Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, a look back in time (final)
Many who have visited Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng museum are left with many unanswered questions. Who was the infamous Pol Pot and how is it possible that he and his cronies got off so mercifully after massacring a third of the Cambodian population? Today part 2.
Cambodia Tribunal
This tribunal was set up to prosecute the leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime (Pol Pot et al.). The tribunal is a Cambodian court where foreign experts are present on behalf of the United Nations. The judges apply international and Cambodian law. Strangely enough, the establishment of the tribunal was not decided until 1997 and on June 3, 2006, almost thirty years after the crimes committed, 27 judges were sworn in, including 10 foreign judges. Dutch judge Mrs. Katinka Lahuis was one of them.
The tribunal has no international status but is part of the Cambodian legal system. Not surprising when we consider that the then Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, was a former Khmer Rouge executive and did not want anything else.
The five initially charged included Kaing Guek Ean (Duch), the former director of Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh and second-in-command of the Khmer Rouge after Pol Pot; Nuon Chea. Pol Pot died on April 15, 1998 and escaped the dance.
Defense
It's hard to imagine that there are lawyers who want to defend this kind of villain like Nuon Chea with great dedication. Perhaps such a person has a big ego to gain international attention. Nevertheless, Dutch lawyers Victor Koppe and Michiel Plasman, together with a Cambodian colleague, took on the defense of Nuon Chea.
Professional pride, the urge for fame, earning a lot of money or ... who knows, may say so. You have to be someone special to be able to defend such a person who is partly responsible for the murder of two million people and the most bizarre terror regime in global communism and to pull out all the stops, as Koppe has been doing for no less than ten years. -from 2007 to 2017- has done. Mr. Koppe completely disagreed with the Khmer tribunal and even thought that international law is too often about moral right and too little about establishing the truth. According to him, crucial witnesses would not have been heard and the political influence of the judges was great, he claimed in 2017 after his client was sentenced to life imprisonment.
It is not to be hoped that this lawyer had expected an acquittal, because then you have to assume that he has never visited the Tuol Sleng museum nor the 'killing fields', has viewed the various authentic film recordings that exist or has ever had a conversation with the few people who survived the many atrocities.
Far from our bed
For many, the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia were far from our beds and little was known about them. In HP/De Tijd, 9 January 2004, Roelof Bouwman already wrote about the GML past of Paul Rosenmöller (GroenLinks), who was a member of the Marxist-Leninist Group (GML) from 1976 to 1982, which even collected money for the murderous communist regime of Pol Pot and associates. This party wanted to model the Netherlands by force on the example of Stalinist Russia, Maoist China and Pol Pot's Cambodia. These were totalitarian regimes that killed a total of about a hundred million people. Sympathy for Stalin and Mao could also be found among other Dutch parties. In the XNUMXs, for example, the SP raved about both mass murderers, but the GML was even more radical. It is significant that Pol Pot in particular could count on the sympathy of Paul Rosenmöller and associates. Roelof Bouwman writes the following about this in the article Collecting for Pol Pot:
Socialism, it was believed at the GML, could only be established by means of an armed revolution cq. revolutionary mass violence. “What we want is to drive the whole bourgeois world to damnation,” said the GML leadership in 1978 in a May 1 message, which was read at a meeting in Amsterdam's Brakke Grond by a young man disguised in a balaclava. “It is this world that we want and that we will destroy in the violent revolution.”
The Khmer communists were busy implementing this idea in Cambodia at the time, so the regime could count on the unconditional support of the GML. In fact, Rosenmöller and his cronies must have had half a day's work promoting Pol Pot. He was praised in the GML monthly magazine Rode Morgen, in pamphlets, pamphlets and at demonstrations, and collections were even made for his regime. That the Khmer Rouge committed murder and torture on an unprecedented scale in Cambodia was simply not believed by the GML. According to Rode Morgen, it concerned horror stories, slander and demonstrable lies. In numerous pamphlets, the GML therefore called for support for Democratic Kampuchea, as Cambodia had come to be called under the Khmer Rouge: “Long live the people's war of the people of Kampuchea. Long live the lawful government of Democratic Kampuchea led by Pol Pot.”
This unconditional support for Pol Pot was appreciated by the Khmer Rouge. In 1979, the dear friends of the GML received a warm letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea. Rosenmöller and his comrades were thanked in the letter for their militant solidarity and support.
Paul Rosenmöller is rarely confronted with his past by journalists. On July 19, 2004, Andries Knevel did, however, in the Radio 1 program De Morgenen. When Knevel asked whether Rosenmöller did not regret his GML past, the former GroenLinks leader replied as follows: “Regret is not the concept that comes to my mind.” So you see that certain politicians and also some political parties can blow with many winds.
The fact that there was little or no understanding of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge leaders is even proven by a recent article in the newspaper Trouw dated November 2016. Under the heading 'It doesn't get any better than defending the Khmer Rouge leader', the newspaper publishes a story about lawyer Koppe.
The tendency of the story is more or less to praise the lawyer who states that the defense of Nuon Chea is the best case he has ever worked on. After nine years of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, the fire has been extinguished. "This is it. I'll stop after this. There won't be a better case. Do I have to go assist another money launderer or something?” Indeed, for nine years, the United Nations has paid my lord royally. Dagblad Trouw only lets Koppe speak and is silent as the grave about the genocide that took place in Cambodia. A newspaper that wants to be objective should also highlight the other side of the coin. The reporter completely ignores the terror regime and the murder of two million innocent people.
Sources:
- Book Brother Number One, a Politcal Biography of Pol Pot written by David P. Chandler.
- HP/De Tijd, Roelof Bouwman.
- Newspaper Trouw, Ate Hoekstra.
- History net / internet
Joseph, my compliments for this extensive and instructive article in 2 parts. I fully share your conclusion about the Dutch Khmer Rouge lawyers. In TV interviews, the lawyers downplayed the regime's misdeeds against humanity, and the terrible fate of the victims seemed to be dismissed. And Paul Rosenmoller was not only a member of the GML but according to Wikipedia in 1981 and '82 also a board member. At the time, the GML denied the massacre of the Cambodian population and when Rosenmoller was given the opportunity by Knevel to show regret or distance himself, he did not use this opportunity, probably because his enormous ego got in the way. The same Paul Rosenmoller is currently chairman of the Supervisory Board at the AFM (financial markets authority). It is incomprehensible to me that given his past this man has been assigned such a difficult position.
joseph,
Thanks for the article and details.
Lawyers & Money…
They are only focused on the money.
They don't benefit from solving a problem.
It should take as long as possible.
They prefer to make even more problems.
When they have nothing left to do, they start playing games, higher judge then lower judge.
Well, having and keeping a job.
Moral values and lawyers don't go together.
During our holiday we visited the Killing Fields and the Tuol sleng museum. We were really devastated for a few days about what happened there, I really can't understand that there are people like that in the world and even worse that they get away with it. Couldn't they have been arrested sooner and why are there people who help him with that.
If it is true that there is someone who decides about death and life GOD or BOUDA why does he allow this?
When I think about it, Pol Pot decided life and death.
Too bad such people are allowed to be born.
My family also visited the killing fields and the Tuol sleng museum. What made the most impression was the taxi driver who lost nine of his ten brothers and sisters to the regime. This should not be overstated and as far as I am concerned, Paul Rosenmüller should be questioned about this period, because this is very easy to walk away!
Some who were completely “off the track” have paid off everything..
On January 30, 2003, Rosenmöller became a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau!!.
In mid-June 2007, he was discredited because, as a supporter of the fight against the "grab culture" and the rule that no one should earn more money than the prime minister, he himself received considerably more money and compensation from public funds than the wages of the prime minister. prime minister, the so-called Balkenende standard. It turned out that in 2004 Rosenmöller received about 200.000 euros from public funds from the IKON, the UWV and two ministries.
Fighting the culture of grabbing….
Well, then you can grab yourself even more..
Yes Pieter, as a member of a wealthy family, his father was director and major shareholder of V&D, Rosenmöller was richly rewarded for his work after his political career. For example, De Telegraaf also reported in 2005 that as chairman of PAVEM, a government advisory body on the participation of ethnic women, he received € 1 annually for a 'job' of 70.000 day a week. After the publication and questions in the House of Representatives, he repaid an amount of €2 of the €140.000 he received. From a supporter and disseminator of Maoist ideas to his current position as supervisor of the financial markets is bizarre, a total revolution. Things can change, Brederode is said to have said. But I don't really want to distract too much attention from the terrible suffering that the Cambodian people have had to endure. And that is why I would like to emphasize once again that Joseph Jongen has written an excellent article.
Totally agree!
There are too many of these people in government.
Well, intellectuals…. do the stupidest things!
Intellectuals .. are actually the very stupid people they distinguish themselves by thinking differently .. But actually can't do anything themselves and others are the victims of their behavior.
I fully agree that Joseph Jongen has written a good article.
The truth of history must be kept alive.
Same goes for Romania, Ceaușescu,1967 to 1989…. a few years ago he was received with all due respect by various European governments..
Albania… until 1991, same story.
A very good article and it is good that Dutch names are mentioned, which tell their wrong history once again what wrong men they still are.
Thank you for this good explanation of a history that should not be forgotten.
What a bad man is the Rosenmóler and these devil's advocates: Victor Koppe and Michiel Plasman.
Danny
Why do “they” allow this??
Who are “they” and who has let all this go on for so long?????
Pol Pot and his cronies were executors and their actions can never be justified, any punishment is too light.
The world leaders who allowed such atrocities at the time are equally guilty — never before had a trial, let alone an international investigation, been opened.
Makes me think…..
I am often in Cambodia and every time I am confronted with the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, my mind goes: how can people do this to their own people? And get away with it too!
The Tuol Sleng is not a haunted house from a carnival or a Walt Disney production…..It is a gruesome reality!
What always remains underexposed in the whole story about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge is the support he received at one point from the people of Cambodia. In 1970, when Lon Nol staged his coup, the Khmer Rouge was little, their base was located in the mountainous north, close to the Laotian border and consisted of about 5 to 600 armed people. However, the gigantic corruption of Lon Nol's government and the increasingly heavy bombing by the Americans increased the aversion against Lon Nol, which Pol Pot took advantage of by starting a civil war against Lon Nol. At first he received little support, but that changed when King Sihanouk, who was granted political asylum in China, visited Pol Pot, which became known in Cambodia and then many Cambodians started to think, if our beloved King visits Pol Pot, then Pol Pot can never be as bad as Lon Nol claims. From then on, support for Pol Pot grew enormously, not because of Pol Pot's ideology, but because people wanted to get rid of Lon Nol's government. In 1975 the argument was over, but what came in its place was far worse than Lon Nol's government.
By the way, King Sihanouk was later asked why he went to visit Pol Pot, he replied: I was forced to do so by my Chinese hosts. Few Cambodians believe that.
The difference between our constitutional state and a dictatorship is, among other things, that with us someone is only sentenced if it has been conclusively proven that he or she has done something wrong. There are very precise rules that evidence must meet. If evidence does not exactly meet those rules, it does not apply. Because it is impossible for a layman to fathom the entire legal maze, you are entitled to a lawyer, who will check, among other things, whether the evidence complies with the rules. This sometimes leads to the acquittal of someone who “everyone” knows is the guilty one. Yet we choose to do so in a constitutional state. We believe that no one is wrongly convicted outweighs that someone is unjustly not convicted. That things can go horribly wrong is proven by the Putten murder case and Lucia de B. They eventually had a lawyer who committed himself to the case to look for the holes in the evidence, after which it even became abundantly clear that not only was the evidence missing, but that the convicts really couldn't be the perpetrators.
Fortunately, the same duty of proof applies to tribunals such as that in Cambodia. Otherwise people would be judged on the basis of absolute arbitrariness, and that is precisely what we accuse the perpetrators of. Even though “everyone” knows it, proof is needed. And lawyers are needed who check the evidence in the interest of the suspects. Because only on the basis of conclusive evidence can someone be convicted in a state under the rule of law.
Just to be clear: I couldn't, apart from the fact that I'm not a lawyer, defend someone who I'm actually convinced is the perpetrator. And I also find the amounts that lawyers charge for an hour of work shamelessly high. To call the tribunal his best case is rather clumsy, but I can imagine that from a professional point of view it is much more interesting than defending a shoplifter. But it would be going too far to accuse the lawyer of some kind of condoning the actions of his clients. Anyone who is ever confronted with an unjust accusation can hope that he has a lawyer who is completely committed to the case. (And especially hope that he can afford it). The truth is often more complex than we can oversee, as is also apparent from the comment that Trouw only highlights one side of the coin and is therefore not objective. The article being referenced is about Koppe, not the Khmer Rouge era. Search for Khmer Rouge and you will find hundreds of articles in Trouw in which all misdeeds are highlighted and one about Koppe. To prevent prosecutors from taking one such article as evidence and conveniently forgetting the hundreds of others, you need a lawyer.
(For once I played devil's advocate)
The point is not, as you put it, to accuse the lawyers of some kind of condoning the actions of his clients, nor to denounce the (international) jurisprudence. It is the attitude and statements of the lawyers in the Dutch press and during TV appearances that have grieved me. Their clients were in fact described as pitiful old men and the terrible fate of their victims was basically ignored. You can and can expect a lawyer to weigh and weigh his words in public. In that respect I find your qualification of 'clumsy', that Koppe calls the Tribunal the best case of his life, much too weak. Very painful and needlessly hurtful towards the next of kin comes closer. In addition, I believe that you cannot compare this Tribunal with a court case in the Netherlands, for example, in which there could be an unjust accusation.
You can object to the legal profession a lot, often rightly so. Without the legal profession, however, you saw away the legs under the right of defence. Those who advocate this are already well on their way to regimes such as that of the Khmer Rouge. Look before you leap… you don't even have to be an intellectual to do that. Just men's among men suffices.