Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Khmer rouge: KRT to hear rape claim

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Georgia Wilkins
Monday, 01 September 2008

A transgendered survivor of the Khmer Rouge is to lodge a complaint to the Extraordinary Chambers Wednesday in the first attempt to hold the regime's former leaders to account for sexual violence.

Silke Stuzinsky, a lawyer representing victims of the regime, said the complaint would address the rape of a man who later underwent a full sex change. "She was punished for having committed moral offences and for behaving as a woman," Stuzinsky said in a statement issued Friday. "She was threatened with death if she refused to marry a woman, and the Khmer Rouge ordered the performance of sexual intercourse as part of the marital obligation."

Victim participation is expected to be an issue at the fourth plenary session of the court's judicial officers, which begins today and runs until Friday.

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