Report: Pol Pot near tears during Khmer Rouge trial
Cambodia's parliament reconvenes after six-month recess
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July 28, 1997
Web posted at: 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT)PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- Rebel leader Pol Pot, responsible for Cambodian genocide two decades ago, was close to tears as he was denounced by hundreds of his former Khmer Rouge comrades at a show trial late last week, an American journalist who witnessed the scene said Monday.
Nate Thayer, a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review, said in a press release that a white-haired and ill-looking Pol Pot, dressed in baggy black trousers, a gray shirt and blue scarf, listened in silence as he was condemned by a succession of speakers in Anlong Veng, a Khmer Rouge stronghold about 200 miles northwest of Phnom Penh.
After the 80-minute outdoor trial Friday -- and a sentence of life in prison -- Thayer said Pol Pot, 69, needed to be assisted by men gripping his arms.
"You could see the anguish on his face as he was denounced by his former loyalists. He was close to tears," Thayer said in the release issued by his magazine.
Pol Pot was the architect of the Khmer Rouge's brutal "killing fields" rule from 1975-79 during which up to 2 million Cambodians were killed by execution, torture, disease, starvation or hard labor.
Why Khmer Rouge turned against Pol Pot
Khmer Rouge radio first denounced Pol Pot in mid-June, shortly after a bloody split in the secretive Maoist group's top leadership in which defense chief Son Sen and almost a dozen members of his family were slaughtered.
Pol Pot and three of his commanders were found guilty of murdering Son Sen and his family, of "destroying national reconciliation" and of stealing money from the party, Thayer said.
The three commanders were also said to have raped the wives of their comrades, he said.
Pol Pot executed Son Sen for allegedly betraying him during peace negotiations the Khmer Rouge was holding with First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who was deposed earlier this month in a coup by his co-premier, Hun Sen.
Pol Pot fled through the jungles, carried on a stretcher by a few loyal guerrillas, until he was captured by his former men.
Thayer, the first Western journalist to see Pol Pot in 18 years, said the trial in northern Cambodia was clearly stage-managed but he said there was no doubt Pol Pot's downfall was genuine.
"This is not a hoax, this is not a ruse. Pol Pot is finished," he said. "The Khmer Rouge as we have known them no longer exist."
Hun Sen doesn't believe it
But in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said on Monday that Khmer Rouge political leader Khieu Samphan could not control the guerrilla group and that Pol Pot was still in charge.
"Khieu Samphan cannot control the Khmer Rouge hard-liners, so Pol Pot must keep power," he said.
Since Ranariddh's ouster the Khmer Rouge guerrilla group has made clear it supports the prince, repeatedly criticizing Hun Sen's power-grab in its radio broadcasts.
On Monday, Khmer Rouge radio blasted a parliament session expected to approve the nomination of Foreign Minister to succeed Ranariddh as first prime minister, thus preserving the form of a coalition government set up after the U.N.-supervised elections of 1993.
Cambodia's acting head of state, , opened the on Monday following a six-month recess.
Chea Sim described Hun Sen's rout of forces loyal to Ranariddh as a "mopping up operation" necessary to prevent a terrorist overthrow of the government.
Reuters contributed to this report.
- Newsmaker Profile: Pol Pot
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- Pol Pot captured, but where is he? - June 20, 1997
- Unconfirmed report: Pol Pot captured - June 20, 1997
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- Cambodian general: Pol Pot surrenders - June 18, 1997
- Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge denounces him - June 17, 1997
- Pol Pot reportedly trapped in Cambodian jungle - June 14, 1997
- Pol Pot reportedly on the run after slaughter - June 13, 1997
- 'Killing Fields' victims surface on the Internet - Feb. 1, 1997
Related sites:
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- Far Eastern Economic Review
- United Nations Home Page
- Destination Cambodia
- Cambodia - CARE
- The Cambodian Genocide Program
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