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Revisiting the Killing Fields
CRIME, even if committed against a person, is an offence against the state, and that is why state prosecutors (public prosecutors) pursue a criminal case. A person who allegedly commits a crime can always be charged. Unlike civil litigation or disputes, the length of time elapsed does not affect a criminal case. In other words, it does not have statutory limitation.
War crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity are categorised as international crimes. These crimes have universal application because of their brutality, and the systematic attacks against civilian population. Any individual suspected to have committed such crimes can be tried at any time by states that are party to the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute of International Criminal Court.
Definitions
War crime: Any crime that is contrary to the 1949 Geneva Convention of Armed Conflicts. This includes disproportionate use of power and action against civilians.
Crime against humanity: This includes murder, extermination, torture, rape, and persecution, or other inhuman acts, as part of a widespread or systematic attack, or knowledge of attack, directed against any civilian population.
Genocide: Genocide includes any act of killing with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
The definition of genocide in the 1948 Genocide Convention requires the "intent to destroy in whole or in part." Intent can be difficult to prove during contemporary acts of genocide and especially those acts stemming from conflict situations.
Crimes against humanity do not require an "intent to destroy a group in whole or in part" by the perpetrators, but instead require that such atrocities detailed in the definition, such as murder, extermination and so on, are committed as part of a "widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population," and "knowledge of the attack" refers to the knowledge of the perpetrators or supporters of the attack, or of those in power who have acquiesced to the attack, upon any civilian population.
Past instances
The responsibility, first, lies on the state where the crimes had occurred. If the domestic system falters or fails in this respect, international mechanisms may come into play. In that sense, international mechanisms operate to provide redress where the domestic system fails or is found wanting.
For example, on a request from Spain, late Chilean president Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998 for crimes against humanity, but he was released only on medical grounds. Yugoslavia's late dictator Slobodan Milosevic was surrendered by the Serbian government and was put on trial at the Ad-hoc International Criminal Court in 2002 on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Bosnian conflict.
The above instances demonstrate that no one, even a head of state, is immune from criminal trial against war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Cambodian situation
From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge leaders embarked on a pre-planned economic and social experiment and, during the experiment, about 1.7 million, especially those who lived in urban areas, died from brutal treatment, starvation and disease. As a result of the ill-conceived social experiment, millions of Cambodians were tortured and sent to killing fields due to policies pursued by the radical and rural-based Khmer Rouge.
More than 28 years after the killing stopped, Khmer Rouge leaders are being tried before a tribunal in Cambodia.
Kaing Guek Eav, 66, is among five major suspected criminals who committed crimes against humanity. The allegation is that 14,000 people were tortured under Eav's orders at Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, and sent to killing fields.
The statement of indictment said that under the authority of the accused, "countless abuses were committed, including mass murder, arbitrary detention and torture." The judge listed methods of torture that included beating, stabbing, suspension from ropes, removal of fingernails, and drowning in pits filled with water.
The hearing on November 20 came one day after the arrest of the last of the five alleged criminals being pursued by public prosecutors, the former Khmer Rouge president, Khieu Samphan, 76. Taken by the police from a hospital where he was recovering from an apparent stroke, he was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Two other alleged criminals were arrested on November 20, the former foreign minister Ieng Sary,82, and his wife, Ieng Thirith,75, a fellow member of the Khmer Rouge member committee.
The fifth suspected criminal, Nuon Chea, 82, the movement's chief ideologue, was arrested in September. It is reported that he had been living quietly next door to Khieu Samphan in a former Khmer Rouge stronghold, where most of their neighbours were also former members of the Khmer Rouge. Their leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.
The trial in Cambodia shows that if a country's leaders are determined to put on trial the accused war criminals for international crimes, time and inaction in the past do not matter. The trial can be commenced provided the composition and the procedure are fair and the rights of the accused meet acceptable and recognised international standards of justice.
The trial in Cambodia is seen to be consistent with the spirit and aims of the UN, and as action against inhuman and senseless crimes that are condemned by the civilised world. Crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide are the gravest crimes in international law, and effective punishment is an important element in the prevention of such crimes, protection of human rights, and promotion of international peace and security.
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