Historical summary
Chronology of the Khmer Rouge trial
Useful links
Bibliography
Cinematography

The 1940s see the emergence of a communist movement which originates in the struggle against the French Protectorate, dissolved in 1953 when the Kingdom gained its independence. The faction distinctly draws its ideology from the Vietnamese Communist movement.

In 1963, Pol Pot takes the lead of the Communist party of Kampuchea.

 

In 1964, Norodom Sihanouk, referring to his Communist opponents, coins the expression “Khmer Rouge”.

March 1970, Prince Sihanouk is overthrown by army general Lon Nol. Constant American bombings and a political regime riddled with bribery trigger growing discontent among the population. Meanwhile, Norodom Sihanouk, in exile, urges his fellow-citizens to go underground. As the civil war establishes itself, the Khmer Rouge movement, which only gathered a few soldiers at its beginning, rapidly expands its influence and increases its strength.

On April 17, 1975, the “black pyjamas storm into Phnom Penh: this marks the beginning of Democratic Kampuchea and the sanguinary reign of Pol Pot. The ultra-Maoist and ultra-nationalist regime lasted 3 years, 8 months and 20 days, isolated the country from the rest of the world and claimed the lives of an alleged 1.7 million people. It represents and means a return to “year zero”: inhabitants drained out of towns, families taken apart, suppression of private property rights and money, forced labour, extermination of intellectual and religious symbols and individuals, purges, systematic denouncement... and one principle to be borne in mind: any enemy of the regime must be physically eliminated.

 

December 1978, after a series of disputes on the border, the Vietnamese troops enter Cambodia and take Phnom Penh on January 7thm, 1979. They remained ten years in the country.

From 1979 to 1990, the United Nations acknowledge the Khmer Rouge as the only legitimate representatives of Cambodia, giving as an official reason the UN's refusal to legitimate a power set up by a foreign nation, i.e. Vietnam, who was at that time an ally of Moscow.

End of  September 1989, withdrawal of the remainder of the conscripts of the Vietnamese expeditionary force.

 

23 October 1991, the Peace Agreements are signed in Paris and any detailed reference to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge is banned from the legal documents. The legitimacy of Cambodia is embodied by the Supreme National Council, presided by Norodom Sihanouk and where the four signatory factions sit: The CPP of the State of Cambodia and the three factions of the anti-Vietnamese resistance, i.e. the Funcinpec, Son Sann's FNLPK (National Front for the Liberation of the Khmer People) and the Khmer Rouge.

 

30 April 1994: the American Congress adopts a law about the Cambodian genocide. Its goal is to back up the effort put into trying the Khmer Rouge cadres, charged for the crimes against humanity committed between April 17th 1975 and January 7th 1979.
 
7 July 1994: MPs pass a law which stipulates that “the Democratic Kampuchea Group and its armed forces” i.e the Khmer Rouge, are “Outlaws”.

15 September 1996 : Ieng Sary, Former deputy Prime Minister of Pol Pot, sentenced to death in absentia in 1979 following charges of genocide by the Vietnamese-organised People’s Revolutionary Tribunal, is granted a pardon through a Royal Decree after having rallied to the new government, thus bringing with him several thousands of his partisans.

21 June 1997: The two deputy Prime Ministers, Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen, send a request for the assistance of the United Nations to set up a procedure which will eventually lead to the trial of the former Khmer Rouge cadres.

15 April 1998 : Death of Pol Pot in a Khmer Rouge camp situated in Anlong Veng near the Thai border, where he had been placed in detention after a summary trial organised by his peers on July 25 1997.

 

25 December 1998: Nuon Chea, known as Brother Number 2 in the Khmer Rouge hierarchy and seen as the ideologist of the regime, defects to the Phnom Penh Government, together with Khieu Samphan, the former president of Democratic Kampuchea. Their armed forces are reinstated.
12 February 1999: The last groups of the Khmer Rouge guerrillas are incorporated into the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

 

6 March 1999: Ta Mok, a Khmer Rouge military leader nicknamed “The Butcher”due to his numerous exactions, is arrested by the army on the Thai territory and charged with violation of the 1994 law, which Outlaws the Khmer Rouge.
9 May 1999: Duch, former director of the S-21 detention centre is arrested and placed in detention in a military prison following charges of violation of the 1994 law Outlawing the Khmer Rouge.

During the month of May, Thomas Hammarberg, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia, reaches an agreement on a compromise with Prime Minister Hun Sen over the setting up of a mixed tribunal with national legal proceedings but international characteristics.

 

20 August 1999: The government creates a “Task Force for Cooperation with Foreign Legal Experts and Preparation of the Proceedings for the Trial of Senior Khmer Rouge Leaders”. The Task Force starts working on the drafting of a bill.

22 June 2001
The Cambodian Government amends the bill and replaces the maximum punishment, - death penalty at that time -  by life imprisonment.

10 August 2001
Norodom Sihanouk promulgates the law concerning the establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The goal of this institution is to prosecute the crimes committed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea.

16 August 2001
American ambassador Kent Wiedemann announces that the Cambodian government has made the promise, in writing, that Ieng Sary can be brought to justice before the ECCC. He carefully adds that the United States would withdraw all support in the eventuality of a no-trial situation for the former Khmer Rouge leader.

10 October 2001
United Nations' legal counsel, Hans Corell, raises the issue of eleven points of concern in the Cambodian law about the establishment of the ECCC and insists that a future agreement between the UN and Cambodia prevails over national legislation.

8 February 2002
The United Nations withdraw their involvement in the negotiations with the Cambodian government.

June, July 2002
Japan acts as a mediator between the UN and Phnom Penh and tries to bring the two parties back in the negotiations.

13-16 march 2003
Negotiations are resumed after a fifth round of talks taking place in Phnom Penh.

6 June 2003
An agreement is signed in Phnom Penh between the United Nations and the Cambodian Government concerning the proceedings against the crimes committed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea.

1 July 2003
Death of Khieu Ponnary, Pol Pot's first wife.

19 October 2004
The agreement between the United Nations and Phnom Penh is ratified in Cambodia by Chea Sim, the acting Head of State. The legal instruments of ratification are sent to the United Nations.
 
27 October 2004
The acting Head of State, Chea Sim. Promulgates the amended law concerning the ECCC.

 

 

9 February 2006
ECCC Director Sean Visoth and deputy Director Michelle Lee, of the ECCC Office of Administration, hold their first press conference at the ECCC.

4 May 2006
The Supreme Council of the Magistracy chooses the 17 Cambodian judges and 12 international judges who will be sitting at the ECCC.

3 July 2006
The Cambodian and foreign ECCC magistrates take the oath at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.

21 July 2006
Death of Ta Mok at the age of 81, while awaiting trial before the ECCC. He had been remanded in custody since March 1999.

 

7 December 2006
The ECCC collect the first complaints from the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.

12 June 2007
After a year of talks, the ECCC judges agree on the final draft of the tribunal's Internal Rules.

18 July 2007
ECCC co-prosecutors file the first Introductory Submission of the Extraordinary Chambers and hand it to the co-investigating judges. This preliminary investigation results in the identification of “five suspects who committed, aided, abetted and/or bore superior responsibility”for serious crimes committed during the period of the Democratic Kampuchea regime.
 

 

31 July 2007
Duch, the former S-21 director, is indicted on charges of crimes against humanity.

19 September 2007
Nuon Chea is arrested at his home in Pailin and indicted by the ECCC on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

12 November 2007
Ieng Sary, Pol Pot's former Minister of Foreign Affairs is arrested together with his wife Ieng Thirith, formerly Minister of Social Affairs, in their Phnom Penh villa. They are respectively charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity / crimes against humanity.

 

19 November 2007
Khieu Samphan, the former President of Democratic Kampuchea, is the fifth Khmer Rouge cadre to be arrested and transferred to the ECCC. He is indicted on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

20-21 November 2007
The ECCC hold their first Public Hearing. It examines Duch's lawyers' appeal lodged against the Pre-Trial Chamber Order for Duch's provisional detention.

3 December 2007
The Pre-Trial Chamber rejects the appeal made by Duch's lawyers. No further appeal will be allowed, and the former director of S-21 is brought back to his prison cell.

 

This chronology was compiled from the detailed and precise chronology of Cambodia Tribunal Monitor , from the Royal Government of Cambodia 's website and from the ECCC website.

www.eccc.gov.kh
Official website of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The goal of this website is to make available to all a full list of the official published documents and a chronology of the events going on at the tribunal.

www.cambodiatribunal.org
As written on the homepage, the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor is “the primary source for news and information on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia”. This excellent website, which will probably serve as a reference when the trials begin, is backed up and managed by academic or philanthropic organisations aiming at providing public access to the tribunal, while in the meantime giving a voice to experts throughout the judicial proceedings. The website announces that tape-delayed videos of the court proceedings will be available once the trials officially begin.

www.dccam.org
Official website of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, founded in 1995 by the Cambodian Genocide Program of the American University of Yale. On the initiative of its director Youk Chhang, the centre gathered almost a million documents relating to the period of Democratic Kampuchea. The section entitled “Khmer Rouge - tribunal-related materials” offers interesting informations and analyses. Website in Khmer and English.

www.trial-ch.org
The goal of TRIAL, an Association under Swiss law founded in June 2002, is shown in its own acronym: “TRack Impunity ALways”. In the world, it is a voice for civil society in a growing demanding crowd. Its aim is to require international repression of the most serious crimes in History. The association, relying on a network of lawyers, says: “TRIAL will go to court and defend the interests of the victims of such acts before the Swiss courts and the International Criminal Court”. This website offers, with excellent responsiveness, a daily summary of what is going on on the judicial stage of international criminal law. It also provides recaps about every case study and the defendants who are subject to investigations by an international court – among which the Khmer Rouge convicts- and gives a presentation of the existing international judicial structures. However, a few little mistakes or inaccuracies can be found. Website in English, French and German.

www.vannnath.com
Concise website of the artist and painter Vann Nath, former prisoner of the S-21 prison whose life was only spared thanks to the paintings he was asked to make, and particularly the portraits of Pol Pot he made for his torturers. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, he painted many pieces depicting everyday scenes at the interrogation centre, which has since then been turned into the Museum of Genocide (Tuol Sleng). Vann Nath's paintings can be seen there, where they somehow belong.

www.khmersrougescambodia.blogspot.com
“Khmers rouges amers”: This is the title of a documentary-film by Bruno Carette and Sien Meta, which depicts the investigation they held in the Khmer Rouge milieu. Several short extracts of interviews can be watched there, and particularly two separate extracts, one with Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, and the other with Khieu Samphan, the former president of Democratic Kampuchea. French and English versions.

www.cybercambodia.com/dachs
The digital Archive of the Cambodian Holocaust survivors: you can find there survivors' stories, but above all a beautiful series of black and white snapshots of the capture of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge on the fateful day of 17 April 1975. (See section called “Cambodian Killing Fields”)

www.genocidewatch.org
“Genocide Watch : the international campaign to end genocide” created a project on the Cambodian genocide in 1982 to help bringing to justice the former Khmer Rouge leaders. The website presents a recapitulation of genocides and other mass murders committed in the world since 1945. The definition of genocide is thought over (see “the eight stages of genocide”) and detailed characteristics are given, from the classification of a group, to its eventual dehumanisation.

Analytical works
- Becker Elizabeth, When the war was over, Cambodia and the Khmer rouge revolution, 1986, Public Affairs, 606p
- Chandler David, Brother Number One: A political biography of Pol Pot. 1992, Westview Press, Boulder, 254p
- Chandler David, Voices from S-21, 1999, Chiang Mai Silkworm Books, 238p
- De Nike Howard / Quigley John, Genocide in Cambodia, University of Pennsylvania, 2000, 536p
- Etcheson Craig, After the Killing Fields : Lessons from the Cambodian genocide, Praeger Publishers, 2005, 272p
- Fawthrop Tom / Jarvis Helen, Getting away with the genocide?, Pluto Press, 2004
- Heder Stephen, Seven candidates for prosecution accountability for the crimes of the Khmer rouge, Documentation Centre of Cambodia, 2004, 153p
- Kiernan Ben, How Pol Pot came to power. A History of communism in Kampuchea 1930-1975, 1985, Verso London, 430p
- Kiernan Ben, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979. Yale University Press, 1996 (2002) 478p
- Locard Henri, Pol Pot's Little Red Book: The Sayings of Angkar. 2004, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Silkworm Books, 352p (translation from the French)
- Martin Marie Alexandrine, Cambodia , A Shattered Society. University of California Press, 1994, 398p (translation from the French)
- Panh Rithy et Chaumeau Christine, La Machine khmère rouge: Monti Santésok S-21, Flammarion. 2003, 307 p (FR)
- Ponchaud François, Cambodia Year Zero, Henry Holt & Co, 1978, 212p
- Shawcross William, Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia. Cooper Square Press , 2002. 544p
- Short Philip, Pol Pot : Anatomy of a nightmare, Henry Holt and Co, 2005, 560p
- Vickery Michael, Cambodia 1975-1982, Silkworm Books, Bangkok, 1999, 369p

General books
- Jennar Raoul M., Les clés du Cambodge, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1995 (FR)
- Kane Solomon, Dictionnaire des Khmers rouges, Irasec, Aux lieux d’être, 2007, 461p (FR)

Survivors' stories
Affonço Denise, To the End of Hell: One Woman's Struggle to Survive Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. Reportage Press, 2007, 165p
Bizot François, The Gate, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2003. 275p
Haing Ngor, A Cambodian Odyssey. Macmillian Publishing Company, 1987, 478p
Moeung Sonn et Locard Henri, Prisonnier de l'Angkar, Fayard, 1993, 385p (FR)
Neveu Roland, The Fall of Phnom Penh – 17 April 1975, Asia Horizons Books, Bangkok, 2007, 124p
Norodom Sihanouk, Prisonnier des Khmers rouges, Hachette, Paris, 1986, 433p (FR)
Picq Laurence, Beyond the Horizon: Five years with the Khmer Rouge, St. Martin's Press, 1989. 218p
Pin Yathay, L'utopie meurtrière, Complexe, Bruxelles, 1989, 412p (FR)
Vann Nath, A Cambodian Prison Portrait. One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21. White Lotus Co. Ltd., Bangkok 1998

Works published by former Khmer rouge leaders
Khieu Samphan, L'Histoire récente du Cambodge et mes prises de position, 2004, P Puy Kea, 183p (KH & FR)
Khieu Samphan, Cambodia's Economy and Industrial Development, doctoral thesis in economical sciences, Paris, 1959, 207p (FR)

Comic Strips
- Séra, Lendemains de cendres. Cambodge 1979-1993, Delcourt, 2007, 112p (FR)

If you wish to read short presentations about most of the titles aforementioned, please go to the Cambodiana database of the National Library of Cambodia , which is “a tentative to gather all books related to Cambodia”, old or modern, in French or in other languages.

 

- Panh Rithy, S-21, The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine , France, 2002, 101min
- Panh Rithy, Bophana, a Cambodian Tragedy , France, 1996, 60min
- Panh Rithy, Site 2 – Along the Borders , France, 1989, 90min
- Joffé Roland, The Killing Fields, Great-Britain, 1984, 138min