The trials for the officials of the Khmer Rouge started today:
Quick history lesson: Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge killed 1.7 million Cambodians thought to be associated with the previous government under Lon Nol or his military, including to those who were educated, teachers, and doctors, because they were thought to have been corrupted by Western thinking. They also killed the religious, including Buddhist monks and about ninety percent of Cambodian Christians. The oppressive communist regime ended in 1999. I was 13, and more concerned about surviving middle school without too much damage to my self-esteem.
Cambodia is on our list of stops, towards the end of the trip. From the blogs that I’ve read from other Racers, one of the first stops we’ll make in the country is to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, where about a third of the Cambodian population was tortured and killed. Now the officials responsible for the genocide are standing trial.
I don’t know what implications these trials will have on our time in Cambodia, but I’ll be following them as they develop, and hopefully will be able to find articles on Cambodian reaction to the trials. If anyone finds articles of interest, please shoot me an email and let me know, or hit Contact on the left menu and send me the link.
