Between April 1975 and January 1979, the Khmer Rouge destroyed significant numbers of Christian churches and many Christians were killed. Phnom Penh’s first Cathedral, the Preah Meada was decimated, and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Phnom Penh, which could hold up to 10,000 people, was blown up.
Interior Minister Sar Kheng said Cambodia had agreed to only investigate crimes by the most senior Khmer Rouge leaders, which meant the work of the Khmer Rouge tribunal was “all complete”.
As senior Khmer Rouge leaders are convicted of genocide, survivors of the regime’s last stand seek to put the past behind them.
Some justice and mixed blessings for those who survived the Khmer Rouge.
In nine years of hearings and at a cost of more than $300 million, tribunal has convicted only one other defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who as head of Khmer Rouge prison system ran infamous Tuol Sleng torture center.
While some see ‘complete failure,’ others find some justice was served by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Peter Maguire, author of “Facing Death in Cambodia”, said the court’s legacy was “part good, part bad, and part ugly,” having spent some $300 million to try just three Khmer Rouge officials.
The verdict this Friday focuses on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide committed at worksites, cooperatives, security centers and execution sites, including the infamous S-21 prison in Phnom Penh.
Dr. Soth Plai Ngarm, a peace activist and the founder of the museum, said the project would use photographs and other art forms to help visitors interpret conflict through a different lens.
His latest work, “Pol Pot Solved the Leprosy Problem: Remembering Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds”, is a memoir of his days as a young diplomat in Phnom Penh between 1959 and 1961.
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