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Genocide survivors seek justice

Rosan Ang of Santa Ana, left, bursts into tears when recalling the death of her husband and four children during the Khmer Rouge regime. She shares her story to help preserve history during a two-day workshop held by the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia in Santa Ana. Kieng Seng is the interpreter. (Photo: CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER)

Saturday, September 19, 2009
BY COURTNEY PERKES
The Orange County Register (California, USA)

Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge submit testimony for court.

SANTA ANA Rosan Ang never saw her husband or four oldest children again after the Khmer Rouge seized them more than 30 years ago. But on Saturday she finally caught a glimpse of justice.

Ang, 67, wiped tears as she recounted the horror of losing her family at The Cambodian Family, part of a national effort to collect information from survivors for the upcoming international justice tribunal trial of four Khmer Rouge leaders.

Audrey Redmond, a Washington, D.C., attorney, gently asked Ang what happened after the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia in 1975. Under dictator Pol Pot, roughly 2 million Cambodians were starved, murdered or worked to death.

"They sent us to live in the forest," said Ang, who lives in Santa Ana. "They separated my children. Only my youngest daughter survived because she was too young (to work) and she stayed with me."

Her husband went back and forth from a work camp. One day, he was tied up and taken away. She never saw him again.

As Ang spoke, Redmond patted her arm and took notes for the court's victim information form. She said the Cambodia-based tribunal is not obligated to use the information in the trial, but may choose to. The tribunal, which is currently trying one leader, is comprised of Cambodian legal officials as well as an international group from the United Nations.

More than a dozen survivors of the Khmer Rouge's brutal four-year reign attended the first day of a two-day workshop put on by the nonprofit Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia. They came to tell their stories for the legal system in their native country and also for the archives at New York University.

"They've been silent for 34 years," said Leakhena Nou, founder of the research institute and a sociology professor at Cal State Long Beach. "Now is the time to break the silence."

Volunteer Kenneth Long, a 30-year-old chemical engineer from Long Beach, thanked the group for having the courage to share their experience so that his generation would not forget. During a lunch break, he described hearing his father recount the pain he lived through for submission to the tribunal.

"It was the first time I'd ever seen him break down," Long said. "All his friends were wiped out. He was studying to be a lawyer. They killed his professors, his classmates."

Collecting the stories and filling out the official paperwork for submission to the court can take anywhere from two to eight hours.

"I had an interview with a woman the day before yesterday and she was systematically gang raped by three Khmer Rouge soldiers from morning to nightfall while she was six-and-a-half months pregnant," Nou said. "She was left to die at the rice paddy."

Nou also gave the survivors a presentation on post traumatic stress disorder. She showed photos of victims who were put to death and asked the group how they felt seeing them.

"My name was on the list of people targeted for execution but I escaped," responded 72-year-old Samien Thong of Arizona.

The testimonies will continue at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at The Cambodian Family in Santa Ana.

Contact the writer: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com

Cambodians hope KRouge trial can heal past wounds

Sunday, Sep 20,2009
AFP

Cambodia's first war crimes trial has unearthed painful ghosts from the brutal Khmer Rouge era, but as testimony ends in the case there is growing hope that it will put past traumas to rest.

Moeurn Sarath, whose father and husband were among the two million people who died under the 1975-1979 communist regime, said it was too painful for her to watch the trial of Duch, the movement's main jailer.

Yet while she said that the proceedings made "all those feelings come back to me again," she believes that the UN-backed tribunal is good for victims and their families.

"It is good to try those leaders because they have killed a lot of people," she said. "I pray that those people who died are at rest because now justice is being found for them."

The six-month evidence phase of the trial at the UN-backed court ended on Thursday, with the prosecution and defence due to present their final arguments to the judges on November 23. A verdict is not expected until early 2010.

The trial has heard Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, repeatedly accept responsibility and beg forgiveness for his role overseeing the torture and killing of over 15,000 as chief of Tuol Sleng prison.

Proceedings have been shown on a weekly television show in Cambodia and the court said that an average of around 300 people a day came to the tribunal to watch from behind bullet-proof glass.

Few Cambodians told AFP they regularly watched proceedings, but all held some hope it would heal the mental wounds in a country that remains strewn with mass graves and bone-filled memorials.

"Every day I have to work and spend less time with the news on TV or newspaper," said motorcycle taxi driver Sok Rorn, 45, whose mother was killed under the Khmer Rouge.

"But of course, I am aware of the trial. For certain, those people responsible for the death of my parent and many other Cambodians must be held accountable," he added, with tears in his eyes.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia.

This year the Cambodian government has agreed for the first time to include a text on the Khmer Rouge in its high school curriculum, a key move in a country where more than 70 percent of the population was born after 1979.

"I have heard and learnt very little about the regime and all those stories. Maybe because I've not experienced it, I am not interested to find out more about it," said Dav Sam Ath, an 18-year-old high school student.

"I'm sure the trial will help heal (victims') pain because if nobody can give them the answers of the past, how can they go on?"

Michelle Staggs, deputy director of the East-West Centre's Asian International Justice Initiative, said Duch's trial has offered important opportunities for witnesses.

"Some powerful symbolic moments have emerged at the trial," Staggs said.

One powerful moment occurred last week when Duch invited victims to visit him in prison, opening the door for ongoing discussion about the past, Staggs said.

Those watching Duch's trial have seen his defence team argue he is filled with remorse, and oversaw mass killing out of fear leaders would kill him and his family.

"I tried to survive on a daily basis, and that's what happened. Yes, you could say I'm a cowardly person," the 66-year-old said in court last week.

Of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently being held in the purpose-built jail at the war crimes court, Duch is the only one who has admitted guilt for atrocities committed by the regime.

The trial, his defence team says, is an important step in the reconstruction of Cambodia after decades of civil war. His lawyers have also argued judges ought to be lenient after their client's public displays of contrition.

But prosecutors accuse the former maths teacher of minimising his leadership role, and he has also denied several allegations he personally tortured and killed prisoners.

After Duch, the court plans to try former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith.

But the troubled tribunal has been hit by accusations local staff were forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs and allegations of political interference as premier Hun Sen has warned he wants no more ex-cadres arrested.

Cheng Chansok, a 53-year-old housewife, says she will wait to see the results from the court.

"It's important to me... I've lost my family members in the regime.

[Thai] PM thanks all parties for keeping peace at Saturday's rally

In Cambodia, a Deportee Breakdances to Success

Cambodian hip hop trainer Tuy Sobil, right, trains a boy in hip hop dance at his club in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 12, 2009 (TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP / Getty Images)

Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009
By Christopher Shay
Time Magazine (USA)

Tuy Sobil, who goes by the street name K.K., joined the Crips in Long Beach, Calif., when he was 13, started smoking crack, and was in jail for armed robbery by the time he was 18. After serving two years in Taft Prison in California and another three years in an immigration detention facility, the U.S. deported him to Cambodia in 2004 — even though he had never set foot in the country, couldn't speak the local language, and had a son back in California. "When I first came here at first I was scared," K.K. said. "You're always thinking you don't have anybody there."

Now on the eve of his 32nd birthday, K.K. has become one of the most admired men in Cambodia, running an organization called Tiny Toones in Phnom Penh that mentors and provides education to thousands of kids every year. Tiny Toones has earned write-ups in the local and international media, and his breakdancing group has spawned copycat troupes across the capital. In 2008, K.K. even performed in Hong Kong in front of President Bill Clinton — the same man who signed the law that got K.K. deported. Now, if K.K. gets his way, his program that turns hip-hop culture into an educational tool will reach thousands more of Cambodia's most vulnerable kids. "K.K. represents the opportunity to explore and discover your potential," says Holly Bradford, the founder of a local NGO that K.K. used to work for. "It's very appealing to people in Cambodia."

Despite these successes, K.K. will never be allowed to visit his mother or nine-year-old son back in California. In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which stipulates that any non-citizen living in the United States can be deported if convicted of an aggravated felony. From 1997 to 2005, about 675,000 non-citizens were deported for their crimes under the law, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

But for six years after IRRIRA was passed, Cambodia refused to accept the deportees, believing that they would be a burden on an already burdened country. Following the Vietnam War, the U.S. accepted tens of thousands of refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, granting them asylum and permanent residency. Laos and Vietnam still won't accept deportees from the U.S., but in 2002 Phnom Penh gave in as U.S. government pressure mounted. Roland Eng, Cambodia's former ambassador to the U.S., told an American journalist last year that the U.S. threatened Cambodia: "The U.S. told us that there would be no more visas issued, and our kids couldn't go to school in America. They forced the deal on us." Since then, 212 Cambodian-Americans have been deported under IRRIRA, and back in the U.S. between 1,400 and 2,000 Cambodian-Americans could be kicked out at any time. (Read "The Fallout of a Deportation.")

Some of the Cambodian-Americans now living in Phnom Penh with K.K. have been deported for aggravated felonies as minor as shoplifting and public urination. The law is also retroactive, meaning many had already finished their prison sentences and started rebuilding their lives in the U.S. before finding out that they would be deported. Sophea Heng, 28, who goes by his nickname Wicked, completed his yearlong prison sentence for assault with a deadly weapon in 2001, but was immediately transferred to an immigration detention center where he was held without a release date for two years. Wicked was only released after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a related case that Cambodian Kim Ho Ma could not be held indefinitely while awaiting deportation to a country that wouldn't accept him. For the next year and half, he kept clean, started college and found a new job, until one day the Immigration and Naturalization Service contacted him to fill out some forms. When he left the house, he had no idea that his time in America was up. "When I arrived they arrested me on the spot," he said. "I did everything I was supposed to do." Before Wicked knew it, he was in Cambodia.

All of the Cambodian-American deportees like K.K. and Wicked were given permanent residency in the U.S. as refugees or children of refugees; they were not in the U.S. illegally. But in many cases, their parents, new immigrants themselves, never went through the process of applying for U.S. citizenship. K.K. did not know he wasn't a U.S. citizen until he was convicted. After being dropped off in Cambodia with no support, K.K. volunteered to be part of the outreach staff at Korsang, a local NGO that has employed about a quarter of the Cambodian-American deportees. K.K. started visiting the slums of Phnom Penh and educating Cambodians about drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. When word spread that he was once a champion breakdancer in the U.S., he says a group of kids he was working with kept asking him for dance lessons. "On the third time the kids came to my house, I gave it a try," K.K. said, "And that's how Tiny Toones started."

That was December 2004. In less than five years, the organization has grown to reach more than 5,000 kids every year at its six sites, most in the heart of Phnom Penh's slums. Though Tiny Toones started off as a breakdancing group, it quickly expanded to include computer literacy, art, HIV/AIDS prevention, and lessons in English and Khmer, the local language. "We're using hip-hop," says Randy Sary, 28, who works at Tiny Toones. "After we get kids in, we have other programs like English and Khmer. You can't just be athletic. You have to be educated." K.K. plans to grow Tiny Toones even more, hoping to open a school for at-risk children by 2011. "A real, decent school that doesn't charge. One with a cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch, like when I was kid," he said.

For every success story like K.K. — and he's not the only one — there are more who are just eking out a living in their new home, and a few that just couldn't make the transition. Ver Chan, 33, whom Holly Bradford describes as a "sweet, gentle kid," was sent to Cambodia. In December 2007 — just shy of a year in country — he hung himself after struggling with bipolar disorder in Cambodia, where he couldn't get access the medicine he needed. Just this year, the U.S. deported another Cambodian-American with severe psychological problems. "The U.S. knew that these people had psychological problems. They had them on meds," says Bill Herod, director of the Returnee Assistance Program (RAP) from 2002 to 2005. "To deport them without any warning or medication... that's a violation of their human rights."

Since 2002, one other deportee is suspected of committing suicide and two others have been murdered, one of which happened after a deportee got involved with local criminals. Bradford, who was Chan's boss at Korsang, lays the blame for the suicides squarely on the U.S. government. "The guys that come here, they're products of American society," says Bradford. "They're American responsibility, end of story."

PAD protest ends in bloodshed

Govt Declares Martial Law As Villagers, Police Clash With Pad; Yellow Shirts To Read Sovereignty Declaration

20/09/2009
KING-OUA LAOHONG
Bangkok Post

SI SA KET : Dozens of protesters, police and villagers were injured in fiery clashes near the border with Cambodia yesterday as a protest by the People's Alliance for Democracy spun out of control.

The government declared martial law as PAD supporters, in a protest over sovereignty, met unexpected resistance from hundreds of Si Sa Ket villagers who blocked their path.

The PAD was trying to march to a disputed border area close to Preah Vihear temple. Stick-wielding protesters clashed repeatedly with riot police and villagers who were trying to keep them out.

Nearby, soldiers set up barricades to stop the PAD reaching the border area disputed with Cambodia.

They reinforced the Khao Phra Viharn national park office in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket.

But the government was forced to declare martial law after protesters were able to break through barricades to reach the military-controlled area.

The clashes between PAD protesters and villagers left scores of people on both sides injured, including two people in a critical condition.

Sert Piewkhao, 26, a local villager, was shot in the neck while PAD supporter Promsak Ritkraikul, 44, was hit in the eye by slingshots.

To ease the crisis, the government agreed to let 76 PAD representatives read aloud a prepared statement today at Pha Mor E Daeng, which is close to the disputed area.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said giving the PAD its say could help restore peace. Anyone who broke the law at the gathering would be punished, he said.

The government's concession capped a day of drama which started when PAD member Veera Somkwamkid and Charoen Muphankhachorn led about 2,000 supporters on a protest to assert Thai sovereignty over disputed territory near Preah Vihear temple.

They planned to march to the temple entrance to protest against Cambodia's decision to build new houses in a nearby 4.6 square kilometre area not settled by the two countries. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962.

Accompanied by so-called PAD guards, the demonstrators arrived in the province in cars, buses and vans. They were stopped by hundreds of villagers at Ban Phumsarol in Kantharalak district.

The residents blockaded the road to the park near the temple. Crowd control riot police in full gear were on standby.

Residents opposed the PAD protest, fearing it would aggravate the border situation and harm their livelihood.

"They [PAD protesters] are here for just a couple of days. But we and the Cambodian people are here for life so we do not want any complications.

"The temple dispute has been going for years. Why protest now?" said Boonreum Khobutr, a village head.

Si Sa Ket governor Rapi Pongbuppakij and Si Sa Ket deputy police chief Amnuay Mahapol asked both sides to back off, but to no avail.

After hours of trading insults, clashes broke out about 1.20pm. Slingshots, wooden stakes, rocks and blades were used as weapons.

The PAD guards broke through the barricades, taking protesters to a forest fire control station where they were prepared to spend the night.

Mr Veera and Suranaree Task Force commander Maj-Gen Chavalit Choonhasarn held talks for two hours after which the protesters retreated to the Sisa Asoke Buddhist community, which is a branch of Santi Asoke with close affiliations to the PAD.

Speaking while the negotiations were underway, Second Army Region commander Lt Gen Wibulsak Neepal said the army could not guarantee the safety of protesters.

He had proposed to army commander Anupong Paojinda that a group of 20 PAD representatives be allowed to enter the restricted area to make a declaration.

"The army chief has agreed. The PAD demonstrators have to leave the area as soon as they finish reading their statement," he said.

PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang yesterday distanced all five PAD leaders from the Preah Vihear campaign.

"Mr Veera is leading the campaign so any talks should be conducted with him," he said after the clashes.

Earlier, Gen Anupong said he doubted the PAD's campaign to enter the restricted area would do any good to themselves or the country.

"They will put themselves in danger if they sneak into areas which are not yet clear of landmines. And if they are arrested, Cambodia will accuse us of encroachment," he said.

US Representatives' letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioning the US military assistance to Cambodian "human rights VIOLATORS"

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Congress of the United States
Washington DC 20515

September 18, 2009

The Honorable Robert M. Gates
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon Room 3E 880
Washington DC 20301

Dear Secretary Gates:

We write today to bring to your attention concerns regarding U.S. assistance in the form of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to the Kingdom of Cambodia. As you know, the United States has provided approximately $4.5 million in FMF used for training and material assistance to Cambodian military, police, and counterterror units since 2006. According to testimony from Human Rights Watch at a Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on September 10, such training and assistance "has been offered to elite units that are notorious for the impunity enjoyed by their members, as well as to personnel from Prime Minister Hun Sen's bodyguard unit which has been implicated in countless rights abuses including a political massacre, under the cover of a newly created special anti-terrorism unit."

While the United States should work with foreign governments to professionalize and train security forces to respect human rights and the rule of law, we must ensure that such assistance and training is not awarded to members of the security forces that have committed serious human rights violations and continue to operate with impunity.

Enclosed please find the testimony of Human Rights Watch which was submitted for the record and details serious abuses by members of the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit, Brigade 70, Special Airborne Brigade 911 and Brigade 31 of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF).

Given the nature of the abuses detailed in the enclosed testimony, we ask that the Department of Defense please provide answers to the following questions:

What U.S.-funded training has been provided to RCAF's Special Airborne 911, RCAF's Brigade 70 and the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit?
Have members ofRCAF's Special Airborne Brigade 911, Brigade 70, or members of the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit traveled to the United States to receive U.S.-government funded training or on other official business? If so, what was the purpose of the travel? What vetting procedures were used before they traveled?
What equipment or other material support has been provided by the U.S. government to Special Airborne Brigade 911, Brigade 70, the Counter-Terrorism Task Force, the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit, or any other security services?
What U.S.-funded training has been provided to Cambodia's National CounterTerrorism Committee, the National Counter Terrorism Task Force and the Counter-Terrorism Special Forces Unit?
How many members of the Counter-Terrorism Special Forces unit come from the Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit? Do they retain their positions at the Bodyguard unit?
What actions have been taken to establish the identities of the Bodyguard unit personnel who were present during the March 30, 1997, grenade attack against the opposition Khmer Nation Party, and to ensure that these individuals are not included in any U.S.-sponsored training of RCAF forces?

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to receiving your response.

Best wishes.

Sincerely,

Signatures of the following US Members of Congress:

Frank R. Wolf
James P. Moran
Edward R. Royce
Maurice D. Hinchey
Tammy Baldwin
Mark E. Souder
Christopher H. Smith
Niki Tsongas

Human Rights Watch Testimony provided to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

Left to Right: Hing Bun Heang, Sao Sokha and Mol Roeup (Photos: Global Witness)

Source: Human Rights Watch

I. Summary

Relations between the US and Cambodia have warmed considerably since the US withdrew direct aid to the Cambodian government in 1997, after a coup by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen against their coalition government partner, the FUNCINPEC party.

In addition to deeply entrenched impunity for human rights violators, other key human rights issues include the lack of integrity and independence within Cambodia's court system, attacks on freedom of expression and pluralism, and the government's chronic inaction on legal reform. Those who speak out to defend their homes, their jobs, and their rights increasingly face threats and physical attacks, including trade union leaders, opposition party members, journalists, activist Buddhist monks, and community activists defending their land and natural resources.

In addition, the gap has widened between wealthy city dwellers and impoverished farmers in the countryside, exacerbated by large-scale forced evictions of tens of thousands of urban poor, illegal confiscation of farmers' land, and pillaging of the natural resources on which people in the countryside depend for their livelihood. Military units are often wrongfully deployed to carry out forced and violent evictions of villagers whose ownership claims to the land have never been properly or fairly dealt with by a court.

To make matters worse, the Cambodian government announced this week that it is terminating the World Bank's $24 million land titling program after the Bank and key donors, including the United States, called on the government to stop forced evictions until fair and transparent land dispute and resettlement policies are in place.

While Cambodia has experienced significant economic growth during the past 16 years, the government has rejected a rights-based approach to development. Economic growth would have been much greater if the rule of law would have been established and voracious corruption by Prime Minister Hun Sen and those around him had not drained so many resources from the country.

In October 2008 the US announced that it would be making its first financial contribution (US$1.8 million) to the hybrid trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders (the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia), which has been plagued by credible reports of corruption and government interference and manipulation. Ongoing statements by Prime Minister Hun Sen calling for the court not to engage in additional prosecutions seriously undermine the court's integrity, independence, and credibility. In helping Cambodia to address legacy issues lingering from the Indochinese wars, the US should be at the forefront of advocacy with the UN, other donors, and the Cambodian government itself in insisting that Cambodians deserve the highest standards of justice for the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge.

With the resumption of direct government aid, the US has begun to send mixed signals as to how seriously it takes Cambodia's legacy of impunity, political violence, and high-level involvement of government officials in human trafficking and other rights violations. US funding currently includes training and material assistance to members and units of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces that have been implicated in gross human rights abuses. It has strong counter-terror cooperation with some of the same individuals. The FBI has even given awards to some of the most notorious human rights abusers in the country, making many Cambodians wonder which side the US is on.

As one of the signatories to the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, one of Cambodia's biggest donors, and with great influence in Cambodia, the US should play a consistent role in insisting that Cambodia address its poor human rights record. The US government has to remember that its first priority is to stand with the Cambodian people. Good relations with the Cambodian government are a secondary priority.

II. The US and the Cambodian Security Forces - Impunity and Vetting

The US has provided training, material assistance and even awards to military, police, counter-terror units or related individuals with track records of serious human rights abuses. Since 2006, the US has provided approximately US $4.5 million worth of military equipment and training to Cambodia through the Foreign Military Financing program.

Training has been offered to elite units that are notorious for the impunity enjoyed by their members, as well as to personnel from Prime Minister's Hun Sen's bodyguard unit, which has been implicated in countless rights abuses including a political massacre, under the cover of a newly-created special anti-terrorist unit. The US has given the impression that it has forgotten or lost interest in the human rights record of some of these units or individuals.

While the US may have policy reasons to work with the Cambodian security forces on subjects such as counter-terror, it should work just as hard on holding abusers accountable and ending the culture of impunity that exists for high ranking members of the security services and those close to Hun Sen.

a) Prime Minister's Bodyguard Unit/Brigade 70 and New Counter-Terrorism Special Forces

Hun Sen's Bodyguard Unit, also known as Brigade 70, has a long history of impunity for its personnel who commit crimes, and well-documented involvement in smuggling and environmental crimes. Soldiers from Hun Sen's Bodyguard Unit, Brigade 70, were implicated in the March 30, 1997 grenade attack against the opposition Khmer Nation Party (now the Sam Rainsy Party), protecting the grenade throwers and allowing them to escape. At least 16 people were killed and more than 100 others (including an American) were wounded. The results of an FBI investigation into the attack found that the Bodyguard Unit was complicit in it, but the full results of the investigation have never been made public.

Outside of the normal RCAF chain-of-command, Brigade 70 is controlled directly by the Prime Minister. Reportedly comprising some 2,000 or more soldiers, the Bodyguard Unit was long commanded by General Hing Bun Heang, who is now deputy chief of the Prime Minister's Cabinet and reportedly remains in de facto control. The Bodyguard Unit has been implicated in political violence, most notably in a 1997 grenade attack on an opposition party rally. The Bodyguard Unit, mobilized outside of the normal chain-of-command of RCAF, also played a key role in fighting FUNCINPEC troops on the streets of Phnom Penh during CPP's July 1997 coup. In subsequent years, UN and NGO rights workers investigated several cases of individuals being unlawfully detained and tortured at the Bodyguard Unit's headquarters inside the Prime Minister's heavily-fortified residential compound. On or off duty, Brigade 70 personnel enjoy virtually unlimited impunity to commit.

Brigade 70 has an atrocious human rights record. Impunity enjoyed by its members is highlighted in the US State Department's annual human rights reports. In addition to the grenade attack, there are countless examples over recent years. A few examples include:

In July 2008, Brigade 70 soldier Dy Sothearith, moonlighting as a security guard at a factory, shot an unarmed factory worker over a minor dispute. The victim was paid $1,000 in compensation, on the condition he not pursue a criminal complaint. Dy Sothearith, who reportedly went into hiding at B-70's HQ, was not prosecuted.
In April 2006, Brigade 70 members Major Phat Sophal and Captain Sim Ry opened fire and shot a waitress whom they complained had brought them ice too slowly. Arrested by military police, the two were released hours later when their commander Mao Sophann intervened. The general subsequently said he punished the two officers by shaving their heads. No legal action was taken against them.
In July 2005, Brigade 70 member Sen Kok Heang, a former in-law to Prime Minister Hun Sen, attempted to kill two forestry activists in Kampong Thom's Sandan district. Brigade 70 soldiers were mobilized in that area to give protection to a Cambodian logging syndicate in the area.
In addition, B-70 has long been implicated in smuggling and the pillaging of Cambodia's environment; there is considerable evidence that cargo trucks belonging to the unit have systematically been used to transport illegally-felled logs and smuggled goods. In 2007, environmental watchdog Global Witness estimated B-70 was making between $2 million and $2.7 million from these operations, with a large cut of the proceeds given to Bodyguard Unit commander Hing Bun Heang.

b) Special Airborne Brigade 911

Brigade 911 has been implicated in gross human rights violations (including murder and torture) allegedly committed by brigade soldiers in the past. Paratroopers from 911, under the command of Major-General Chap Pheakdey, have been accused of gross human rights violations. In 1997, 911 personnel were implicated by UN investigators in the executions of FUNCINPEC military commanders captured during the CPP's coup, and the torture of other prisoners. No-one was brought to justice for these crimes. 911 members, disguised in civilian clothes, were also allegedly used to break up peaceful post-election demonstrations by the opposition in 1998. Subsequently, 911's commander Chap Pheakdey has maintained his reputation for acting with impunity. In 2006, he unlawfully detained one of his soldiers for more than a month, allegedly over a property dispute; no prosecution or other sanctions were taken against the general.

c) Brigade 31

Some material assistance has gone to military units with abysmal rights records. The commander of Brigade 31, for example, has confirmed that his unit used US-donated trucks to move villagers forcibly evicted by soldiers under his command in Kampot Province in 2008.

Brigade 31 (formerly known as Division 44 and then Battalion 44), under its long-time commander Brigadier-General Srun Saroeun, has an abysmal rights record. Its soldiers are alleged to have executed FUNCINPEC soldiers during the 1997 coup and fired gunshots over the heads of UN human rights officials investigating the killings. Headquartered in Kampong Speu province, the brigade has also long been accused of involvement in illegal logging throughout southern Cambodia. In recent years, its commanders have also been implicated in grabbing land from poor villagers. This raises serious questions about the quality of vetting done by the State and Defense Departments.

Brigade 31 assumed a "maritime security" mandate in late 2006 or early 2007 - the same time as an October 2006 joint defence assessment by RCAF and the US Pacific Command which identified maritime security as one of the areas for US support. This raises the question of whether RCAF deliberately gave the brigade a naval mandate in order to obtain US assistance. If so, this is a clear case of a military unit with a poor human rights record (but a record of loyalty to the ruling party) being rewarded and legitimized by US aid. Although US military aid is intended to improve the professionalism of RCAF forces, there are disturbing signs that RCAF is becoming more politicized and less professional, and that known human rights abusers are gaining increasing power within the RCAF structure. For example, General Huy Piseth, now an Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Defense, is former commander of Brigade 70. In January 2009 the government announced the appointment of seven new deputy RCAF commanders-in-chief, including military intelligence chief Mol Roeup; military police chief Sao Sokha; and Hing Bunheang, Brigade 70 deputy commander at the time of the 1997 grenade attack. All of these men have clear records as human rights abusers.

Clashes over Thai-Cambodia border

Preah Vihear has been scene of deadly clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops [EPA]

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Al Jazeera

Thai "Yellow Shirt" protesters have clashed with police and villagers at an ancient temple in territory at the centre of a dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

At least 15 people were injured in northeastern Sisaket province after members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) tried to march to the gates of the temple near land claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia, demanding the Thai government seize the disputed territory.

Protesters broke through barricades in attempts to reach the 11th century Preah Vihear temple near the border with Cambodia on Saturday.

Thai riot police used their shields to push back protesters armed with sticks who were trying to beat local villagers.

'Splinter group' blamed

Wayne Hay, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the region, said about 4,000 protesters had descended on the disputed border with Cambodia "to try to force some Cambodian villagers out of the area and back into Cambodia proper".

"There is a Thai police blockade that the PAD broke through with a bit of violence and also about four or five hundred villagers came out to try to stop the PAD from progressing," Hay said.

"There are also some skirmishes. We are hearing that there were several injuries as [protesters] went through that police blockade."

The PAD's leaders in Bangkok had distanced themselves from the protest, saying that a "splinter group" was behind it, Hay said.

Tear gas deployed

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, said security forces were trying to persuade the protesters to back down, amid fears that their actions could spark further conflict with Cambodia.

"I am asking the police and soldiers to negotiate with the PAD," he told reporters in Bangkok.

The temple, granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008, has been the scene of several deadly battles between Thai and Cambodian troops over the past year.

Cambodia said on Thursday it had deployed riot police with dogs, batons and tear gas at the temple.

Deaths in gunbattle

The Yellow Shirts have demanded that the government push Cambodian forces out of the disputed area around it.

The two countries have been at loggerheads for decades over Preah Vihear.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia.

But Thailand retains rights to enter the ancient Khmer temple, which has crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings.

A gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while four people died in clashes in 2008.