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Journalism of Courage
PHNOM PENH, DEC 28: A Cambodian lawyer defending Khmer Rouge military leader Ta Mok said on Monday he would summon a host of Western leaders, including three former US presidents, to give evidence at a 8220;Killing Fields8221; genocide trial.
8220;Madeleine Albright, Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush: we are going to invite them to tell the world why they supported the Khmer Rouge,8221; Benson Samay told reporters. 8220;All the foreigners involved have to be called to the court, and there will be no exceptions,8221; he said, adding he would also attempt to secure summons for Thai and Chinese officials he said backed the genocidal movement.
Initially backed by China, the ultra-Maoist rebels later reportedly secured backing from the United States fresh from defeat in Vietnam as their anti-Vietnamese credentials became apparent. Battling a Soviet-backed Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia throughout the 1980s, the rebels reportedly secured covert aid from Britain and Thailand, as well as several other Southeast Asian nations and US regional allies.
The lawyer vowed the 73-year-old Ta Mok who served as Pol Pot8217;s Chief of staff and has been dubbed 8220;The Butcher8221; was keenly preparing for his trial and an opportunity to spill the beans on the murkyKhmer Rouge past and its network of foreign support. He is ready to tell everything in his trial about his innocence,8221; said Benson Samay, whose wife and daughter perished in Pol Pot8217;s agrarian collective. The one-legged Ta Mok was arrested in March close to Cambodia8217;s ill-defined border with Thailand, and was the last rebel still on the run.
He is currently being held in a military jail in the center of the capital Phnom Penh alongside Pol Pot8217;s former security chief Duch who was arrested in May.
