Cambodia war crimes

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2022

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2009, a UN-backed war crimes tribunal opened in Cambodia to try the senior Khmer Rouge commanders responsible for the genocide of an estimated two million people during Pol Pot’s regime in the late 1970s. Josephine McDermott talks to New Zealander Rob Hamill, who testified against the notorious prison camp chief known as Comrade Duch. Rob Hamill’s brother Kerry was killed by the Khmer Rouge after mistakenly sailing into Cambodian waters. (Photo: Kerry Hamill aboard his boat. Credit: Rob Hamill)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and thank you for downloading the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service,
0:11.1	with me Josephine McDermott.
0:13.6	Today I'm taking you back to 2009, when a war crimes tribunal started in Cambodia.
0:19.6	I've been hearing from a man who testified against one of the most infamous torturers
0:24.8	in Pol Pot's regime.
0:27.2	And as may find some parts of the programme distressing.
0:32.0	It's September 2009, and a former commander in the Khmer Rouge, known as Khmer Doik,
0:38.0	is taking the stand at a court in Phnom Penh.
0:41.1	The UN tribunal is aiming to bring justice to the families of the two million people killed
0:46.3	in the genocide in the late 1970s.
0:49.2	The crimes committed by the accused are rarely matched in modern history, in terms of their
0:54.6	combined barbarity, scope, duration, premeditation and callousness.
1:02.3	In court to testify against Khmer Doik is New Zealander Rob Hamill.
1:07.2	Rob's brother Kerry was one of the estimated 15,000 men, women and children, killed at
1:13.1	the notorious Tolstong prison run by Doik, whose full name is Konguk Kew.
1:19.0	The prison was known as S21.
1:21.0	There was Doik in his seat.
1:24.3	That was quite creepy.
1:26.8	The moment I sat down and looked up and he was looking at me, he gave me the eye and
1:31.6	made very strong eye contact.
1:33.4	He gave me a blank stare, actually.
1:35.2	It was very chilling, and I found quite challenging.
	...

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