand for “true justice”

19 April 2009
By Sary Rath
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Witnesses still alive and relatives of the victims who are currently living in the US are demanding that the KR Tribunal (KRT) provide a trial that is fair and acceptable by the victims and their relatives who are still alive.

During a candle vigil to commemorate the victims of the KR genocide which was held in front of the White House in the evening of 17 April, Koh Bun Kon and his wife from San Jose, California, as well as others who participated in the vigil, called on the Cambodian government to push for a fair trial for the KR leaders.

Koh Bun Kon said: “Today, on 17 April, I am joining with other Cambodian friends and relatives to commemorate our relatives, our parents and the 1.7 million others who died during the Pol Pot era. May the spirits of our parents and relatives come to join us to push the KR Tribunal to speed up the trials. Today, I am very moved to meet a large number of our compatriots. Everybody, including myself, we used to live under the Pol Pot regime for almost 4 years, we were very hurt, extremely hurt, I still remember everyday because my parents, my siblings, my nephew died, they died by the hundreds. Therefore, I can only pay respect to their spirits, and I am asking the Cambodian government to complete the KR trials and to provide justice for us so I can have some peace.”

Tung Yap, President of the Cambodian-Americans for Human Rights and Democracy (CAHRAD), said that besides holding this meeting to commemorate the spirit of the victims, his organization, along with the International community, called for an international prevention of new genocide in the world.

Regarding the trial of the former KR leaders in order to provide true justice, Tung Yap indicated that the alliance led by Dr. Leakhena Nou will gather witnesses of the KR regime who are still alive in the US to provide testimonials to the ECCC in the near future. Tung Yap said: “We are pleased to support Dr. Leakhena Nou who gathered Cambodian-Americans to provide testimonials for the trial of the KR.”

In 2009, the International community has set the month of April as the genocide prevention month. Savage events in Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia, Armenia, Cambodia, as well the current event in Darfur, Sudan are reminders of this issue.

Genocide researchers indicated that the genocidal regime in the 6 countries above all savagely took power in the month of April.

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