"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
These disturbing trends have broken out into the real world with mobs demanding obedience by innocent bystanders trying to eat their dinner in Adams Morgan in Washington, DC. Where can Maoism lead in its most extreme form? It leads to the killing fields.
Where Maoists struggle sessions can end.
In the space of less than four years (1975 - 1979) in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot carried out a communist revolution, declared year zero, and within that time killed two million of their countrymen.
One of the executioners, who was finally brought to justice by an international court, has died. Before the revolution he had been a school teacher. Kaing Guek Eav, came to be known as Comrade Duch, who oversaw the killing of over 20,000 people at S-21, a former school officially turned into a prison camp, but that in reality was a death camp.
There is an important documentary of the same name that should be required viewing by Westerners that highlights how teenagers were used to carry out the slaughter following the former school teacher's orders.
Comrade Duch has died at age 77. He was serving a life sentence for his crimes against humanity. He finally answered for his crimes before an international tribunal in 2010.
If it can happen there then it can happen anywhere, especially if we fail to heed the lessons of history.
Kaing Guek Eav a.k.a. "Duch" tortured and murdered thousands
"It is necessary — secretly and urgently to prepare the terror." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, 1918
The toll in lives.
This is the second in a series of blog entries rebutting a "Catholic" defense of communism authored by Dean Dettloff in the Jesuit magazine America on July 23, 2019 that downplayed the crimes of communism much like the perpetrators. Counter-intuitively, the counter-argument began at the end and now work its way to the start.
At the beginning of his essay, Dettloff quoted Catholic convert and social activist Dorothy Day's observation that “[i]t is when the Communists are good that they are dangerous.” There is nothing more dangerous than being principled, honest, true believing, consistent, persistent, and hardworking in the service of a murderous ideology. At the conclusion of the essay Dettloff stated that "[i]t is when the communists are dangerous that they are good."
Years ago in a television studio in
Lima, Peru a Maoist Shining Path movement spokesman interviewed on a
television talk show denounced Fidel Castro for betraying communism Cuba.
This true believing, consistent, and honest communist denounced the Cuban dictator for not executing two
million Cubans in 1959.
Communist writings and ideology demands the use of revolutionary terror to take power and transform society believing they could create a paradise on Earth, but that it would require sacrificing large numbers of people to arrive at their utopia.
2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first communist dictatorship that murdered
the Russian royal family, plunged Russia into what would be a bloody
century of war, repression, manufactured famines and terror that claimed
tens of millions of lives. Children were not spared. Think of it, over a 100 million
lives over the span of a century. One million state engineered violent
deaths a year for one hundred years. The death toll of communism can
clearly be seen today rising in places like Venezuela, North Korea, and China but the killings although lower profile also happen in other communist regimes.
Despite the high body count the utopia was not achieved. Karl Marx wrote plainly: "We are ruthless and ask no quarter from you. When our turn comes we shall not disguise our terrorism."
German Nazi and Russian Communist soldiers greet one another in Poland (1939)
Marx's prediction came true. Communists are ruthless and do not give quarter to advance their goals. They starved millions of farmers, engaged in revolutionary terror campaigns. They allied with Nazi Germany and started WW2 with the joint invasion of Poland in 1939.
The
Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed two million Cambodians from
overwork, starvation and mass executions over the course of three years
and two months in power in the 1970s. They were also guilty of targeting ethnic
Vietnamese and Cham Muslim minority groups.
Watch the documentary S-21 and witness how dangerous a good communist is.
“We will burn the old grass and the new will grow.” - Pol Pot, leader of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (1975 - 1979)
Communist Khmer Rouge leaders guilty of genocide
Earlier today in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge's former head of state Khieu Samphan, 87, and "Brother Number 2" Nuon Chea, 92, the two most senior living members of the Maoist group that seized control of Cambodia from April 17, 1975-January 7, 1979, were found guilty of genocide by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed two million Cambodians from overwork, starvation and mass executions over the course of three years and two months in power. They were also guilty of targeting ethnic Vietnamese and Cham Muslim minority groups.
What took place in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge was a communist revolution that followed through on its program to its logical conclusion while many in the West looked the other way, or worse normalized them.
The award is named after famed filmmaker Nestor Almendros who co-directed two important films about human rights in Cuba: Mauvaise conduite aka “Improper Conduct” (1984) about the persecution of gay people in Revolutionary Cuba and Nadie escuchaba(1987) aka "Nobody Listened"and both documentaries are available for viewing online.
"It is necessary — secretly and urgently to prepare the terror." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, 1918
One hundred years ago this week the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia and communist regimes began a hundred year killing spree that would claim more than 100 million lives. Twenty five years ago I thought that communism was destined for the ash heap of history. Having come of age in the 1980s in Miami during the Reagan years my political awakening as a conservative and anti-communist coincided with the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, the ouster of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1990, and the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union on Christmas day in 1991. The wisdom behind the words of the great 20th century poet T.S. Eliot holds true today and is an implicit warning against complacency.
“If we take the widest and wisest view of a Cause, there is no such
thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause.
We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may
be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself
will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the
expectation that anything will triumph.”
The revelation that 100 million human beings had been slaughtered in peace time by communist regimes combined with the evidence of the socio-economic backwardness of communism and its rejection by tens of millions was thought to be a mortal blow to Marxist ideology. Many believed that communism had been defeated and let their guard down. Meanwhile the remnants of international communism began to gather regularly in Sao Paolo, Brazil and in the midst of their defeat began plotting their come back on a global scale. This gathering became known as the Sao Paolo Forum.
Communists, by and large, have no difficulty in denouncing Josef Stalin, but attempt to portray Vladmir Lenin as different. The words of the Russian Revolutionary however reveal his true nature. In January of 1918 at a meeting of the Presidium of the Petrograd Soviet Lenin explained the necessity of terrorism for communist revolutionaries: "We can't expect to get anywhere unless we resort to terrorism:
speculators must be shot on the spot. Moreover, bandits must be dealt
with just as resolutely: they must be shot on the spot."
Twenty five years later the results are in and they are troubling. The Washington Times reported that Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s
“Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism,” documented "58 percent of the
up-and-coming generation opted for one of the three systems, compared to
42 percent who said they were in favor of capitalism.The most
popular socioeconomic order was socialism, with 44 percent support.
Communism and fascism received 7 percent support each." The same report found that "one in five (23%) of Americans age 21-29 consider Soviet dictator JosephStalin a
‘hero’; 26% for Vladimir Lenin; 23% for Kim Jong Un.”
Not surprisingly over 20% of millennials had a positive opinion of Karl Marx.
The crimes of Jong Un, Castro, Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, and Lenin need to be accurately highlighted to counter the misinformation and disinformation seeking to downplay communist crimes.
"To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night
Friday, June 9th starting at 9:00am on the corner of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues NW in Washington, DC for the tenth year there will be a Roll Call of Nations Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial. This annual event is hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Government representatives of formerly captive nations, civil society groups and victims of communism will gather to honor the memory of the more than 100 million persons killed by communism over the past century.
Communists massacred the Russian royal family in 1918
Roll Call of Nations Wreath Laying Ceremony at Victims of Communism Memorial
This year I will be unable to physically but will be there in spirit and lament that I will not be able to once again meet such great heroes of freedom as Mart Laar of Estonia and Vytautus Landsbergis of Lithuania. They not only played crucial roles in the liberation of their perspective countries but have been steadfast champions for the freedom of Cuba.
Communists today celebrating a bloody and murderous legacy
2017 has an important historic significance because it marks the 100th anniversary of a tragic event, the founding of the first communist dictatorship that murdered the Russian royal family, plunged Russia into what would be a bloody century of war, repression, manufactured famines and terror that claimed tens of millions of lives. Children were not spared. Like their totalitarian Nazi counterparts the Communist Party of Great Britain will be celebrating this criminal enterprise.
Communists manufactured famines to liquidate class enemies started in the USSR
However the apologists for communism will downplay the human cost and the 1939 Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact where the Soviet Union, the first communist regime, allied itself with Nazi Germany to divide up Poland and usher in World War II.
German Nazi and Russian Communist soldiers greet one another in Poland (1939)
Think of it for a moment, over a 100 million lives over the span of a century. One million state engineered violent deaths a year for one hundred years. The death toll of communism can clearly be seen today rising in places like Venezuela, North Korea, and China but the killings although lower profile also happen in other communist regimes.
We owe it to both the victims of communism from the past and of today to remember them and denounce what has happened and is still happening now in order to finally bring an end to the communist death toll. Below is a partial list of the dead reaches 102.566 million dead.
Communist death toll (estimate)*
Soviet Union 61 million dead
Peoples Republic of China 35 million dead
Khmer Rouge (Cambodia) 2 million dead
Communist Vietnam 1.670 million dead
North Korea 1.663 million dead
Communist Ethiopia 725,000 dead
Communist Rumania 435,000 dead
Communist Cuba 73,000 dead
Please if you live in or near the nation's capitol then this Friday, June 9th at 9:00am join in this vigil for justice for victims of communism on the corner of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues NW in Washington, DC. I'll hold a moment of silence at that time in remembrance of the victims. Either way please consider sending a tax deductible donation to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation because they are doing important work educating America's youth on the real nature of communism.
"To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night
Wreath laying ceremony at Victims of Communism Monument in Washington DC
Great crimes against humanity must not be forgotten and new generations must learn what happened in order that they not be repeated. Communism in the 20th century claimed over 100 million lives and unfortunately the body count continues to rise in the 21st Century. Although communism imploded in Eastern Europe in 1989 the number of people living under it in the world today is one in five and that is a greater percentage than lived under communism before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The panel on Cuba provided an overview of the past six decades of repression and death by the Castro regime, the current situation in Cuba under the Obama administration's new Cuba policy, and the first hand testimony of one of its victims, Sirley Ávila León, now in the United States receiving medical care for her injuries.
On June 10th there was a Roll Call of Nations Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial located on (Corner of Massachusetts Ave and New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC). 20 embassies participated in the wreath laying ceremony along with 30 non-governmental organizations who with flowers came together to pray and pay their respects for the 100 million plus victims of communism and those who still live under the totalitarian darkness.
President Obama in Cuba photographed with mass murderer in the background
It is of great importance to remember the horrific crimes of communism such as what these regimes did to children; the genocides they carried out in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Attention needs to be paid to the communist ideas that resulted in so much horror and loss of life. For example, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who President Obama felt comfortable being photographed with the Argentine communist revolutionary's image in the background, despite Guevara's calls to mass murder in Havana, Cuba on April 16, 1967:
"Hatred as an element of the struggle; a relentless hatred of the enemy, impelling us over and beyond the natural limitations that man is heir to and transforming him into an effective, violent, selective and cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be thus; a people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy."
The failure to address the legacy of communism and its continuing threat with seriousness is without a doubt a contributing factor to the decade long decline in human rights in the world. Furthermore failing to remember the international consensus achieved in 1948 when all the countries in the world signed on to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and engaging in relativism, as President Obama did in Cuba earlier this year, reopens a debate on the universality of rights that had been settled.
Forgetting the role played by international business in strengthening totalitarian regimes has resulted in the practice being repeated in China, Vietnam and Cuba prolonging the lives of those communist regimes to the detriment of their respective peoples. Not to mention the seizure of investor assets, the arbitrary detention of investors, and the theft of trade secrets.
This is why in 2017, the hundredth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution that brought the first communist regime into power and the tenth anniversary of the Victims of Communism Monument's dedication on June 12, 2007 needs to be truthfully remembered.
"It's hard to think anyone would abuse children in such a way, but we all
know nothing is beyond the sinister, evil ways of the Castros. They
have forged a seat in Hell at the right side of the Devil..." - Tanya, commenting on essay on How Castro's Observe Christmas in Cuba
Ukranian child victims of Soviet Genocide in the 1930s
Unfortunately, the abuse of children is not limited to the Castros but is a feature of communism. In the case of Cuba under communism children have not only been abused but also massacred.
Some of the children and youth massacred by Castro regime on July 13, 1994
This is not an isolated occurrence. There is a larger pattern seen across the communist world. For the sake of brevity this entry will touch on five: Romania, China, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.
Romania
10,000 Romanian babies infected with HIV through dirty needles
Nicolae Ceausescu decreed in 1966 that Romania would develop its “human
capital” via a government-enforced mandate to increase the country's
population. Ceauşescu, Romania's leader from 1965 to 1989, banned
contraception and abortions and imposed a “celibacy tax” on families
that had fewer than five children. State doctors—the menstrual
police—conducted gynecologic examinations in the workplace of women of
childbearing age to see whether they were producing sufficient
offspring. The birth rate initially skyrocketed. Yet because families
were too poor to keep their children, they abandoned many of them to
large state-run institutions.
The opposite approach was taken in China with equally horrible results. The communists there decided that Chinese mothers could only have one child. The one
child policy was introduced by the government in 1979. According to
2007 statistics males make up 51.53%; and females 48.47% of the
population. The Dying Roomsand Return to the Dying Rooms broadcast in 1995 and 1996 respectively
offered a variety of sources (human rights organizations, doctors who
had fled China armed with photographs) which corroborated the claims made in the documentary:
Producers/directors Brian Woods and Kate Blewett uncover the systematic neglect of abandoned babies in Chinese state-run orphanages. They find "dark rooms" where the weakest and least liked children are left to die. These are known as "The Dying Rooms." China’s one-child policy has created a race where most families desire boys and therefore parents are forced to abandon their babies. Their unfortunate and tragic lives are left at the mercy of these orphanages where their sad fate is ultimately decided by the staff and ignored by the government.
Romania and China are two examples were the communists set up macro policies that treated children as commodities while stripping parents of their rights. The results were horrific, however there are worse policies in which communist regimes have engaged in genocide that included children and newborns under a theory of social contamination. Three examples are the genocides in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (1975 - 1979), Ethiopia under the Mengistu Communist regime(1977-78) and in the Ukraine under the Soviet Union (1932 -1933). One of the survivors of the Cambodian genocide described how the communists selected their victims:
The people on the Khmer Rouge death list were the group called the
city people. They were the "new" people. These were any Cambodian
men, women, girls, boys, and babies who did not live in their "liberated
zones" before they won the war in 1975.
During 1977-78, a conservative estimate of over 30,000 Africans perished as a result of the Red Terror unleashed in Ethiopia by the communists and their Cuban allies. Amnesty International concluded that
"this campaign resulted in several thousand to perhaps tens of
thousands of men, women, and children killed, tortured, and imprisoned."
Sweden's Save the Children Fund lodged a formal protest in early 1978 denouncing the execution of 1,000 children, many below the age of thirteen, whom the communist government had labeled "liaison agents of the counter revolutionaries."
Genocide in Ethiopia
This pattern of systematic brutalization and mass murder of children goes back to the first communist regime, the Soviet Union.
Holodomor literally means death by hunger. In 1932 and 1933, a vast famine in Soviet Ukraine killed three to seven million people, according to estimates. While people starved, the grain was shut away in barns for export.
Across the world from Europe, to Asia, to Africa, and the Americas there is a pattern that transcends race and ethnicity but have one commonality: all are communist regimes and they murder their own innocent children. They do this in order to achieve an unachievable utopian ideal using immoral means and forget a profound truth expressed by Mohandas Gandhi:in the publication Young India on July 17, 1924:
They say, 'means are, after all, means'. I would say, 'means are, after all, everything'. As the means so the end. There is no wall of separation between means and end. Indeed the Creator
has given us control (and that too very limited) over means, none over
the end. Realization of the goal is in exact proportion to that of the
means. This is a proposition that admits of no exception.
Is it a Coincidence or Synchronicity? Cuba and Cambodia now share July 26 as a historic date
It matters little if they condemn me, even to the heaviest sentence.” Kaing Guek Eav “Duch” (2010)
“Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.” – Fidel Castro (1953)
The Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) today found KAING Guek Eav alias Duch guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and sentenced him to 35 (thirty-five) years of imprisonment.
Kaing Guek Eav a.k.a. "Duch" tortured and murdered thousands
Although there is no causal relationship between these two events they do have a shared meaning. Beyond the same basic Marxist-Leninist ideological framework one finds in both actions an attempt to defend the indefensible when now viewed through the prism of time. This is an example of what Carl Gustav Jung described as Synchronicity which he defined over the years as the "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events"; an "acausal connecting principle"; a "meaningful coincidence" and "acausal parallelism" or it could just be one huge coincidence.
This connection between events in Cuba and in Cambodia during revolutionary communist regimes is acausally linked again by the documentary, Enemies of the People, opening in New York City four days from now on July 30, 2010 at the Quad Cinema. The documentary is the winner of the 2010 Human Rights Watch Film Festival Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Film making.The award is named after famed filmmaker Nestor Almendros, born in Spain raised in Cuba, who co-directed two important films about human rights in Cuba: Mauvaise conduite aka “Improper Conduct” (1984) about the persecution of gay people in Revolutionary Cuba and Nadie escuchaba (1987) aka "Nobody Listened" about the human rights situation overall under the Castro brothers.
"Comrade Cubans, I can recall those days of December 1977 and January 1978 when we said farewell to the first Cuban internationalist combatants who were leaving for Ethiopia. [...]Eighteen months later we have returned to a Ethiopia which is victorious be cause of its combative sons' heroism and the support of international solidarity, as Comrade Mengistu stated 2 days ago. Moreover, it is also an already powerful Ethiopia. Tuesday's popular parade confirmed the enormous popular support for this revolutionary change. Yesterday's military parade tells us of the degree of organization and discipline achieved by the combative and courageous fraternal Ethiopian people. The rapid revolutionary offensive of the Ethiopian and Cuban troops practically annihilated the enemy. [...]Ethiopian brothers, together with you we have fought and we have won. Together with you we are ready to fight again and to win again. Together with you we pledge: Fatherland or death, we shall win!
Castro's September 1978 speech places Cuban combatants on the ground in December of 1977. The importance of these dates will become evident later on. The next excerpt is from a conversation with the then East German dictator Erik Honecker discussing the situation in Ethiopia and Fidel Castro's assesment of Mengistu in February of 1977 following a visit and meeting with him:
Mengistu strikes me as a quiet, serious, and sincere leader who is aware of the power of the masses. He is an intellectual personality who showed his wisdom on 3 February. The rightists wanted to do away with the leftists on 3 February. The prelude to this was an exuberant speech by the Ethiopian president in favor of nationalism. Mengistu preempted this coup. He called the meeting of the Revolutionary Council one hour early and had the rightist leaders arrested and shot. A very consequential decision was taken on 3 February in Ethiopia. The political landscape of the country changed, which has enabled them to take steps that were impossible before then. Before it was only possible to support the leftist forces indirectly, now we can do so without any constraints.
Fidel Castro with close ally Mengistu Haile Mariam
The dates are important because it coincides with the beginning of the "Red Terror" in which 2,000 Africans were slaughtered. This was a purge of political opponents. According to press accounts: "Suspects were rounded up, some shot, others garrotted. The bodies were thrown on the streets." There would be a Cuban military presence on the ground until 1988. In December 2006 Ethiopia's former dictator was found guilty of the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political opponents and his involvement in a famine which killed one million people and found guilty of genocide in absentia. A Reuters video report on the 2006 trial is available below:
Video of the international tribunal announcing the guilty verdict on July 26 of war criminal Kaing Guek Eac, otherwise known as "Duch" can be heard with English translation here and is available below in Khmer:
Below is reproduced the statement of the international tribunal regarding the guilty verdict and sentence for Kaing Guek Eac, otherwise known as "Duch":
Subject: Kaing Guek Eav convicted of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949
Date: 26 July 2010
The Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) today found KAING Guek Eav alias Duch guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and sentenced him to 35 (thirty-five) years of imprisonment.
KAING Guek Eav, the first person to stand trial before the ECCC, served as Deputy and then Chairman of S-21, a security centre tasked with interrogating and executing persons perceived as enemies of Democratic Kampuchea by the Communist Party of Kampuchea. S-21 was operational between 1975 and 1979. The Chamber found that every individual detained within S-21 was destined for execution in accordance with the Communist Party of Kampuchea policy to “smash” all enemies. In addition to mass executions, many detainees died as a result of torture and their conditions of detention. Although finding a minimum of 12,272 individuals to have been detained and executed at S-21 on the basis of prisoner lists, the Chamber indicated that the actual number of detainees is likely to have been considerably greater.
The Trial Chamber found that KAING Guek Eav acted with various individuals, and through his subordinates, to operate S-21 and S-24: an adjunct facility used as a re-education camp, and where a minimum of a further 1,300 individuals were detained. It further found that KAING Guek Eav possessed and exercised significant authority at S-21 and that his conduct in carrying out his functions showed a high degree of efficiency and zeal. He worked tirelessly to ensure that S-21 ran as efficiently as possible and did so out of unquestioning loyalty to his superiors. The Chamber found that KAING Guek Eav therefore not only implemented but actively contributed to the development of Communist Party of Kampuchea policies at S-21.
KAING Guek Eav had also been charged with national crimes of premeditated murder and torture, punishable before the ECCC under Article 3 (new) of the ECCC Law. The Chamber, in a separate decision also issued today, disagreed on whether responsibility for these crimes had already been extinguished before the ECCC investigation of the Accused commenced. The absence of a required majority prevented the Chamber exercising its jurisdiction in relation to these national crimes. This decision had no impact on sentence.
KAING Guek Eav was convicted of crimes against humanity (persecution on politicalgrounds) (incorporating various other crimes against humanity, including extermination,imprisonment and torture), as well as numerous grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, for which, by a majority, the Chamber imposed a single, consolidated sentence of 35 (thirty-five) years of imprisonment. In deciding on an appropriate sentence, the Chamber noted a number of aggravating features, in particular the gravity of the offences, which were perpetrated against at least 12,272 victims over a prolonged period.
The Chamber decided that there are significant mitigating factors that mandated the imposition of a finite term of imprisonment rather than one of life imprisonment. These factors include cooperation with the Chamber, admission of responsibility, limited expressions of remorse, the coercive environment in Democratic Kampuchea, and the potential for rehabilitation.
Following an earlier decision of the Chamber of 15 June 2009, the Chamber considered that a reduction in the above sentence of 5 (five) years was appropriate given the violation of KAING Guek Eav’s rights occasioned by his illegal detention by the Cambodian Military Court between 10 May 1999 and 30 July 2007. KAING Guek Eav is further entitled to credit for time already spent in detention, under the authority both of the Cambodian Military Court and the ECCC.
In its judgement, the Trial Chamber declared 66 Civil Parties either to have established their claim to be immediate victims of S-21 or S-24, or to have proved the existence of immediate victims of S-21 or S-24 and close kinship or particular bonds of affection or dependency in relation to them. They have further shown that the death of these victims caused demonstrable injury and that this harm was a direct consequence of KAING Guek Eav’s offending. The Chamber granted the request of these Civil Parties that their names be included in the judgement. The Chamber rejected all Civil Party claims on the grounds of lack of specificity, for as being beyond the scope of available reparations before the ECCC. However, it ordered the compilation and publication of all statements of apology made by the Accused during the trial.
The substantive part of the trial against KAING Guek Eav commenced on 30 March 2009. Closing arguments ended on 27 November 2009 after a total of 72 trial days, during which 24 witnesses, 22 Civil Parties and nine experts were heard. More than 28,000 people followed the proceedings from the public gallery.
Hopefully one day soon the war criminals responsible for mass murders in Cuba such as the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre will be brought to justice before an international tribunal inside of Cuba. It would be wonderful if it happened as it has happened today on July 26, 2010 in Cambodia. Whether justice is obtained in Cuba in the future or continues to slog its way through in Cambodia will be up to primarily but not only for Cubans and Cambodians in their respective countries but also the international community. Amnesty International has called today's conviction a first step towards justice for the nearly two million killed by the Khmer Rouge and called for more prosecutions of those responsible for the Cambodian genocide. Let us pray and do our part to see that justice is done.
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