Victims who are waiting for justice in Choeung Ek prison of Cambodia
Khmer Rouge leaders Khieve Sam phan and Nuon Chea
CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia: Some 300 Cambodians held a memorial service Tuesday for victims of the Khmer Rouge communist regime that ruled the country in the 1970s and demanded an end to the delay in the start of U.N.-backed genocide trials.
The commemoration — organized by the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party at the Choeung Ek "killing field" just outside the capital Phnom Penh — was led by 32 Buddhist monks, who marked the 32nd anniversary of the Khmer Rouge taking power in Cambodia.
The communist movement came to power on April 17, 1975 after defeating a U.S.-backed Cambodian government in a bloody civil war.
It implemented radical policies that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
The Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979 and finally collapsed eight years ago. But none of its leaders has ever been brought to trial.
"How long do we have to wait? Where is justice? Year after year has passed, so please put them on trial since my eyes are still open and able to see," 62-year-old Chan Kim Suong said, adding that her husband and son were executed by the Khmer Rouge.
She and two other women, who addressed the crowd through a microphone about their losses, urged a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal to convene trials for former Khmer Rouge leaders.
The tribunal was created last year following a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the United Nations. But trials, which had been expected to begin sometime this year, have been delayed by disputes over procedural rules and, most recently, a demand by local lawyers for legal fees from foreign lawyers wishing to take part in the tribunal.
Attending Tuesday's event, Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, blamed the Cambodian government for creating "one excuse after another" to delay the trials.
Looking at hundreds of skulls of Khmer Rouge victims stored in a concrete memorial at the Choeung Ek mass grave site, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Phnom Penh, Sam Rainsy said: "When we look at those skulls, it seems they are staring back at us with a cry for help in finding justice for them."
"But I do not think the current leaders want to see the tribunal move ahead. They want to let remaining Khmer Rouge leaders die one by one until no one is left, so that the tribunal would finally collapse," he added.
Various human rights groups have also accused the Cambodian government of foot-dragging, which the government has repeatedly dismissed.
The tribunal's foreign judges have said they will not meet with their Cambodian counterparts on April 30 as scheduled, if the Cambodian Bar Association does not reconsider the US$4,900 (€3,610) legal fee it plans to impose on each foreign lawyer wanting to practice at the tribunal.
The commemoration — organized by the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party at the Choeung Ek "killing field" just outside the capital Phnom Penh — was led by 32 Buddhist monks, who marked the 32nd anniversary of the Khmer Rouge taking power in Cambodia.
The communist movement came to power on April 17, 1975 after defeating a U.S.-backed Cambodian government in a bloody civil war.
It implemented radical policies that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
The Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979 and finally collapsed eight years ago. But none of its leaders has ever been brought to trial.
"How long do we have to wait? Where is justice? Year after year has passed, so please put them on trial since my eyes are still open and able to see," 62-year-old Chan Kim Suong said, adding that her husband and son were executed by the Khmer Rouge.
She and two other women, who addressed the crowd through a microphone about their losses, urged a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal to convene trials for former Khmer Rouge leaders.
The tribunal was created last year following a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the United Nations. But trials, which had been expected to begin sometime this year, have been delayed by disputes over procedural rules and, most recently, a demand by local lawyers for legal fees from foreign lawyers wishing to take part in the tribunal.
Attending Tuesday's event, Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, blamed the Cambodian government for creating "one excuse after another" to delay the trials.
Looking at hundreds of skulls of Khmer Rouge victims stored in a concrete memorial at the Choeung Ek mass grave site, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Phnom Penh, Sam Rainsy said: "When we look at those skulls, it seems they are staring back at us with a cry for help in finding justice for them."
"But I do not think the current leaders want to see the tribunal move ahead. They want to let remaining Khmer Rouge leaders die one by one until no one is left, so that the tribunal would finally collapse," he added.
Various human rights groups have also accused the Cambodian government of foot-dragging, which the government has repeatedly dismissed.
The tribunal's foreign judges have said they will not meet with their Cambodian counterparts on April 30 as scheduled, if the Cambodian Bar Association does not reconsider the US$4,900 (€3,610) legal fee it plans to impose on each foreign lawyer wanting to practice at the tribunal.
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