Hundreds of Cambodians gather to remember those who died during the Khmer Rouge regime.

Record ID: 102586

  • Title: Hundreds of Cambodians gather to remember those who died during the Khmer Rouge regime.
  • Date: 20th May 2016
  • Summary: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (MAY 20, 2016) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE OF CHHEUNG EK KILLING FIELD MONUMENT SIGN SAYING (English) "WOULD YOU PLEASE KINDLY SHOW YOUR RESPECT TO MANY MILLION OF PEOPLE WHO WERE KILLED UNDER GENOCIDAL POL POT REGIME" VARIOUS OF SKULLS INSIDE MONUMENT FLOWERS INSIDE MONUMENTS
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2016 07:04
  • Keywords: rememberance Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Cambodia genocide
  • Location: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • City: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014IM2VYD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of people gathered at Cambodia's infamous "Killing Field" on Friday (May 20) to remember those who died under Khmer Rouge rule.
    As many as 2.2 million people are said to have died during the ultra-Maoist revolution in 1975-1979.
    At the "Killing Field" of Choeung Ek, some 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh family members of those who had died and local officials gave offerings on the Day of Remembrance, once known as the "Day of Hatred".
    "During my prayers, I said to those who were killed that nowadays the government cooperates with the Khmer Rouge court to try to find justice for all the victims so they might rest in peace," said khmer Rouge era survivor, Yi Kim Seur.
    "Today I come to pay my respects and I wish for all of those who died to rest in peace and for them to wish us and the country to have peace," added local resident , Muth Sophal.
    Students from the Royal University of Fine Arts re-enacted the gruesome scenes which prevailed during Pol Pot's rule.
    Vietnam invaded Cambodia on December 25, 1978 and installed a government that put an end to the murderous regime.
    The hybrid U.N.-Cambodian tribunal has reached a verdict in three cases, life sentence in 2010 for Kaing Guek Eav, alias "Duch", chief of the S-21 torture center where 14,000 people died in the 1970s.
    Two other senior Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan also received life sentences.
    Almost every Cambodian alive lost a family member under the Khmer Rouge.
    Many want the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC), which began work in 2006 after an agreement between the Cambodian government and the United Nations to try those "most responsible" for the killings, to speed up the process in order to bring justice because of the two top leaders are in old age.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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