Six new border crossings between Vietnam and Cambodia

http://www.eturbonews.com/

Aug 06, 2009

Cambodia and Vietnam have agreed to open six new border crossings that serve citizens from other nations to boost trade and travel. Currently there is just one such gate at Bavet in Svay Rieng province.

Mom Sibon, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said the agreement was reached last month during the visit of a delegation led by Vietnam's transport minister.

"These [new gates] will boost the economy at the border and cut the time spent by people looking to trade or travel," he said. "It will also help to reduce smuggling, which usually runs through small corridors."

Mom Sibon said Vietnam wanted to double the current limit of 150 vehicles per day that can cross between the two nations.

"But for now we have agreed to 150 vehicles," he said. "We will discuss the possibility [of increasing that number] later."

He said Vietnam wanted the six gates to be border crossings that allowed only nationals of the two countries to cross.

"But we proposed that we open them [to other countries' citizens] to facilitate trade and tourism," he said. "Because we are ASEAN members we don't need visas - we just use border passes."

Le Bien Cuong, commercial councillor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh, said the new crossings were part of the bid to boost trade between the two countries to US$2 billion by next year.

"Both governments have recently taken steps to strengthen relations and increase trade with their neighbours," he said. "The new border gates will attract Vietnamese investors to invest in Cambodia, and will assist Cambodian businesspeople looking to export to Vietnam."

He said total trade flows between the two nations reached $637 million in the first six months of this year. Cambodia's share totalled $95 million, most of which were agricultural products.

Mao Thora, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, welcomed the initiative as a boon for traders.

"The more border gates we open, the more we benefit," he said

John Dewhirst, victim of Pol Pot's killing fields, may have been burned alive

MAil Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk

By Richard Shears
05th August 2009

A Briton captured and held in a notorious Khmer Rouge torture camp in Cambodia may have been burned alive in a chilling necklace-style execution, it has emerged.

A former security guard in Pol Pot's feared S-21 prison told a war crimes tribunal that one of four Westerners captured on a yacht while sailing in Cambodian waters was picked out for the horrifying murder.

British teacher John Dewhirst, 26, from Newcastle upon Tyne , was with an American, an Australian, a Canadian and a New Zealander in 1978 when their yacht was intercepted by one of Pol Pot's patrol boats.

A photographer takes pictures of Cheam Soeu, former guard of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison, on a screen at the U.N.-backed tribunal

The Canadian, Stuart Glass, was shot, and Mr Dewhirst and the remaining crew were taken to the grim prison - a place of interrogation, torture and execution.

Former security guard Cheam Soeu, now 52, told the tribunal in Phnom Penh that he was a youth when he joined the Khmer Rouge and helped the communist regime take power. He was a guard at S-21 for two years - and during that time the four Westerners were among the prisoners.

He recalled being outside the prison late one evening and saw one of the Westerners -he does not know which - being led by three security guards to the street.

Pol Pot, Communist ruler of the Khmer Rouge, is said to have ordered the execution of the four Westerners

'The prisoner was still alive. They asked him to sit down and they put a car tyre over his body,' he told told the hushed court.

Then, he said, the guards set the tyre, and the body, on fire.

'I saw the charred torso of the body and black burned legs.'

If the victim was Mr Dewhirst, it would be the first time his actual fate has become known.

It had always been assumed that he and the other Westerners had been given the usual death sentence handed down to thousands of other prisoners who were marched into the notorious prison.

They would be tortured with beatings and electric shocks, interrogated and then shot, their bodies dumped in what became known as the killing fields. Many of those executed were burned.

Earlier this year, the commander of the S-21 prison, Kaing Guek Eav - also known as Duch - told the tribunal that it was Pol Pot, who died in 1998, who personally ordered that the four Westerners be executed and then burned.
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More...
Khmer Rouge torture victim was starved to the point he 'dreamed about eating human flesh'

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'I received an order from my superiors that the four Westerners had to be smashed and burned to ashes,' he said. 'It was an absolute order from my superiors. Pol Pot, not Uncle Nuon' - the regime's second in command - 'personally ordered to burn the bodies.'

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, at his trial on the outskirts of Phnom Penh

But yesterday, after the detailed claim was made that one of the Westerners was still alive when a tyre was put around his neck and set alight, Duch denied that the prisoner had met such a fate.

'It's hard for me to believe that the prisoner was burned alive,' he said.

'I believe that nobody would dare to violate my order. They had to be killed and then burned to ash.'

Before his capture and execution, Mr Dewhirst was on a dream voyage with his friends cruising the Gulf of Thailand.

Then they were captured at gunpoint by a Khmer Rouge gunboat when they strayed too close to the Cambodian coast and were accused of being spies.

Mr Dewhirst was forced to make a signed confession that he was a CIA agent, having been recruited by his father at the age of 12.

His father, he was forced to erroneously claim, was a CIA agent whose cover was that of a secondary school headmaster.

In signing the confession, he had also signed his own death warrant.

The only Briton to die in the killing fields, Mr Dewhirst was executed just a few weeks before Pol Pot's regime was overthrown by invading forces from Vietnam.

Kaing Guek Eav has told the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal that he wanted to apologise for his actions under the Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies while in power from 1975 to 1979 left an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians dead.

The hearing began in February.

New lifestyle insert does Cambodia a 'disservice'

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 05 August 2009
Catherine McConnell

Dear Editor,

I thought I would write and give feedback on the Post's new 7Days insert (July 31-August 6, 2009).

I was quite disappointed. Much of it contains the kind of Western trash that I was happy to have gotten away from when moving here from the West.

I certainly won't be purchasing it again after reading comments like those from Perle D'Asie, who wrote in the "Sex Talk" column: "...you could spend any reasonable amount of time here and not happen across at least one or two people you find...even downright shaggable".

The Post is doing this beautiful country a real disservice and has ruined its reputation.

Catherine McConnell
Phnom Penh


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send letters to: newsroom@phnompenhpost.com or PO Box 146, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Post reserves the right to edit letters to a shorter length.

The views expressed above are solely the author's and do not reflect any positions taken by The Phnom Penh Post.

Clipping: Leopard Capital buys majority stake in Kingdom Breweries (Cambodia)

http://foodbizdaily.com/

Cambodian private equity firm Leopard Capital buys majority stake in beer brewery for $2m

Leopard Capital, a Cambodian private equity firm, has completed the fourth deal from its $27m debut vehicle Leopard Cambodia Fund by investing $2m in Kingdom Breweries.

LCF will acquire a 55.5 per cent share of the brewery for its investment.

The company, a Cambodian beer brewer, believes that with half the country’s population under the legal drinking age limit, consumption should shoot up over the next five to ten years.

Kingdom Breweries aims to secure a foothold by producing high-quality craft beer in a microbrewery in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

The fund’s previous transactions include a $1m investment in Greenside Holdings, which is part of a consortium of investors that is refurbishing, designing, constructing and commissioning a rural power transmission and distribution system.

LCF has also put $1.8m into Cambodia Plantations, a Singapore-based company which serves as an offshore finance vehicle for agricultural investments in central Cambodia.

The Leopard Cambodia Fund was launched in March 2008 and is targeting sectors in the financial services, agriculture, food and beverage production, building materials, tourism, and property development in the south-east Asian country.

In Cambodia, Proximity to Wildlife Sparks Influenza Fears

http://www.pbs.org/

Please click to watch

Fred De Sam Lazaro reports how Cambodians' proximity to wildlife is sparking new concerns about the spread of avian flu.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: On the street outside Phnom Penh's most prominent Buddhist temple, the merit bird business is brisk. It's an age-old ritual in many parts of Southeast Asia based on the belief that freeing a caged bird brings merit to one's soul.

But in recent years, these wild birds have come to symbolize something very different to public health workers: potential carriers of H5N1, the avian flu virus.

PRISCILLA JOYNER, Wildlife Conservation Society: Sellers are very interested in whether or not these birds do have avian influenza. And so they're interested in knowing about the health of the wildlife and how this impacts their health, as well.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And their livelihood, too.

PRISCILLA JOYNER: And their livelihood, too, yes.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Priscilla Joyner is with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Its staff regularly tests samples of wild birds across East Asia for any signs of flu.

PRISCILLA JOYNER: A big concern here in this area is the very close proximity of people living with domestic animals and interacting with wildlife. And this can either be in the home or this can be in the market or in merit bird training. And this close proximity can be enough pressure to allow a pathogen to jump from one species to the next and then lead to a disease that otherwise may not have occurred.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Although so far merit birds have been free of avian flu, Joyner says Cambodia is in many ways an ideal Petri dish for its spread. People are always around wild birds and domestic animals and poultry in the markets and in backyards of this mostly rural country still recovering from decades of war.

H5N1 is common but harmless in ducks. It is lethal in chickens. And it's deadly when it does make the cross-species leap to humans. Two-thirds of the 400 people who've contracted bird flu have died.

Cambodia has seen just eight human cases since 2005. Almost all had very close contact with infected chickens. So far, the virus has not spread from human to human.

Still, Dr. Sirendes Vong of the Pasteur Institute says bird flu remains a concern, especially if it infects someone who already has another form of flu, including swine flu that spread widely in recent months.


Deadly Combination

DR. SIRENDES VONG, Pasteur Institute, Cambodia: Once humans are infected, if they're infected with seasonal flu, that's a possibility for H5N1 to mix with the seasonal flu and to come up with a new virus that would have the potential to be a pandemic one.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: To spread like seasonal flu.

DR. SIRENDES VONG: Exactly. How deadly? I don't know. But there's a potential to get a virus that is as deadly as H5N1 and as transmissible as...

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The bird flu?

DR. SIRENDES VONG: ... as seasonal flu or the current swine flu virus.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He says Cambodia doesn't have the resources to check on every case, but with agencies like Pasteur, it is monitoring selected sites across the country for any signs of flu in chickens and responding to major outbreaks.

DR. SIRENDES VONG: If there is something, there's a team from the Ministry of Agriculture, from the veterinary services, that would go to the field and investigate the phenomenon. And the difficulties, again, is to come at the early stage so that you would be able also to test at the early stage of the outbreak.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And they are hoping the message gets out on how to lower the risk of an outbreak, separating chickens from ducks, for example, keeping kids away from ponds where ducks swim, and improved hygiene around the backyard. It's a message that's gotten through to small farmers like Khieu Nyim.

KHIEU NYIM, farmer (through translator): I heard the news from the TV and radio. I heard that swine flu makes the pigs sick first and also infects human beings. First, I heard that it spread in Mexico, and then it also spread in America.

I take precautions for myself. I clean the pigs and make sure I wear a mask when I enter the cage.


Risk of Inter-Species Diseases

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: No one's sure whether most farmers are adopting such practices or whether most farmers can afford protective gear. And even though there's fear of the bird flu and swine flu viruses mixing, no one's sure when or if such a super-bug might emerge.

Dr. Michael O'Leary heads the World Health Organization office in Cambodia.

DR. MICHAEL O'LEARY, World Health Organization: I think it's largely a theoretical concern at this point, because we have, you know, many kinds of viruses around us all the time. And so while we have to say that it's possible that these two or other viruses may mix and result in a new virus, that's essentially always the case. We can have such a scenario any time.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He says the risk of diseases that jump from one species to another has risen in recent decades with dozens of examples, from Ebola to Lyme disease.

DR. MICHAEL O'LEARY: The destruction of forests or the urbanization of people, that's created new opportunities, I think, for new kinds of interaction between humans and animals. Another is the ease with which people move around the world now.

There have been so many emerging diseases in the last few decades. We've seen dozens of new diseases, HIV being only one, most of which did result from a spread of an organism from the animal world to the human world.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: O'Leary says it will be important to strike a balance, watching for early signs of outbreaks while avoiding socially disruptive measures, like shutting down the merit bird trade or shutting down markets.

GWEN IFILL: For more on how viruses are transmitted from animals to humans and for Fred's reporter's notebook on Cambodia, visit our global health Web site at newshour.pbs.org

Cambodia to host ASEAN summit in 2012: PM

www.chinaview.cn

2009-08-05

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that his country will host ASEAN summit and ASEAN plus dialogue partners' meeting in 2012.

"Now we are building the meeting center and conference hall near the new office of the Council of Ministers. It will be used for the meeting. The new facilities will be opened in November 2010," he said in a graduation ceremony of a University in Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen said that "in past years when we had international meetings, we always went to hold them at the hotels."

"We will also host the top level meeting of the leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) in the near future which will also be conducted in the new building," the premier said.

ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Why old-school journalism needs to make a resurgence

An inmate at the notorious S-21 prison

The Times
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za

5 August 2009,

Yesterday, I read another incredible piece of reportage in the American issue of GQ. It spoke about the prosecution of war criminals in Cambodia, three decades after the terrible violence of the Khmer Rouge. In the space of four years, nearly two million people were murdered by their fellow citizens, in an orgy of cruel, inhuman violence that left deep, dark fingerprints on the soul of the nation. It’s a breathtakingly sad piece; one that is important for everyone to read – South Africans, perhaps, in particular.

In one paragraph, the author, Michael Paterniti, detailed a meeting with another editor – and it said so much about the sorry, rotten state of journalism today. I had to share it. (You can read the complete article online here).

“not long after returning from Cambodia that first time, I had coffee with an editor in Manhattan. As happens at such meetings, an air of false importance hovered over the proceedings as we discussed “big stories” that seemed to have been overlooked by the media, even though we were the media. When I brought up the untried Khmer Rouge leaders, pointing out the 1.7 million dead from nearly thirty years ago, his eyes glazed. Yes—but no: More than that, he wanted to talk about Hollywood. “What people tend to miss,” he said, “is that George Clooney’s much more than an actor.”

I should add, this mirrors in many ways my own experience, trying to get South African media interested in covering the continued political and humanitarian crisis in Burma. Nine years ago, I interviewed detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon; only one local magazine was interested in publishing the story (the now defunct Style), and local radio and TV were, and remain, disinterested (aside from a brief “blip” last year when monks were being massacred – the interest waned, immediately, as the murders dropped off news headlines). Suu Kyi has always asked that we use our liberty to promote democracy in Burma. The truth is, the media cares more about Octomom than it does about detention without trial, censorship, and an illegal military dictatorship.

If anybody reading is interested in 45 minutes of recorded interview with one of the world’s most important freedom fighters, you know where I am…

Ms. Mu Sochua Rejected to Pay Money to Mr. Hun Sen and Will Not Apologize – Wednesday, 5.8.2009

Posted on 5 August 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 624
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“The Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced a verdict on 4 August 2009, ordering Ms. Mu Sochua to pay Riel 8 million in compensation to Mr. Hun Sen, and Riel 8.5 million in fees to to the government, corresponding to Riel 16.5 million in total [approx. US$4,100]. But Ms. Mu Sochua said that she will neither pay the compensation according to the verdict of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, nor apologize to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“The president of the Sam Rainsy Party, Mr. Sam Rainsy, announced recently that the Sam Rainsy Party had prepared money to pay to Mr. Hun Sen to end this case, but he then changed his position and agreed to leave the decision to Ms. Mu Sochua, because the Sam Rainsy Party is a democratic party and does not use pressure.

“Speaking to journalists in the presence of many diplomats and national and international observers after hearing the verdict, Ms. Mu Sochua said that in spite of the Khmer judicial system which has never been just, her struggle will contribute to change it.

“She said, ‘As for the court verdict of today, the judge did not use consciousness and the law to hear me. It is a decision showing plainly that it is a decision following orders of politicians, and it makes us, innocent people like me, to become victims…’ She added, ‘This is absolutely political, and I regret it that the judge ruled that I am the loser and I must pay to the state Riel 8.5 million and to Prime Minister Hun Sen Riel 8 million. I do not receive justice, because the judicial system in Cambodia is not independent and neutral, and it suffers from strong interference by the power of politicians; I have to say that the whole policy of this hearing was not just.’

“She went on to say that the verdict was not based on the hearing, but on a politician’s order. Thus, the sentence which made her lose is not acceptable.

“During yesterday’s verdict, court officials disclosed that if she wants to be free, she has to apologize to Prime Minister Hun Sen. In response, Ms. Mu Sochua stated in a press conference at the [Sam Rainsy Party] headquarters yesterday that she will not apologize or negotiate for power, and she called for an end to this policy of apologies requested by political leaders. She said there can be justice only if the government leaders are changed.

“The president of the Sam Rainsy, Mr. Sam Rainsy, said that he supports Ms. Mu Sochua’s decision. Mr. Sam Rainsy added that the Sam Rainsy Party is a democratic party; therefore, no members and no leaders are pressed.

“On the day when the verdict was announced, the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party released a statement calling ‘For Justice and Democracy.’

“The statement says that parliamentarians of the Sam Rainsy Party and of the Human Rights Party totally reject the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s verdict of 4 August 2009, making Ms. Mu Sochua a victim.

“The parliamentarian Ms. Mu Sochua should not have been made to face such an incompetent, dependent, and biased court, while Ms. Mu Sochua’s court case against the Prime Minister for defamation, with evidence, had been rejected by this court, and Ms. Mu Sochua was made the victim; her immunity had been withdrawn by the National Assembly, and she was not given the right to be defended.

“Ms. Mu Sochua was heard by this court without a defense lawyer, because her first lawyer had been sued by the government and then resigned from defending her case, and her second lawyer was rejected. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court did not use the facts from the videos of Ms. Mu Sochua’s press conference as the basis for the complaint against Prime Minister Hun Sen, as those videos do not show any evidence that she intended to defame the prime minister. As a parliamentarian elected by the citizens, the parliamentarian Mu Sochua has the full right to demand justice when threatened and defamation is used to restrict the right of a parliamentarian and also of a woman.

“The use of the judicial system by the government as a tool to muzzle opposition parliamentarians is a significant blow to our right and role, as stated in the Constitution and in international law, allowing us to play our role and do our activities without fear of political threats and intimidations.

“Critics must condemn the absence of judicial reform in Cambodia, and the use of the court system for intimidation by the Royal Government, and there must be immediate measures taken so that judges and lawyers can fulfill their roles independently and the policy of judges and lawyers must also be independent.

“Threats and intimidations, or the withdrawing of parliamentary immunity with no other reason besides political interests totally ruins democracy, which includes the public freedom of expression and the understanding that there can be opposing ideas.

“We, parliamentarians, notice and respect the presence of the German and American ambassadors, of high ranking officials from the British and Danish Embassy, and of many local and international human rights organizations during the court hearing of Ms. Mu Sochua’s case on 24 July 2009.

“Finally, the statement stressed that the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party parliamentarians call on the international community to keep on observing the situation and preventing the use of defamation and the court system against opposition politicians, and to encourage the Royal Government to achieve results from judicial reform, and to vow to implement all policies which exist in democracy.

“It should be noted that yesterday morning, also Human Rights Party parliamentarians went to listen to the verdict, and then released the statement immediately together with Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarians, as an alliance against this unjust verdict.”

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #461, 5.8.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Duch Ordered Western Prisoners Burned Alive

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 August 2009

Former Tuol Sleng security guard Chheam Soeur told the UN-backed court on Wednesday that Duch had ordered his subordinates to burn alive a Western prisoner in his infamous Khmer Rouge torture center.

Chheam Soeur said he watched three security guards bring the prisoner into the prison courtyard, place vehicle tires over him, and set them alight.

He said he didn’t know the identity of the prisoner. Duch, who is facing numerous atrocity crimes charges, told the court Wednesday he ordered a subordinate to kill two Western prisoners by tire-burning.

Chheam Soeur’s testimony came as Prime Minister heaped praise on the court’s Cambodian officials, saying Wednesday said he “admired” Cambodian judges, prosecutors and lawyers, who worked “better and smarter” than the international side.

The prime minister said he had been watching the hearing for jailed prison chief Duch and had noted that some international judges asked Duch questions but didn’t seem to understand the whole story.

Sometimes, he said, Duch made counter-accusations against the judges. Hun Sen was delivering a speech to students graduating the National Institute of Education’s Build Bright University.

Meanwhile, the Victims Unit of the tribunal reported Wednesday it had received more than 4,000 complaints from potential witnesses and civil parties to the proceedings against all five leaders in the court’s custody, tribunal officials said Wednesday.

Helen Jarvis, the new director of the unit, told reporters Wednesday that 94 of those complaints represented civil parties against Duch’s Case, and 103 of them would be used in Case No. 002 at the court, the case against the four senior-most leaders in custody: ideologue Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith.

Cambodian Group Joins US Asian Festival

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
05 August 2009

Fear for the loss of the Khmer language among the youth and an intent to safeguard Khmer culture prompted a group of Cambodian-Americans to join the sixth Asian Festival this weekend in a city near Washington.

The festival, held in Reston, Va., in the suburbs of the capital, sought to bring greater understanding of Asian cultures to the public through music, cultural performances, food, fashion, handicrafts and other products.

“Our Khmer children growing up in the US don’t speak Khmer much,” Sophia Tep, who is in charge of Cambodian Community Day, told VOA Khmer. “They don’t understand the Khmer language.”

Cambodian Community Day seeks to promote the Khmer traditions through culture and dance, and seeks especially to encourage Cambodians to speak their mother tongue, she said.

This was the second year the Cambodian community took part in the festival. Participants hope it will help boost tourism to Cambodia.

Forest Communities Worry Over Future

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Pursat
05 August 2009

Rubber, rattan and honey are all valuable resources for the Bangkorng Khmum community village. The villagers of the Beehive community, in Pursat province’s Krokar district, go to the forest each day to collect these things to earn a living.

But in a recent interview, Tan Sarim, the head of the community, said the villagers now fear losing these sources of income and worry they don’t have the legal right to manage the forest on which they rely.

Likewise, Kong Vuthy, head of Borei O’svay forest community in Stung Treng province, said since its inception, in 2002, his forest community has not been given legal title to manage itself.

“If our forest cannot be legally managed by the community, there will be exploitation and anarchic logging,” he said on the sidelines of a forest community network meeting in Pursat in July. “If we manage it, we will use it in a sustainable way and protect it for our next generation.”

Forest communities were first set up in Cambodia in the 1990s to preserve forests after they were heavily, illegally logged at an alarming level the decade before.

Now 377 forest communities exist across the country, covering nearly 350,000 hectares of land, according to June statistics at the Ministry of Agriculture’s forestry administration.

Based on the 2002 Forestry Law, a forest community can use and manage its forest to benefit the community for 15 years, following an agreement with the forestry administration.

However, there are currently only 59 forest communities among the 377 have been legally allowed to manage themselves, said Lao Setha Phal, acting director of forestry administration office.

“The slow process of legalization is due to problems of an overlap between forest community areas and economic land concessions,” he explained, adding that the forestry administration will have signed an agreement with all 124 forest communities with official agreements with the Ministry of Agriculture by the end of this year, or early next year at the latest.

“For the rest of forest communities, we will work that out as fast as we can,” he said.

Nevertheless, the process of forest community legalization is slow and a bit complicated, said Francis Perez, Cambodia director for Oxfam Britain, adding that hundreds of forest community applications are still pending in offices of both provincial governments and the forestry administration.

Chea Vichea Defendants Called to Court

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
05 August 2009

The two accused murderers of labor leader Chea Vichea will be summoned back to the Appeals Court later this month, sources close to the court said Tuesday.

Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, both widely considered innocent of the crime, were released provisionally from jail earlier this year by the Supreme Court, which ordered the Appeals Court to reinvestigate the guilty verdicts against them.

“When I first received the summons, I felt excited, but later I felt stressful,” Sok Samoeun told VOA Khmer. “Justice will come to me soon; I strongly believe that.”

The two men each face 20-year prison terms. They were summoned to appear Aug. 17.

Their release last year was lauded by international and local observers, who have said they were convicted as scapegoats in the absence of compelling evidence and testimony.

They had already been in prison nearly five years when the Supreme Court ordered them released in December 2008.

“I want the case to end soon because I am innocent,” Born Samnang told VOA Khmer. “I have done nothing. I am waiting for the court to pass its judgment.”

Chea Vichea, who was gunned down in Phnom Penh in January 2004, was a popular labor leader able to mobilize great masses of workers. Supporters of Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun say his true killers remain at large.

Chea Vichea’s brother, Chea Mony, who now leads the Free Trade Union his brother once did, said he knew “absolutely nothing” of the court date, and said he had been kept in the dark over the proceedings.

Chea Mony said he would like to see former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov called to the Appeals Court. Heng Pov, who has said he was present during criminal acts planned by high-ranking officials, is facing a battery of charges from extortion and kidnapping to murder.

Heng Pov led the investigation in the Chea Vichea killing, and he too has said the two men were innocent.

Thailand, Cambodia To Speed Up Single Visa Scheme

http://www.bernama.com

BANGKOK, Aug 5 (Bernama)-- Thailand and Cambodia on Wednesday agreed to speed up a single visa plan under the Ayeyawaddy-Mekong-Chao Phraya Economic Cooperation (ACMECS) grouping to boost tourism between the two neighbours, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya leading the Thai delegation and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong met in the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia (JC) held here on Wednesday.

The ministers told a joint news conference that their countries agreed to hasten the ACMECS Single Visa plan so that foreign visitors with a visa to either country can travel in both without having to apply for another entry visa.

The single visa is aimed at boosting tourism in both countries.

The ACMECS had since 2003 grouped Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to use their varied strengths to promote balanced development in the sub-region.

Hor Namhong said that the meeting also considered opening a new permanent border crossing between Thailand's Sa Keao and Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey provinces.

The Cambodian minister said the new crossing will ease transport of agricultural produce between the countries.

For the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year, he said the countries will sign an agreement on visa exemptions for holders of ordinary passports.

The Cambodian foreign minister said the agreement will facilitate travel within the two kingdoms by their citizens, and help promote a better understanding and relationship.

The ministers also inked a pact on transferring sentenced persons and co-operation in enforcing prison sentences, an agreement which is aimed at boosting cooperation and improved law enforcement and judicial administration in both countries, as well as to benefit prisoners on humanitarian grounds.

Regarding the border clash between Thailand and Cambodia after last year's listing of the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site by the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), both countries agreed to solve the conflict at the Joint Border Commission (JBC).

The Joint Technical Committee will also speed up the negotiations over the overlapping maritime area, as earlier agreed by their leaders.

The Thai minister said the joint commission meeting also agreed to resolve the landmine problem along the shared border as soon as possible.

"After the development of Highway Route 68 connecting Kralanh with the town of O'Smach near the Thai border, trades and investment between Thailand and Cambodia will be carried out with convenience and more safety," Kasit said.

The Thai Cabinet earlier approved a Bt1.4 billion (US$41.2 million) soft loan to Cambodia for upgrading its Highway Route 68 under a 30-year contract.

-- BERNAMA

Thailand and Cambodia resume ministerial talks

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong

BANGKOK — Foreign ministers from Cambodia and Thailand resumed joint policy talks for the first time in three years Wednesday after months of fractious relations over a border temple dispute.

Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya met at a Bangkok hotel to discuss the spat and deeper economic ties.

Violent clashes near the ancient 11th century Preah Vihear have left seven soldiers dead since July 2008 when the temple was granted UN World Heritage status.

High level delegations have met at various times over the past year in an attempt to heal rifts, but Wednesday's meeting is the first time since 2006 that ministers have convened their joint policy commission.

The body had previously met once a year to oversee relations between the two countries.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the Khmer ruins for decades. Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, its most accessible entrance is in northeastern Thailand.

Tensions have also arisen over disputed waters where both countries have granted oil and gas exploration rights to private companies.

After Wednesday's meeting both foreign ministers said the talks signified progress in relations.

"We agree to speed up the border talks so that the existing problems will be solved," Hor Namhong told a press conference.

"We also agreed to cooperate over human trafficking, as Cambodia faces this problem," he said.

The pair said they would resume a Joint Technical Committee on the maritime dispute and vowed the disagreement would not be an obstacle.

"Our problems will not trouble our relations. Whatever our troubles are, we will solve them," Kasit said following the two-hour meeting.

Senior officials met a day earlier in Bangkok, where they kicked off the talks covering cooperation on the economy, trade, education and the border issue.

The ministers also agreed to advance plans for visa exemption scheme when they celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year.

They also signed an agreement that will allow some prisoners, after serving minimum periods of imprisonment, to be transferred in order to serve their remaining sentences in their own countries.

Police brutality against Mu Sochua supporters - RFA

kiletters

RFA posted this video clip showing Hun Xen regime's police brutality against Mrs. Mu Sochua supporters following her guilty verdict handed down by the CPP-controller Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Bilateral meeting in Bangkok August 5, 2009. Both sides said they would solve differences on border areas with diplomacy and in a friendly manner

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong (L) speaks next to Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya during a news conference after a bilateral meeting in Bangkok August 5, 2009. Both sides said they would solve differences on border areas with diplomacy and in a friendly manner.

REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (R) shakes hands with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong at the end of a news conference after a bilateral meeting in Bangkok August 5, 2009. Both sides said they would solve differences on border areas with diplomacy and in a friendly manner.

REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (R) and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong speak during a news conference after a bilateral meeting in Bangkok August 5, 2009. Both sides said they would solve differences on border areas with diplomacy in a friendly manner.

REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

FontMailPrintDiscuss Vocational center provides hope for widows, poor women

http://www.indiancatholic.in

August 05 2009

KOMPONG CHAM, Cambodia : Widows and poor rural women in Kompong Cham area are now learning livelihood skills, thanks to the recent opening of a Church-run center.

The Society of St. Martha center, jointly operated by Kompong Cham parish, Caritas Cambodia and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, has been training them to make Khmer and Western sweets and desserts since it opened in June.

Ten women aged 35-50 years study at the center for two hours every afternoon from Monday to Friday, according to Rose Yip, the center's coordinator. The course takes up to four months to complete, she said.

The program is open only to poor or widowed women, Yip explained, adding that come on bicycles from as far as eight kilometers away. She said the center has engaged two volunteers from Singapore, in addition to several local Cambodians, as instructors.

As most of the course participants are illiterate, they also attend a Khmer literacy class at the nearby Caritas office after their cooking class. This is because trainees need to write down the recipes they learn, Yip explained.

Dy Von, 48, a trainee, said she has learned to make five different Khmer sweets while at the same time learning to read and write Khmer. She needs to help support her family of four children and her farmer husband during the non-growing season, she said.

Men Ros, another trainee, said she not only acquires skills at the center but also makes friends and learns to work with others. She plans to run a small business from her home after the course.

Yip said the center helps participants plan for their future and also loans them money to start their own businesses.

According to her, the center has received around US$4,000 from French and Singaporean donors, half of which was spent on the building and equipment. The center spends up to US$2 each day on cooking ingredients, she said.

Kompong Cham is the base of one of three Church jurisdictions in the country. The others are based in Phnom Penh and Battambang.

Courtesy : UCAN

PM Warns Critics About Calling Cambodia "Dictatorial Regime"

NASDAQ
http://www.nasdaq.com

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP)--Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned critics they risk legal action if they call the country a "dictatorial regime."

"Be careful with the language of 'dictatorial regime.' Be careful, (or) one day legal action will be used," Hun Sen said during a graduation ceremony in the capital, Phnom Penh.

The premier's warning appeared to be aimed at those who allege senior Cambodian officials have recently used defamation lawsuits against critics to impede freedom of expression.

"This is a constitutional monarchy," Hun Sen said. "Don't curse it as a dictatorial regime - be careful!"

"(And) when legal action is used, you guys would say freedom of expression is prohibited, but your expression is wrong," he said.

Hun Sen's remarks came a day after a court found outspoken opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua guilty of defaming him and ordered her to pay more than $4,000 in fines and compensation.

Local human rights group Licadho said the verdict was "predictably unjust, and shows yet again how the courts are controlled by the government and used as a weapon against its political opponents."

There have been three defamation or disinformation convictions against Cambodian government critics in just over a month, the United Nations human rights office said Wednesday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch recently alleged Hun Sen's government aimed to silence political opposition and critics with a "campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action."

Nicholas Kristof and the New Abolitionism

Dustin Franz/Aspen Daily News
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof speaks to a full house at Paepcke Auditorium on Tuesday.

http://www.aspendailynews.com/

by Andrew Travers, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof went to Southeast Asia and bought two child prostitutes recently.

He collected receipts from the brothel as the new owner of these two teenage Cambodian girls. Then he took them back to their families.

The transaction, reminiscent of American abolitionists who did the same and bought slaves to free them here 150 years ago, sparked controversy recently when Kristof wrote a column about it.

He stood by the move in a speech to a supportive overflow crowd at the Aspen Institute’s Paepcke Auditorium on Tuesday night, saying he had interviewed and written about two other teen Cambodian prostitutes years earlier. That time he left without trying to help them.

“I walked out knowing that I had a great front page story and those two girls were going to end up staying there and probably dying of AIDS,” he said of the earlier trip, as an objective reporter and not the columnist crusader he has become. “It felt unequal and it felt, frankly, kind of exploitative ... . It’s just unimaginable that 150 years after emancipation we still have slavery on this kind of scale in so many parts of the world.”

At the peak of the transatlantic slave trade in the 1700s, he noted, about 80,000 Africans were taken into slavery each year. Right now, Kristof said, about 1 million girls are annually sold into the modern version.

In last night’s speech, Kristof gave a call to action, not only for the freedom of girls sold into the sex trade, but for the education and economic empowerment of all women in underdeveloped nations.

“Just as the central moral challenge for the 19th century was slavery and in the 20th century was totalitarianism,” he said, “the central moral challenge for this century will be to address gender inequity in the developing world.”

Indeed, these days, Kristof often sounds more like William Lloyd Garrison than Maureen Dowd.

His forthcoming book, co-written with his wife and fellow Pulitzer-winner Sheryl Wudunn, tackles the plight of women in the developing nations that make up his Times beat. Among the issues plaguing these women: maternal mortality and lack of education, along with a brutal male-dominated culture of cruelty toward their bodies and lives. Titled “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” it comes out next month.

Kristof outlined some of his more provocative ideas on women in the developing world in his speech. For example, he said that in households that earn less than $1 per day worldwide where men control spending, 2 percent of their income goes to education of their children while 20 percent goes to things like tobacco, alcohol and prostitution. So, getting women more involved in the spending economy there could actually lead to better-educated families and more money toward necessary things like food or medicine, Kristof said.

For the fortunate folks in well-off places like Aspen, he suggested, giving aid to the developing world should become a more active process.

For instance, he said, donating money toward a scholarship for a schoolgirl in Third World Africa or Asia can unexpectedly be a detriment to the girl who gets it. Why? Because, oftentimes, the headmasters choose the prettiest girl in the school and expect sex in exchange for the scholarship money.

“And he may have HIV or AIDS,” Kristof added.

“My advice to you,” the missionary journalist concluded, “would be to pick a particular project that really means a lot to you. Research it and drill deep. Stay with it for a number of years. Take your family — it’s a huge educational process for one’s own family, as well.”

andrew@aspendailynews.com

Khmer Rouge court told how Westerner burned alive

A photographer takes pictures of Cheam Soeu, 52, the former guard of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison, known Tuol Sleng genocide museum, on a screen at the court press center of the U.N.-backed tribunal while Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch is on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian farmer reads a Khmer Rouge document book outside the court hall for the trail of Kaing Guek Eav, also know as Duch, the former chief of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 prison, known as the Tuol Sleng genocide museum at the U.N.-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian farmers wait outside the court hall for the trail of Kaing Guek Eav, also know as Duch, the former chief of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 prison, known as the Tuol Sleng genocide museum at the U.N.-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

By SOPHENG CHEANG (AP)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A former security guard at the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison told a tribunal Wednesday he watched as a Western prisoner was burned alive.

But the head of the prison — the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial in the U.N.-assisted tribunal — denied it.

"It's hard for me to believe that the prisoner was burned alive. I believe that nobody would dare to violate my order," Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, told the court. "They had to be killed and then burned to ash."

Up to 16,000 people were tortured under Duch's command at S-21 prison and later were taken away to be killed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule of Cambodia. Only a handful survived.

Cheam Soeu, now 52, told the court he was a youth when he joined the Khmer Rouge and helped the communist regime take power. He spent two years as a guard at S-21, where four Westerners were among the prisoners.

The Westerners included an American, an Australian, a New Zealander and a Briton, who were captured on their yacht while sailing in Cambodian waters.

Cheam Soeu told the court he was on guard outside the prison late one evening and watched as one of the Westerners — he does not know which — was led by three security guards to the street.

"The prisoner was still alive. They asked him to sit down, and they put a car tire over his body," Cheam Soeu testified. He said guards then set the body on fire. "I saw the charred torso of the body and black burned legs."

Cheam Soeu said he constantly feared that if he did something wrong he would face the same fate.

Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, summary executions, disease and starvation during the Khmer Rouge's rule, during which the Maoist ideologues emptied cities and forced virtually the entire population to work on farm collectives.

Duch (pronounced DOIK) testified previously that he carried out orders from the regime's late leader Pol Pot to kill the four Westerners and then burn their corpses. Prison records suggest there may have been as many as 11 Western prisoners.

Duch, 66, is the only senior Khmer Rouge figure to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. He is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials.

Senior leaders Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Sary's wife, Ieng Thirith, are detained and are scheduled to face trial in the next year or two.

UN appeals to Cambodia to respect free speech obligations

Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org

Wed, 05 Aug 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - The UN's human rights office in Cambodia Wednesday appealed to the judiciary to respect the country's national and international obligations on freedom of speech, saying that a recent spate of lawsuits risks stifling public debate. Cambodia's courts have found against three defendants in recent weeks, and fined or jailed them for disinformation or defamation.

Human rights groups have complained that the cases, which were brought by the government against perceived critics, are politically motivated.

"Under international law, freedom of expression is to be restricted only in exceptional cases, where clearly necessary and proportionate to the value that the restriction seeks to protect," the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

Opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua was found guilty Tuesday of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen and fined 16.5 million riel (4,124 dollars).

In June, the editor of an opposition-aligned newspaper was fined and jailed for a year for articles alleging corruption within the government.

And last month, the director of a local cultural organization was fined and sentenced to two years in prison, in absentia, for suggesting that new lighting at Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple could damage the stonework.

The government has consistently denied the charges are politically motivated, saying it is acting only to maintain social order.

Youngsters help out in Cambodia

Bags are packed - the Bideford Methodist Circuit group pictured before leaving for Cambodia.

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/

05 August 2009

WHEN young members of the Bideford Methodist Church Circuit found out that thousands of children in Cambodia were not going to school because their parents could not afford to buy the uniforms, they vowed to do something about it.

They spent almost two years fund-raising and on Sunday eight of them, aged 16-19, left for a two-week adventure during which they will visit children living in poverty and highlight their plight.

With them went youth worker Chris Turner, his wife, Debbs and children Stan, two and four-month-old Solomon,

The young people all raised £1,250 each to travel with UK charity edukid, which works with children suffering from the legacy of war.

They will visit an orphanage, a city slum and stay overnight in a remote village.

During their fortnight's stay, they will be making a film of their experiences, which they will show to 15,000 people at the Greenbelt Festival at the end of August. Plans are in place to put the film into 10,000 schools across the UK.

* You can follow the group's adventures by logging on to this website as they will be sending back regular reports.

Thailand, Cambodia sign pact on transfer of sentenced persons

People's Daily Online
http://english.people.com.cn

August 05, 2009

Thailand and Cambodia signed a bilateral agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons and co-operation in the enforcement of penal sentences during the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation on Wednesday.

The agreement was signed by Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromyaand Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, according to a news report by Thai News Agency.

From Wednesday to Thursday, Thailand has been hosting the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in capital Bangkok.

The two-day meeting will focus on bilateral cooperation, namely education, politics, security, economics, society, science and technology and also incorporate the issues of cooperation in other multilateral frameworks including the ASEAN, the two ministers told a joint press conference.

The Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia has provided a mechanism responsible for supervising and overlooking the overall bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries.

The commission comprises representatives from all governmental agencies of Thailand and Cambodia, who have been tasked with duties in the area of development and promotion of bilateral cooperation.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodia, Thailand need to solve border issues with peaceful deal: PM

www.chinaview.cn

2009-08-05

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday that Cambodia will not use armed forces to deal border issues with Thailand.

"Our policy does not need to use troops to deal the border matters and we need to deal border issues with peaceful deal," he said at a gradation ceremony of a University in Phnom Penh.

Before his departure for Thailand to join the 6th joint committee meeting for bilateral cooperation, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong told reporters on Tuesday, "I will request to Thai side to speed up the measurement of border between the two countries to reach to plant the border markers soon."

Cambodia and Thailand share over 800 km long border. The border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand began after Preah Vihear temple was listed as World Heritage in July last year.

Since then, troops from both sides have deployed and reinforced in the so-called disputed area within the perimeter of some 4.6 square km, but each side is claiming that they are only based on their land.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Cambodia expects garment exports to drop 30 per cent in 2009

Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org

Wed, 05 Aug 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government expects garment exports will decline by at least 30 per cent this year due mainly to lower demand in the key US market, local media reported Wednesday. "It is clear that this year's garment exports will drop at least 30 per cent because consumers in the United States have cut purchases," Mean Sophea, the head of the Ministry of Commerce's trade preferences department, told The Phnom Penh Post.

Earlier this year the government said it expected garment exports to drop just 5 per cent in 2009.

However, trade union president Chea Mony predicted that exports would fall even further.

"We are concerned that the situation of Cambodia's garment exports will deteriorate even further than that predicted by the [ministry] unless the government can get rid of rampant corruption in the garment sector," said Chea Mony.

Garments are Cambodia's key foreign exchange earner, generating 3.1 billion US dollars last year. Most garments are exported to the US market and the European Union.

Cambodian malaria deaths up 58 per cent

Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org

Wed, 05 Aug 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian officials said the country's malaria death toll rose by 58 per cent in the first six months of this year because of the early onset of the rainy season and delays in distributing mosquito nets, local media reported Wednesday. Doung Socheat, director of the National Center for Parasitology Entomology and Malaria Control, said 103 people had died from malaria from January to June compared with 65 deaths in the same period last year, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

He said 27,105 people had contracted the illness in the first six months of this year, compared with 25,033 in the same period last year.

"This year, we had an early rainy season, and we were a bit late in distributing mosquito nets to people," Doung Socheat said.

The figures came a week after a study revealed an increased resistance to treatment in some malaria strains in Cambodia.

The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, said the parasites showed resistance to artemisinin, the drug most commonly used to treat malaria.

Khmer Rouge Trials Could Affect Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among Cambodian Survivors

http://www.redorbit.com

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

The so-called "Khmer Rouge trials" now underway are likely to have an impact on the mental health of many Cambodians, according to a new study published in the August 5 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights.

"Millions of Cambodians suffered profound trauma during the Khmer Rouge era (1975 to 1979)," according to background information provided by the authors. "It is estimated that between one million and two million people (approximately 20 percent of the Cambodian population) died during that epoch, and millions of survivors were forced into slave labor under harsh conditions." The authors note that many previous studies suggest that the psychological effects among the population include a high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental and physical disabilities. A joint United Nations-Cambodian tribunal (the "Khmer Rouge trials") began hearings earlier this year to try the senior leadership of the Khmer Rouge.

Jeffrey Sonis, M.D., M.P.H., from the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues analyzed data from face-to-face interviews of a national probability sample of 1,017 adult Cambodians to determine the prevalence of PTSD symptoms and disability and associations with perceived justice, desire for revenge and knowledge of and attitudes toward the trials . The population sample included 813 adults older than 35 years who had lived through the Khmer Rouge era and 204 adults ages 18 to 35 years who had not been exposed to the regime. A substantial percentage of the older adults reported being exposed to trauma during the Khmer Rouge era with about half (50.1 percent or 391) telling the interviewers that they had been close to death during that time and 243 respondents (31.4 percent) reported physical or mental torture. The interviews were conducted before the Khmer Rouge trials began.

"The prevalence of current probable PTSD was 11.2 percent overall and 7.9 percent among the younger group and 14.2 percent in the older group," the researchers report. That figure (11.2 percent) is almost five times higher than a current estimated PTSD prevalence figure of 2.3 percent in the United States, according to the researchers.

"Probable PTSD was significantly associated with mental disability (40.2 percent vs. 7.9 percent) and physical disability (39.6 percent vs. 20.1 percent)." More of the respondents in the older group were aware of the Khmer Rouge trials than those in the younger group. "Although Cambodians were hopeful that the trials would promote justice, 87.2 percent (681) of those older than 35 years believed that the trials would create painful memories for them." The researchers also found that respondents with high levels of perceived justice for violations during the Khmer Rouge era were less likely to have probable PTSD.

"The crucial question is whether the Khmer Rouge trials will reduce symptoms of PTSD by increasing feelings of justice or increase PTSD symptoms by reviving traumatic memories of survivors without providing an opportunity to process and reframe these memories." In conclusion the researchers write, "… longitudinal research is needed to determine the impact of the trials on Cambodians' mental health."

What is the prosecution doing in Duch’s trial?

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 25/01/2007: Nhem En, one of the six photographers at S-21, standing next to Joseph Mussomeli, then U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, during a press conference. The minutes of his statement to the co-Investigating Judges were read in court, without him being summoned. The document was fiercely criticised by the defence as originating from “a man [who] deluded for years some journalists or even some researchers”
©John Vink/Magnum

Ka-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info/

By Stéphanie Gée
05-08-2009

Yet another day that will not stay in the annals of Duch’s trial. After a long morning procedural debate prompted by the co-Prosecutors who disconcerted everyone with their documents, the latter failed to prove that Lak Minh did belong to S-21 staff. Something a civil party lawyer and the accused himself succeeded in doing! Yet, the co-Prosecutors had documents that could have easily brushed aside the doubts expressed by Duch on the previous day. As a final note, the afternoon of Tuesday August 4th was devoted to the tedious reading of minutes of witness interrogations, again submitted to the Chamber by the prosecution. It was hard to grasp the interest of these testimonies in light of their superfluous nature and, for one of them, its sometimes far-fetched character. Why did the Trial Chamber accept them?

The co-Prosecutors’ document mishap
The hearing opened with a confusion. The co-Prosecutors wanted to refer in court to a new document proving that witness Lak Minh worked as an interrogator at S-21. “We do not know which document you want to put before the Chamber,” president Nil Nonn, lost, told them. The Cambodian co-Prosecutor finally produced a reference number, which prompted an immediate reaction from judge Lavergne. He thought it was references to case file 2, in which case, he concluded, “it appears premature to present this document on the screens as of now.”

As his speaking time neared the end, the co-Prosecutor moved to the next question, which was related to an interview he gave in 2002 to the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam) and which text he wanted to show the witness. He was very quickly interrupted, this time by Duch’s international co-lawyer. “Once again, the Chamber will note that we have absolutely no information on the professional skills of the person who made this very long interview. We know nothing of the conditions in which this document was established. The only thing we know is that it is absolutely not a legal document, while we do have two legal documents concerning the interrogation of this witness. This witness was heard a first time by the office of the co-Prosecutors […] and he was again heard by the investigators of the co-Investigating Judges. I recall that we are in a court, in a judicial process, and it seems to me more than appropriate to use legal documents rather than an NGO’s documents…” The international co-Prosecutor had already stood up to answer: “Thank you, dear colleague. Yes, we wish to proceed.” The latter was immediately rebuffed by the president: “You cannot take the floor before first asking the Chamber to speak.”

Co-Prosecutor Anees Ahmed argued that the DC-Cam document was “added to the case file” and therefore “once submitted to the Chamber’s attention, it is assumed to have been put before the Chamber. It belongs to Your Honours to determine the probative value of this document when you deliberate.” Judge Cartwright asked him for a list of documents he wanted to put before the Chamber “with all the pertaining reference numbers because, at this point, the situation is somewhat confused.” A few exchanges later, the Chamber accepted that this document be added to the file to serve as a basis for questions asked to the witness, since it concerned him directly. The Cambodian co-Prosecutor resumed the interrogation, referring to the transcript of the interview given to DC-Cam. “Mr. Lak Minh, do you remember the detainees you interrogated when you worked at S-21? […] Do you still remember this document [the interview]?” “No, I do not remember this document and the signature on it is not mine.” The witness did give DC-Cam the name of a prisoner he interrogated, according to the document, but he said he did not remember it. “I have forgotten a little.” However, he accepted to “maintain what he said back then.” In light of the lack of clarifications allowing an assessment of the authenticity of the document, the president asked him to move to the next questions, which the co-Prosecutor had already started doing. Finally, he changed his mind and gave the floor to his international colleague.

The witness’ memory fails...
“You told the co-Investigating Judges that Son Sen would come to S-21 once every month or two months. Is that correct?” “I do not remember things very clearly on this point. I don’t know anymore if he came on a very regular basis. It happened that twelve months had passed before I saw him again…”, the witness answered. In answer to another question, he said that Duch led “maybe every two weeks” political training sessions, which all the interrogators as well as Prey Sar cadres had to attend. “Do you know who interrogated female prisoners?”, the international co-Prosecutor asked him. The answer flew immediately, somewhat missing the spot: “I did not interrogate any!”

“You told the co-Investigating Judges that once you became good at interrogations, you started to receive, and I quote you, ‘good prisoners’,” Anees Ahmed reminded him. “As for expertise in interrogations, I was not an expert because I was new,” the witness defended himself. “Before the co-Investigating Judges, you also said that when they did not succeed in getting confessions from certain prisoners after two or three months, interrogators of a higher level would send them directly to you and you managed to obtain results very quickly. Is that correct?” “I am not sure of that. I only interrogated the prisoners who were sent to me.”

Recorded interrogation sessions
Floor to the civil parties. Ty Srinna, for group 1, reminded him his declarations to the co-Investigating Judges about the making of audio recordings of prisoners’ confessions, a month before Phnom Penh’s fall. Lak Minh maintained his statement and explained that the recording of interrogation sessions also aimed to supervise the interrogators themselves “because they were watched even more than detainees.” Their superiors would thus ensure that they “avoid asking the prisoners tendentious questions,” he added. Yes, when he arrived at S-21, he had to write his own biography. “And once a year, we had to update it.” From the time he joined the interrogation team, the witness claimed he saw Duch “every day.” “Back then, I did not dare to talk to him and I tried to avoid him. You could guess from his face that he was a very severe person.” “Back then, did you believe that [the detainees] really were party enemies?” “I do not think I believe it, but it was the order.”

A witness confirmed in his functions as S-21 interrogator
Silke Studzinsky, for group 2, presented on the screen a list of prisoners’ interrogations on which Lak Minh’s name featured next to a detainee who was interrogated. “I cannot remember whether I interrogated this person… I cannot recall the exact name of the prisoners I interrogated,” the witness eluded. The document provided evidence that he did belong to S-21 staff. The lawyer asked him to read the words written at the top of the document: “hot group.” On the previous day, Lak Minh had said he was not aware of such distinctions between interrogation groups...

A “boring” job at S-21
Now the defence. Lak Minh confirmed to Kar Savuth that his job as guard and interrogator at S-21 was “boring.” “We did not have the freedom to circulate and we had to be very careful because any mistake could be punished. We worked hard, lived in a state of fear and thought that one day, we would end up being killed like the other detainees. However, such was the mission we had been assigned by the higher echelon and therefore, we had to comply and follow the orders.” “There was no choice,” he explained, while he dared to turn his gaze to the defence beach naturally and regularly, unlike his former colleagues who testified previously and often refrained from doing so.

A witness obsessed by the difficult… working conditions at S-21
His international colleague, François Roux, continued: “Did you know that one did not leave S-21 alive?” “I cannot give you any answer regarding the prisoners’ fate because the party imposed secrecy. […] I did not know where they were taken…”, the witness lied awkwardly. Who could he have asked for information, Lak Minh wondered disingenuously, claiming he never discussed this topic with his colleagues. “We did not trust one another and each minded their own business.” Finally, pressured by the lawyer, he conceded he suspected that the detainnes “ended up being killed because the party policy was that any person deemed to be the ‘enemy’ had to be smashed.” The witness lingered on the difficulty of the work carried out by S-21 staff and the Damocles sword that hung over their heads. “Today, do you regret working at S-21?” The witness said so, as if he could not say otherwise. He was not convincing. “The work as guard was horrible and exhausting. We had to patrol for long hours and sometimes, I would bang against the walls. I did not enjoy the work I did at S-21. I regret working there. I regret losing friends and family.”

Duch contributes to shed light on the witness
The accused, already up, put his glasses on. “Yesterday, I told judge Lavergne that I would do some research once I was back in my cell and that I would try to find the list of prisoners who were interrogated. I can now present you the findings of my research.” In the documents he was given by the co-Investigating Judges, he found Lak Minh’s name “in three places” and gave the relevant reference numbers. The witness, he read, thus interrogated a female detainee, deputy director of Office 17, a farmer who came from a cooperative and the head of the propaganda office. Impassive, the accused concluded: “So, there was indeed an interrogator at S-21 whose name was Lak Minh.” He took his glasses off and added solemnly: “What is the truth then? I would like to refer to the Chamber to determine an opinion. I have complete faith in the Chamber’s determination to establish the truth regarding the present testimony.” Lak Minh’s hearing was over.

Laborious and pointless readings of minutes
No more witnesses were called to the stand. Instead, the clerks read the minutes of testimonies given by former S-21 staff members collected by the office of the co-Investigating Judges, because “the Chamber decided not to summon these witnesses to testify,” president Nil Nonn explained. The first was about a man named Khieu Chess, born in 1963 and assigned in 1976 to guard duty, before being sent to work to the rice field. He quickly evoked the purges. The second testimony was from Pes Mat, another teenager, born in 1960, who worked as guard at S-21 from 1976. The only one who seemed to follow these readings was Duch, who made observations regarding specific points in the stories heard.

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 04/08/2009: In the public gallery, many villagers attended the hearing at the ECCC on this day. Inconvenienced by the freezing air-conditioning, many were those who warmed up outside during the break… when they did not leave the gallery during the hearing
©Stéphanie Gée

The third minutes read were those of the very media-savvy Nhem En, born in 1959 and former photographer of the Angkar. He referred to an internship carried out, under Khmer Rouge supervision, in China with other children. There, he specified, he “was the best at folding blankets,” a test to determine if young children were “rigorous.” He was trained in photography and was led to photograph the regime top leaders during meetings, delegations visiting Democratic Kampuchea or ongoing projects. He used to accompany “Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Son Sen, sometimes Khieu Samphan.” He worked at S-21 in early 1977, he said. “Duch was very strict and I was not allowed to make any mistakes […]. It was a question of life and death.” He said he was among six photographers who took photographs of most prisoners when they arrived at S-21. According to him, “Son Sen came to S-21 once a week.” At S-21, he photographed Vietnamese “who arrived in their uniforms.” He rejected the hypothesis of a staging behind the prisoners wearing military uniforms because, he argued, “Khmer Rouge did not like to pretend.” He was in direct contact with Duch when the latter called him “to come and take pictures of his family.” And as a coincidence, while he was passing by on his bicycle, he saw the accused “beat up a prisoner in front of Tuol Sleng.”

The escalation in witnesses did not bring anything to the debates and lost the trial’s momentum.

The defence contests the testimony of photographer Nhem En
Co-prosecutors and civil party lawyers had no observation to make regarding this testimony, but the defence did. “Please allow me […] to say that our judicial process deserves better than this kind of testimony. I still don’t understand how the co-Prosecutors could have put this witness on their list and I thank the Chamber for sparing us from having to listen for hours to this man, whom we now know has tried to auction, he said, Pol Pot’s sandals for 500,000 dollars. This man has deluded for years some journalists, even some researchers. I do not think he deserves any further comment.” In the name of the defence, François Roux clarified for the judges he did not object to the statement and accepted its inclusion in the case file, but that he contested it strongly on the substance.

Following him, Duch hammered his point: “About what [Nhem En] said concerning his activity as a photographer at S-21, there are a few gaps but on the whole, his testimony is accurate. However, what he said on his trip to China, that is completely fabricated. The truth is that in 1976, Pol Pot sent his nephew to study photography in China […] and Nhem En was not part of the trip. He was the son of a S-21 staff member and he was not authorised to take pictures outside of S-21. […] Nhem En is too proud when he says he studied in China and he was a good photographer and able to make movies. As for his claim he came to take pictures of my family, that is not true. I had my own camera, which I used to take photographs of my own family without Nhem En’s help.”