A daughter’s 40-year search for the truth behind this photograph

It is one of the Khmer Rouge’s most striking and haunting photographs. Chan Kim Srun stares straight into the camera lens, holding her infant son in the Madonna and Child-like picture, rendered in black and white.
The powerful image has become a centrepiece at Phnom Penh’s genocide museum, serving as a reminder of the horrors committed by the Khmer Rouge.
But Kim Srun also had two daughters. One of them, Sek Say, was 11 years old when this photo was taken. She has spent the last 40 years trying to figure out the truth about what happened to her parents, who disappeared during the brutal communist regime. Read full story.

 

Witnesses describe horrors of forced marriages at KRT

In emotionally charged testimony at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday, a witness revealed she was raped by her unit commander after refusing to consummate her forced marriage – a crime she had never disclosed before – while prominent transgender activist Sou Sotheavy testified through tears about being compelled to father a child.
The wrenching accounts came as the tribunal begins to examine the crime of forced marriage, the only charge stemming from the gender-based violence that occurred under the regime that the court is slated to try. Read full story.

 
Chea, Samphan life sentences upheld, though KRT ‘errors’ noted

Former Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan sat impassive in the dock as the final verdict in Case 002/01 was handed down to them yesterday, in what was widely described as a “historic” moment for the Cambodian people and international law.
The two elderly defendants, who were initially convicted of crimes against humanity in 2014, yesterday had their appeals of those convictions rejected and their life sentences upheld by the Supreme Court Chamber at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Read full story.

 

Staying Khmer Rouge Tribunal cases mulled

Legal action against former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide could be halted by the end of June, tribunal sources reveal, ostensibly due to lack of funding – a claim analysts suspect could be masking government pressure.
In a confidential document issued on Friday – an official summary of which was obtained by The Post yesterday – the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s co-investigating judges said they were considering a “permanent stay on proceedings” due to a “lack of funding” in Case 003 against former alleged Naval Commander Meas Muth, Case 004 against Yim Tith and Case 004/02 against Ao An. Read full story.