Ieng Sary’s death serves the Hun Sen government

March 15, 2013

IENG SARY’S DEATH SERVES THE HUN SEN GOVERNMENT

The death of the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary illustrates the success of the Cambodian government's strategy of dragging out the trials of the henchmen of Pol Pot at the joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal.

The aim of the exercise, achieved through political interference and starving the tribunal of funds, is to obscure the continuity that exists between the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian People's Party government. Prime Minister Hun Sen was himself a Khmer Rouge battalion commander.

Time works in favor of those who have carried out crimes against humanity. Witnesses grow old and die. In the end, defendants do too.

A government formed by the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) will seek the prosecution before a genuine international tribunal of those who have committed atrocities against the Cambodian people both during and since the Khmer Rouge years.

Sam Rainsy
CNRP President