The Curse of a Nation

GRIM REMINDER: Skulls of Khmer Rouge victims.

CHARGED: From left, Kang Kek Ieu (aka Duch, was sentenced to 30 years in July), Khieu Samphan
CHARGED: From left, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith.

The second trial of Khmer Rouge leaders is due to start, and for some, it's none too soon

26/09/2010
By Luke Hunt
Bangkok Post

"The likelihood that these four individuals will see the beginning and the end of their trial is depressingly low" - Theary Seng, a US-trained lawyer who survived the Killing Fields as a child

The Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia has indicted the last surviving senior leaders of the regime and charged them with crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Conventions, genocide and murder, torture and religious persecution.

The final four - Khieu Samphan, 79, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, 84, his wife Ieng Thirith, 78, and Nuon Chea, 84, the ultra-Maoist's second-in-command - are blamed for the deaths of perhaps a third of the population and will front a trial reminiscent of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

When the ousted president swung miserably from the gallows almost four years ago there was no shortage of political leaders - past and present, East and West - who were willing to express their dismay, or a touch of glee. The political point scoring has abated since, however. Among the least noted was Nuon Chea, who defended the former Iraqi leader and claimed "Saddam Hussein had a spirit of national love". His comments were not surprising.