HONOLULU (Dec. 13, 2011) -- ‘Facing Justice,’ a series of weekly Cambodian TV reports (with English subtitles) about the proceedings in the second Khmer Rouge trial, is now available online.
The series is a followup to a similar program on the first Khmer Rouge Tribunal trial, which garnered up to 3 million viewers each week, or 20 percent of Cambodia’s population, and was credited with being one of the main ways Cambodians received information about the trial.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State ‘Facing Justice’ is a production of the Asian International Justice Initiative, or AIJI, in collaboration with Khmer Mekong Films. AIJI is a partnership between the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the War Crimes Studies Center at UC Berkeley in California. It is funded by the U.S. State Department, the Open Society Foundations, and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the British Embassy in Phnom Penh.
In what is known as ‘Case 002’ at the tribunal, three well-known members of the Khmer Rouge regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979 are accused of a multitude of crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The trial, held under the auspices of the ECCC (Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia) is currently taking place in a courtroom just outside Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. The court is a hybrid tribunal which applies both international and Cambodian law to try the alleged crimes of the defendants – Nuon Chea (‘Brother Number Two’), Khieu Samphan (Head of State) and Ieng Sary (Foreign Minister).
‘Facing Justice,’ shown on Cambodia’s top TV channel (CTN), presents a summary of courtroom highlights. The show provides straightforward explanations to help its 85% rural audience understand the complex legal issues likely to arise as this important trial proceeds.
‘Case 001,’ the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias “Duch” (who ran the notorious Khmer Rouge S-21 interrogation center and is currently appealing his guilty verdict), was covered by a similar TV series, called “Duch on Trial.” Time magazine called that series “a sleeper hit” that was one of the main ways many Cambodians got information about the trial. In a survey conducted in Cambodia by the Human Rights Center of the University of California, Berkeley, 23% of the respondents said they had seen “Duch on Trial.”
“With one in five Cambodians watching the show every week,” wrote Time correspondent Christopher Shay, “‘Duch on Trial’ has become the main way many young Cambodians, who were not taught about the Khmer Rouge in school, learn about the historic Khmer Rouge tribunal unfolding in Phnom Penh — and, in a lot of cases, hear about this dark chapter of their country's history for the first time.”
“We consider these films to be a vital tool in helping the Cambodian public and the world at large better understand the complex issues involved in these groundbreaking trials,” said AIJI Director David J. Cohen. “The goal is to help make the trial proceedings accessible to everyone in the interest of furthering the process of international justice.”
As it did with the first case, AIJI is also conducting a trial monitoring project for Case 002, in which a team of young lawyers and human rights advocates from all over the world, including Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Switzerland, and the United States, observe the proceedings daily and write weekly reports in English and Khmer. The reports are available online.
AIJI also co-produces a weekly call-in radio show in Cambodia in which listeners can ask experts their questions about the tribunal. Real-time trial updates and discussion are also available from the monitoring project on Facebook and Twitter.