Khmer Rouge

20 Stories

After 16 Years, $337M Tribunal Ends With Just 3 Convictions

UN-backed court rejects appeal from Khmer Rouge's last surviving leader

(Newser) - The international court convened in Cambodia to judge the Khmer Rouge for its brutal 1970s rule ended its work Thursday after spending $337 million and 16 years to convict just three men of crimes after the regime caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people. In its final...

Man Who Oversaw Torture, Killings of 16K Dead at 77
Khmer Rouge
Executioner
Dead at 77
Sep 2, 2020 12:08 AM CDT

Khmer Rouge Executioner Dead at 77

Kaing Guek Eav had been hospitalized after having difficulty breathing

(Newser) - The Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regime’s most notorious prison, has died. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was 77 and had been serving a life prison term for war crimes and...

Tribunal Delivers Historic Khmer Rouge Verdict

2 surviving leaders guilty of genocide

(Newser) - The last surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge that brutally ruled Cambodia in the 1970s were convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes Friday by an international tribunal. Nuon Chea, 92, and Khieu Samphan, 87, were sentenced to life in prison, the same sentence they are already serving...

'Historic Verdicts' Handed to Khmer Rouge Leaders

More than 3 decades later, 2 leaders are convicted

(Newser) - The two most senior surviving leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge were sentenced today to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed some three and a half decades ago. The UN-backed tribunal handed what the AP terms "historic verdicts" to Khieu Samphan, the regime's former head of...

Khmer Rouge's Ieng Sary Dead at 87
Khmer Rouge's 'Brother Number Three' Dead at 87 
obituary
Mar 14, 2013 3:29 AM CDT

Khmer Rouge's 'Brother Number Three' Dead at 87

Ieng Sary helped Pol Pot found the communist regime

(Newser) - Ieng Sary, the brother-in-law of Pol Pot and co-founder of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, has died at age 87, Cambodia says. His death comes amid his trial for genocide between 1975 and 1979, the BBC notes; he'd been hospitalized since March 4 and died of "irreversible cardiac...

Khmer Rouge Tribunal Is Too Broke to Pay Staff

Gov't out of money, 300 Cambodians won't be paid this month

(Newser) - Money problems are threatening the UN's Khmer Rouge trials in Cambodia, reports the AP . The tribunal employs 480 people, and while the international staff is getting paid, the 300 Cambodians who work there have not been paid this month. The tribunal's judges and prosecutors have not been paid...

Khmer Rouge Jailer Gets 19 Years for 16K Dead
 Khmer Rouge 
 Jailer Gets 
 19 Years for 
 16K Dead 

Killing Fields Tribunal
Jul 26, 2010 6:23 AM CDT

Khmer Rouge Jailer Gets 19 Years for 16K Dead

Relatives of victims stunned by leniency of tribunal's first sentence

(Newser) - A war crimes tribunal convicted and sentenced the Khmer Rouge's chief jailer today for overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people, in the first verdict involving a senior member of the "killing fields" regime that devastated a generation of Cambodians. Victims and their relatives burst into tears...

Khmer Rouge Murdered Star of Killing Fields

UN tribunal testimony implicates Pol Pot in '96 hit on Oscar-winner

(Newser) - The LAPD and FBI call the 1996 murder of actor Haing Ngor a closed case of gang violence, but many Cambodians and Cambodian-Americans remain convinced that Pol Pot ordered a hit on the Oscar winner—and recent testimony at a UN tribunal on the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime has boosted...

Khmer Rouge Chief Asks for 'Harshest Punishment'

(Newser) - The former head of the Khmer Rouge's main torture center asked the Cambodian people today to give him "the harshest punishment." Kaing Guek Eav, alias "Duch," who headed the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, made the statement during his UN genocide trial, after a widow...

'Killing Fields' Prosecutor Quits, Slams Interference

Denies rift over untried suspects caused move

(Newser) - The international prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal has abruptly resigned, the Independent reports. Robert Petit insisted that the resignation is due to family reasons, but he warned that the court is in danger from corruption and political meddling from Cambodian government official. Five former Khmer Rouge cadres...

Khmer Rouge Chief Admits Smashing Babies

'Duch' accepts blame for killing babies, children, teens

(Newser) - The former chief jailer of the Khmer Rouge told a war crimes tribunal yesterday that it was standard policy to kill babies and children by smashing their heads against trees, the Independent reports. The commander, known as  Duch, accepted full responsibility for his actions. He told the tribunal that he...

Khmer Rouge's Duch Apologizes for 'Brutal' Deaths

Owns up to 'torture and execution' in trial

(Newser) - On trial for his role in Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime, the man known as Duch made his first public apology today for overseeing the deaths of thousands at the prison he ran, the Financial Times reports. “I am responsible for the crimes committed at S-21, especially the...

Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin
Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin
Mar 30, 2009 10:33 AM CDT

Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin

Head of Cambodian prison charged with war crimes, torture, premeditated murder

(Newser) - One of the most feared figures of Pol Pot's fanatical regime in Cambodia has begun to tell his story on the witness stand as hearings begin in his trial, reports the Los Angeles Times. The former head of a Khmer Rough prison, Kaing Khev Iev—known as Duch—is charged...

30 Years Later, Khmer Rouge Goes on Trial

Prison warden accused of torture, murder of 20,000 in court

(Newser) - Thirty years after the end of its reign of terror, the Khmer Rouge went on trial in Cambodia for the first time today. In the dock in Phnom Penh is the commander of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, which became a symbol of the brutality of Pol Pot's murderous regime....

'Killing Fields' Photog Dith Dead at 65
 'Killing Fields'
 Photog Dith 
 Dead at 65 
Obituary
Mar 30, 2008 12:39 PM CDT

'Killing Fields' Photog Dith Dead at 65

Times photojournalist and anti-Khmer Rouge crusader had pancreatic cancer

(Newser) - Photojournalist Dith Pran, whose saga was re-created in the film The Killing Fields, has died of pancreatic cancer at 65, the New York Times reports. The Cambodian native became the Khmer Rouge's most vocal opponent after escaping in 1979, having worked in labor camps and survived on a spoonful of...

Khmer Rouge Jailer Has First Day in Court

Pol Pot ally held for 8 years asks genocide tribunal to set bail

(Newser) - The Cambodian “Killing Fields” tribunal heard an application for bail today from Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the math teacher who became the chief jailer of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime. Of at least 14,000 who went into Duch’s prison, only 10 survived, Reuters...

Khmer Rouge President Busted
Khmer Rouge President Busted
Nov 19, 2007 12:22 PM CST

Khmer Rouge President Busted

Pol Pot's head of state charged with crimes against humanity

(Newser) - After almost a decade of delays, Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide court is in full swing, today arresting ex-Khmer Rouge president Khieu Samphan. Samphan, 76, who was seized from a Phnom Penh hospital, is the fifth member of Pol Pot’s bloody cabal arrested so far. In a book released last...

Cambodia Arrests 2 Former Khmer Rouge Leaders

Foreign minister, wife, to face UN-backed genocide court

(Newser) - Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide court today arrested Ieng Sary, the public face of Pol Pot’s murderous Khmer Rouge, and his wife, Ieng Thirith, AFP reports. As the regime’s foreign minister, Sary allegedly persuaded intellectuals to return to Cambodia, where they were killed in re-education camps. Sary earned a...

Khmer Rouge Leader Nabbed
Khmer Rouge Leader Nabbed
Sep 19, 2007 6:07 AM CDT

Khmer Rouge Leader Nabbed

'Brother Number Two' of genocidal regime lived openly in jungle headquarters

(Newser) - The highest ranking Khmer Rouge official still alive was arrested early today in Cambodia as part of a UN-led genocide investigation. Nuon Chea, 82, was second only to Pol Pot in the regime that killed over a million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. Chea has been living openly for decades...

Khmer Rouge Jailer First to Be Charged

UN-backed tribunal opens amid doubts senior leaders will be brought to justice

(Newser) - A UN tribunal has charged an ex-Khmer Rouge prison chief with crimes against humanity in the torturing and killing of as many as 17,000 people during the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s. Kang Kek Ieu, known as Duch, ordered inmates executed at the "killing fields" near Phnom Penh,...

20 Stories