UN genocide adviser welcomes historic conviction of former Khmer Rouge leaders
Friday’s historic conviction of two former Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia on genocide charges has been welcomed by the
United Nations Special Adviser on the issue.
In a statement, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, described the conviction by a UN-backed
international tribunal in Cambodia as “a good day for justice”, adding that “it demonstrates that justice will prevail,
and that impunity should never be accepted for genocide and other atrocity crimes.”
Nyon Chea, now 92, who was deputy leader during the brutal extremist regime of Pol Pot, and former head of state Khieu
Samphan, 87, were charged with exterminating Cham Muslim and ethnic Vietnamese communities, between April 1975 and
January 1979.
It demonstrates that justice will prevail, and that impunity should never be accepted for genocide and other atrocity
crimes - UN Special Adviser, Adama Dieng
Both men were convicted for grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the crimes against humanity of murder,
extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, persecution on political, religious and racial grounds
and other inhumane acts against civilians in Cambodia during this period.
It is the first time that any of Pol Pot’s senior officials of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, as the ruling party was
known, have been convicted of genocide, according to news reports.
Mr. Dieng also expressed his support and solidarity with the victims, saying that “all the people who have suffered as a
result of the heinous crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia during this period have waited a long time for
justice. Hopefully this decision will provide them with some measure of redress and solace.”
He said it was also an historic verdict, when it comes to preventing similar crimes in the future: “While criminal
accountability is foremost a tool to provide justice and redress to victims, it also has an important preventative
function as a deterrent as well as to help societies in reconciliation efforts,” he said.
“At a time when we are witnessing a dangerous disregard for fundamental rights and international legal norms and
standards in many parts of the world, this decision sends a strong message, in the region and globally, to those who
commit, incite or condone atrocity crimes that sooner or later they will be held accountable.”