By BRITTON BROUN and agencies
The Dominion Post
19/06/2009
The brother of a Kiwi yachtie murdered by the Khmer Rouge will get to confront the man responsible in court and hopes to come away with his brother's remains.
Olympic rower Rob Hamill confirmed yesterday that he would address Khmer Rouge official Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, at a war crimes tribunal in Cambodia before November.
Duch, who headed the notorious Phnom Penh torture prison Tuol Sleng, told the tribunal this week that Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot personally ordered the killing of four Western prisoners, including Kerry Hamill. "I received an order from my superiors that the four Westerners had to be smashed and burned to ashes. It was an absolute order from my superiors. Pol Pot ... personally ordered to burn the bodies."
In response to questioning from New Zealand judge Dame Silvia Cartwright, Duch denied reports that the four Westerners were burned alive. He said their bodies were burnt near the prison after they were executed.
Rob Hamill said he was privileged to be able to address Duch and the tribunal. "I'm one of only a dozen people taking the stand and possibly the only foreigner.
"It's huge, it's an opportunity to face the man who killed my brother and tell him the effect it's had on my family and [the thousands] of others who died at that prison.
"The process of grieving hasn't taken its course and this is a part of that. I feel hatred. I want to try and forgive but I'm finding that hard at the moment."
Kerry Hamill, 28, was captured by the Khmer Rouge after his yacht was blown off course into Cambodian waters in 1978. Prison documents show there were up to 11 Westerners in Tuol Sleng, which was also known as S-21.
An estimated 17,000 people died there, a fraction of the estimated 1.7million Cambodians who perished of forced labour, starvation and medical neglect during the Khmer Rouge rule between 1975 and 1979.
Rob Hamill, who is working on a documentary about what happened to his brother, said burnt European remains had been found at a mass grave near S-21. He hoped they could be identified as his brother's and brought home.
"It was such a long time not knowing, thinking he was shipwrecked, and then to get the worst possible news. It was devastating."
Pol Pot died in 1998, but Mr Hamill hoped Duch and the other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders would receive appropriate sentences that would help to establish a fair justice system in Cambodia.
The Dominion Post
19/06/2009
The brother of a Kiwi yachtie murdered by the Khmer Rouge will get to confront the man responsible in court and hopes to come away with his brother's remains.
Olympic rower Rob Hamill confirmed yesterday that he would address Khmer Rouge official Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, at a war crimes tribunal in Cambodia before November.
Duch, who headed the notorious Phnom Penh torture prison Tuol Sleng, told the tribunal this week that Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot personally ordered the killing of four Western prisoners, including Kerry Hamill. "I received an order from my superiors that the four Westerners had to be smashed and burned to ashes. It was an absolute order from my superiors. Pol Pot ... personally ordered to burn the bodies."
In response to questioning from New Zealand judge Dame Silvia Cartwright, Duch denied reports that the four Westerners were burned alive. He said their bodies were burnt near the prison after they were executed.
Rob Hamill said he was privileged to be able to address Duch and the tribunal. "I'm one of only a dozen people taking the stand and possibly the only foreigner.
"It's huge, it's an opportunity to face the man who killed my brother and tell him the effect it's had on my family and [the thousands] of others who died at that prison.
"The process of grieving hasn't taken its course and this is a part of that. I feel hatred. I want to try and forgive but I'm finding that hard at the moment."
Kerry Hamill, 28, was captured by the Khmer Rouge after his yacht was blown off course into Cambodian waters in 1978. Prison documents show there were up to 11 Westerners in Tuol Sleng, which was also known as S-21.
An estimated 17,000 people died there, a fraction of the estimated 1.7million Cambodians who perished of forced labour, starvation and medical neglect during the Khmer Rouge rule between 1975 and 1979.
Rob Hamill, who is working on a documentary about what happened to his brother, said burnt European remains had been found at a mass grave near S-21. He hoped they could be identified as his brother's and brought home.
"It was such a long time not knowing, thinking he was shipwrecked, and then to get the worst possible news. It was devastating."
Pol Pot died in 1998, but Mr Hamill hoped Duch and the other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders would receive appropriate sentences that would help to establish a fair justice system in Cambodia.
No comments:
Post a Comment