AP: Ex-Khmer Rouge Leader Admits Genocide
Tue Dec 30,10:13 AM ET Add World - AP to My Yahoo!
By KER MUNTHIT, Associated Press Writer
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Former Khmer Rouge (news - web sites) head of state Khieu Samphan acknowledged Tuesday for the first time that his regime committed genocide, ahead of his expected appearance at a U.N.-sponsored tribunal.
AP Photo
His surprising admission in an interview with The Associated Press appeared to be an attempt to begin giving his version of his role in Cambodia's bloody history before his likely prosecution for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Khieu Samphan, one of the few surviving top leaders of the communist Khmer Rouge, reiterated he personally never ordered any killings and insisted he learned the full extent of the killings only two months ago from a documentary.
"Everything has to go the trial's way now, and there's no other way," the 72-year-old former leader said by telephone from his home. "I have to prepare myself not to let the time pass away. But I also want public to understand about me, too. I was not involved in any killings."
Some 1.7 millions Cambodians were executed or died of starvation, disease and overwork during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule, which aimed to create an agrarian utopian society.
None of the Khmer Rouge's surviving leadership has faced justice for any crimes. Many are infirm but — like Khieu Samphan — live and move freely in the country. Pol Pot, the regime's supremo, died in 1998.
After five years of negotiations, U.N. and Cambodian officials tentatively agreed earlier this month on steps to set up the tribunal. But the court's creation has been delayed by a lack of funds and by political instability after Cambodia's inconclusive general elections left three parties jostling to create a coalition.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) plans to launch an appeal in early February for contributions toward the tribunal's $40 million operating budget. Sok An, the Cambodian government's chief negotiator for setting up the court, has said its formalization will be "addressed immediately" once a new legislature is formed.
Khieu Samphan, who was Cambodia's nominal head of state of during the regime, had until now refused to accept in public comments and media interviews that his government committed genocide.
He said he realized he could no longer ignore the Khmer Rouge's history after he saw a documentary film about the notorious S-21 prison, recently presented to him by a Cambodian-French filmmaker, Rithy Pan.
"When I saw the film, it was hard for me to deny (the killings). There's no more doubt left," said Khieu Samphan, who lives in Pailin, 176 miles northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.
"I was surprised, because I never thought it (the regime) went to that extent in its policies. S-21 was in the middle of Phnom Penh. It was clearly a state institution. It was part of the regime," he said.
Until he saw the film about two months ago, he said he had reserved his judgment about the prison's existence and atrocities.
As many as 16,000 people are believed to have passed through the gates of the infamous prison in Phnom Penh but only 14 are thought to have survived. The prison is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
The other senior leader expected to face trial is Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge's ideologue, who also lives in Pailin. He and Khieu Samphan surrendered to the government in December 1998, just a few months before the capture of Ta Mok, the former Khmer Rouge army chief, which capped the final collapse of the movement.
Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Iev, the S-21 prison's chief, are now in prison.
|