NEW DELHI — The death Thursday of one of the last senior leaders of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime before his trial concluded underscores flaws in the war-crimes tribunal process that threaten to undermine the pursuit of global justice, according to lawyers, human rights activists and victims.
Ieng Sary, 87, who died after a battle with heart disease and high blood pressure, was co-founder and foreign minister of the Khmer Rouge. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians, one quarter of the nation’s population, died of disease, starvation, forced labor and execution during its 1975-79 reign.
As news of Sary’s death spread, many aging victims of the bloodbath, depicted in the 1984 film, “The Killing Fields,” expressed concern they might not live long enough to see justice served, given the tribunal’s slow pace.
“I feel regret that we lost an important person who could provide answers to many questions,” said Chen Mut, 75, a retired farmer from Ampil Chum, who saw 20 family members, including his son, die during the Khmer Rouge years.
“With his death, I lost a chance to hear his explanation,” he added, in an interview arranged through the Phnom Penh’s Documentation Center of Cambodia, which is devoted to preserving the history of this brutal period.
Sary was one of three remaining defendants in a joint Cambodia-international war crimes tribunal, raising fears that chief Khmer Rouge ideologist Nuon Chea, 86, and former head of state Khieu Samphan, 81, could die as well before their cases conclude.
All three have denied charges that include crimes against humanity and genocide, while Sary long maintained he had no knowledge of the regime’s atrocities.
“Good riddance to a non-repentant war criminal,” said Theary Seng, founder of Phnom Penh-based Center for Cambodian Civic Education, a charity group that promotes democracy, adding that this was an occasion for national soul searching. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
The tribunal has settled just one of its five cases with the sentencing in 2010 of former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, to life in prison for overseeing the deaths of about 15,000 prisoners. The fifth defendant, Sary’s wife, Ieng Thirith, 81, was ruled unfit to stand trial in 2010 given a degenerative mental illness.
Critics say Sary’s death underscores weaknesses in the tribunal process. Phnom Penh has often dragged its heels, given that many former Khmer Rouge members are close to or part of the Cambodian government. Aging defendants repeatedly have been hospitalized. Political infighting has raged. And international funding for the tribunal has waned, with proceedings stalled since March 5 by a strike of court interpreters.
“We want to see some success,” said Rupert Abbott, Asia researcher with the human rights group Amnesty International. “This death might be the moment when people wake up. We’ve got to focus.”
Critics say the tribunal has failed to deliver legal justice or national reconciliation.
“The victims deserve closure, and the court must be allowed to complete its work,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. “His death is no victory and carries little value for the regime’s victims.”
