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The ROYAL REBEL IN THE HOT SEAT,
HER LAST INTERVIEW TONIGHT,
PRINCESS SOMA NORODOM
UNDER INTERROGATION
LIVE ON-AIR
END OF AN ERA
. . .
February 2012
The Phnom Penh Post, 28 Feb. 2012
. . .
Screening of FACING GENOCIDE
this 25 Feb. 2012, SATURDAY at 4 p.m.
at Bophana Audio-Visual Center
followed by Q & A with Theary Seng, Khieu Samphan's antagonist in the award-winning film
For more information, www.story.se
See full public announcement . . .
. . . . .
"Most Controversial Woman"
chatting away with the "Royal Rebel"
about life in the Kingdom and growing up American
Royal Rebel (aka Princess Soma Norodom): We're going to talk about my uncles, okay?
Most Controversial Woman (aka Theary Seng): Okay, I love your uncles. I am a fan of theirs, especially Prince Sirirath who is so regal (beside the fact he's a prince).
Royal Rebel (aka RR or Soma): Do you know you're the most controversial woman?
Controversial Woman (aka CW or Theary): Really? [laughs] I did not know that.
RR: Really. It's a compliment. There were people who feared to have you be on our program.
CW: I am only articulating publicly what everyone is thinking privately.
RR: But you don't care what people think of you...
CW: But I do... I am not perfect. No one is perfect. I learn from the criticisms, if they are constructive. Ones which are malicious, I ignore them. I have thick skin. [laughs]
RR: Have you been in love?
CW: Yes, twice.
RR: Have you been married?
CW: No. I do want to be married and have children. I can't cook for the life of me, so I need a man who can cook. I am taking recommendations. [laughs]
CW: There's a presumption against women. We are worse than second class citizens.
CW: Our generation, the older generation, we owe the young generation an apology. We have limited their future. Rather than being a generation of sacrifice, we--the older generation--have squandered the future of our children. For that, we owe this young generation an apology. I think of my grandmother, my mom's mom, an illiterate woman to her dying day, who sacrificed her life so that her children, not only her children but her grandchildren (me!), and now her great-grandchildren (all 70-plus of us) could have a better life... From one life, limitless opportunities have been created for the children, grand children and great-grandchildren.
All photos courtesy of PUC Radio. Be a fan.
Pannasastra University of Cambodia is the country's premier university, and its radio station has the "royal rebel" hailed from notable American broadcasting as its host, Princess Soma Norodom.
. . . . .
Jeremy Lin’s stunning success with the Knicks over the last week and a half has captured the imagination of China, from Communist Party bosses to the often-persecuted Christian minority.
ESPN, 19 Feb. 2012
. . .
Absolutely absorbed by this incredible gift of a book by Peter Maquire! Addressing "American strategic legalism" ("the use of laws or legal arguments to further larger policy objectives, irrespective of facts or moral considerations") and "primitive political justice" like what is happening now at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal!
"As Otto Kirchheimer argued so eloquently, political justice is not illegitimate by its very nature; however, he warned that this is high-risk arena where the line between 'blasphemy and promise' is a very fine one."
"A sobering exploration of the hypocrisy and double standards that shape the laws of war. Maguire reveals the conflict between American ideology and American imperialism, the Faustian compromises made by our leaders during their elusive quest for justice."—Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking
. . . . .
Jim Pringle (see "The End of Duch"), Theary seng, Lili Panh, (Elizabeth Becker's husband), Rithy Panh, Roland Eng (Bophana Center's Opening Exhibition for Elizabeth Becker's Dangerous Guided Tour Through Democratic Kampuchea, 9 Feb. 2012)
When the War Was Over by Elizabeth Becker
A must-read for every visitor to Cambodia; and more so for every Cambodian, as it is also available in the Khmer language.
The End of Duch:
Could the tribunal spur a Cambodia renaissance?
By Jim Pringle, Asia Sentinel, 10 Feb. 2012
. . . . .
Life term for Cambodia
Khmer Rouge jailer Duch
BBC News, Guy De Launey, 3 Feb. 2012
There are dissenting voices. Theary Seng, who leads the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims, saw the life sentence as an attempt to make Duch the sole scapegoat for all the atrocities committed by Pol Pot's government.
. . .
Watch my film interview with Al Jazeera re the final decision on Duch, 3 Feb. 2012
. . .
The Phnom Penh Post, 10 Feb. 2012
. . .
KR tribunal suffers crisis of funding
DPA, 10 Feb. 2012
Prominent court critic and Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng said, "We are experiencing the rolling momentum of the weight of these crises to the tipping point of sham."
She said the tribunal's legitimacy was now "beyond restoring".
. . .
Reversal:
Cambodia genocide court to pursue more Khmer Rouge
By Miranda Leitsinger, MSNBC
Kasper-Ansermet's bid to reopen the investigation was the "fresh breath of U.N. air we have been demanding," Theary Seng, a Khmer Rouge survivor and an advocate for victims, wrote to msnbc.com. She noted his "unexpected assertiveness regarding his pursuit of the political(ly) controversial cases 003/4," which she alleged were "expressly blocked by the government."
"The U.N. and the Cambodian government are heading for a showdown because of the unexpected flexing of muscles by the U.N. vis-a-vis the Cambodian government," she added.
. . .
My Commentary in The Phnom Penh Post, 9 Feb. 2012
. . .
A Life Sentence for 14,000 Deaths
International Herald Tribune, 6 February 2012
One Cambodian human rights activist, Theary Seng, told Al Jazeera that she thought the life sentence for Duch was part of a government ruse to protect the remaining members of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy: “They want him to be the scapegoat,’’ she said, “for the whole Khmer Rouge regime.’’
. . .
9 News (Australia), 7 Feb. 2012
"The devil is in the detail," said human rights activist Theary Seng of the judicial split.
"It feeds into my fear that this was really a political decision to make Duch the scapegoat for the whole regime," said the campaigner, who lost her parents under the regime.
"We're only starting to chip away at the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era. Duch should not be made the face of the Khmer Rouge regime," she said.
. . . . .
Swedish Magazine featuring Theary Seng in its February 2012 issue.
. . . . .
MSNBC.com
Former Khmer Rouge Jailer's Sentence Increased,
Will Spend Life in Prison
Miranda Leitsinger, 3 Feb. 2012
... Theary Seng, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime and is an advocates for victims, said though she agreed with Duch's life sentence since it matched the gravity of his crimes, she was disturbed by the chamber's decision to overturn the lower court's acknowledgment of his confession, cooperation and illegal pre-trial detention.
"The legal implication carries dangerous consequences for the Cambodian national court system in the embedding of fair trial rights and due process, especially on the violation of pre-trial detention rights which is an abhorrent and pervasive problem in the national court system that we want (to) change in our society," she wrote in an email to msnbc.com.
She also noted that the life term, while appeasing the emotional sentiments of victims in handing out the most extreme sentence, had aligned with the Cambodian government's efforts to make Duch, "a small fish" in the regime, the "sole scapegoat."
"I am extremely disturbed because today's final closure on one case involves a man who was not a senior KR leader; Duch was the director (of) one prison, among 200 KR prisons. Where I was detained as a child (at age) seven, DCCam (the Documentation Center of Cambodia) estimated 30,000 were believed to have been killed there, including my mom," she said. "But this and similar other prisons will never get a hearing."
. . . . .
The Law Quadrangle
(University of Michigan Law School, Fall 2011)
. . . . .
Exploitation and Disempowerment of Victims at the KRT
Issues of Reparations
_____________________
COMMENTARY
____________________
Phnom Penh, 6 February 2012
On the advent of the Duch verdict on 23 July 2010, we, the Civil Parties of Orphans Class—a sub-group of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (www.akrvictims.org)—launched a public campaign for the “ECCC Inventory and Provincial Learning Centers as Part of [our] Right to Reparations for All KR Victims”.
By way of reminder, we have periodically re-released the public statement. Excerpt:
“After initial review of the ECCC website and communications with ECCC officials, it is our understanding that the ECCC has at minimum these basic items of inventory for its 500 personnel (350 of these Cambodian):
- 24 vehicles
- 200 desktop and laptop computers
- 25 photocopy machines
- 50 printers and scanners
- Telecommunications and communications systems (property of UN, according to Art. 1.3 of Supplementary Agreement Re Utilities, Facilities and Services)
- Air conditioners
- Televisions, screens, LCD projectors, video-conferencing equipments
- Transcription equipments
- Video cameras
- Office desks, chairs, tables, cabinets, bookshelves”
On 26 July 2010, the ECCC Trial Chamber’s verdict offered in full this reparation: “to compile and post on the ECCC’s official website all statements of apology and acknowledgements of responsibility made by [Duch]” (our emphasis). Unsurprisingly, the hollowness and insensitivity of this reparation triggered a public outrage! (It raised the rhetorical questions of: How many victims own a computer? And of those who own a computer, how many have access to the internet?)
Read more...
Also in KI-Media...
. . .
Background to Duch (Case 001)'s Final Decision
. . .
ABC Radio Australia's CONNECT ASIA
with me on Monday, 7:30 A.M. (Phnom Penh time), 6 Feb. 2012
Listen to broadcast on KI-Media
. . .
Duch Final Decision
Friday, 3 February 2012
Final Pronouncement of Supreme Court Chamber of ECCC
(Theary C. Seng's interview with a prominent international news company)
I just returned from the ECCC to attend the final appeal pronouncement of the Duch sentencing (I purposely avoided the word "verdict" because the whole of Case 001 has been on sentencing and not on whether Duch is guilty or not, as he confessed time and again).
The ECCC's final pronouncement on Duch was extremely disturbing! I agree with the life sentence as that accords with the gravity of his crimes. That is not the issue.
But what I find extremely disturbing are several things:
One, the majority of the judges (4 Cambodian + one Japanese) overturned the Trial Chamber's acknowledgement of Duch's confession and cooperation as well as his illegal pre-trial detention by the Cambodian Military Court. That is to say, this final verdict failed to account for his genuine confession, his consistent cooperation, and his illegal detention by the Military Court in 1999 until his pre-trial detention by the ECCC in 2007. Read more...
. . .
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
3 February 2012
Cambodia: Khmer Rouge judgment welcome,
but raises human rights concerns
Read more...
. . .
Another Interview with prominent International Press
re ECCC Imbroglio
1 Feb. 2012
Read full interview here...
. . . . .
The Khmer Rouge Tribunal in the Dock
In Search of Truth and Justice
_____________________
COMMENTARY
_____________________
Phnom Penh, 1 February 2012
“Truth is a pre-condition of justice. Justice is necessary for shalom (which is peace that is more than the absence of conflict but entails the presence of justice. The KRT is full of deceit. Deceit can never turn into justice, no matter how sophisticated the spinning; but to the contrary, it can turn even more dangerous when with UN insignia.”
Case File:
Victims v KRT
Mini-trial 1: Victims v RGC
Mini-trial 2: Victims v UN
Read more...
In KI-Media
. . . . .
Time is Ripe for UN to Disengage
from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
Theary C. Seng
Letter to the Editor, The Phnom Penh Post, 27 Jan. 2012
. . .
Case for UN Withdrawal
Article 28, Agreement between UN and Cambodia
Should the Royal Government of Cambodia change the structure or organization of the Extraordinary Chambers or otherwise cause them to function in a manner that does not conform with the terms of the present Agreement, the United Nations reserves the right to cease to provide assistance, financial or otherwise, pursuant to the present Agreement.
The Case against the ECCC
(KRT in the Dock)
. . . . .
Open Letter to Reporters and Commentators
"Civil Party" vs. "Witness"
By Theary C. Seng, Founding President
Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, 13 January 2012
Read more...
In KI-Media
In Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia
. . .
The New York Times / The International Herald Tribune
Seth Mydans,12 Jan. 2012
"Among others who have returned and stayed are Ou Virak and Theary Seng, prominent advocates of a U.S. brand of human rights and civil society, which at this point fits a little awkwardly with Cambodia’s strong-arm form of government."
. . .
My commentary on
"January 7 and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal"
Opinion Page of The Phnom Penh Post, 11 Jan. 2012.
Re-published in KI-Media.
. . .
Tribunal Judge’s Appointment Stalled With Government
VOA Khmer, 22 Dec. 2011
In KI-Media
UN (Swiss) Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper Ansermet
Phnom Penh Post, 10 Jan. 2012
Phnom Penh Post, 23 Jan. 2012
Phnom Penh Post, 26 Jan. 2012
"Another UN Failure"
Commentary Magazine
Bethany Mandel, 7 Dec. 2011
In KI-Media
. . .
Photo: Heng Sinith, 21 Nov. 2011
More photos...
If Commie regime censors KI-Media...
More images by Jenny Holligan...
Click here if the Commie regime censors KI-Media...
More photos at KI-Media...
Here, if the commie regime censors KI-Media...
Another set of photos here also...
. . .
Looking for Entrepreneurs to Develop Poetic Justice Products for Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia.
Dart Game Set includes:
* 54-page educational booklet (click here for complete booklet)
* 5 colorful darts
* dartboard with image of war criminal Pol Pot already mounted
* 5 additional war criminal images
** Each Dart Game set sells for US$7.00.
Please contact Ms. Sivnin at 017.993.118.
. . .
Theary Seng being interviewed by Mr. Cor Speksnijder of de Volkskrant, Dutch newspaper (Phnom Penh, 26 Nov. 2011)
de Volkskrant: You feel personally offended, don't you?
Theary: How can I not?! The honor of my father and mother is at stake. My dignity is at stake. I can speak as a lawyer on a professional level, but this is a deeply personal issue for me. I am both within and without... I am highly offended when the UN is effectively telling me, telling the other victims that all we, the poor Cambodians, deserve are the crumbs of justice... The UN is embedding all the dark mentalities we want to change in this society - the mentality of low expectations, the mentality of fear, the mentality of inferiority, the mentality of impunity, the mentality of cynicism... And yes, I agree with the opening statement of Nuon Chea's lawyer--the indictment of this ECCC--minus all the references to Nuon Chea, the one that was never made but sent out as a press release... I believe that guilt is not zero-sum; that is to say, Kissinger is guilty and his guilt does not absolve the guilt of Nuon Chea; he's still directly, personally responsible...
. . . . .
Poetic Justice
and Civil Party Withdrawal
in the News
Nov. 2011
Ex-leader: Khmer Rouge atrocities are 'fairy tale'
AP Newswire, 23 Nov. 2011
"I'm not surprised that Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary continue to deny their crimes as the charges against them of genocide, war crimes are very serious," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian lawyer and human rights activist who lost family members under their regime.
"Even if I am not surprised, I am however disgusted by their lack of remorse for the suffering they caused. They are delusional in their denial in light of the weight of evidence against them - the mounds of skulls and bones, the horrific testimonies from every survivor of cruelty, the magnitude and scope of evil unleashed by them across the whole of Cambodia."
. . .
"Khmer Rouge trial is failing Cambodian
victims of Pol Pot's regime"
Human Rights Watch Brad Adams' editorial
The Guardian, 26 Nov. 2011
. . .
"Justice Denied"
Douglas Gillison, Foreign Policy Magazine, 23 Nov. 2011
. . .
Deputy President of Victims Association, a Civil Party of the Orphans Class, Mr. CHEY Theara, Withdraws Civil Party Status, Denounces ECCC as Political Farce
_______________________
PRESS RELEASE
_______________________
Full statement in both Khmer and English in KI-Media.
Here, if ISP censors in Cambodia.
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Khmer Rouge Trial Missing a Marquee Defendant
Wall Street Journal, 21 Nov. 2011
“The release of Ieng Thirith is only one reflection of how incredibly late these trials are coming into place,” said Theary Seng, founder of the Cambodian Center for Justice and Reconciliation and herself, too, a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime, having lost her parents and spent five months in prison. She has withdrawn from the tribunal process, and instead put her energy into organizing public games of darts featuring the faces of the Khmer Rouge leaders along Phnom Penh’s riverfront – a “way of release” following victims’ frustrations with the trial process, mixed with “dark humor,” she said.
Watch the BBC News coverage
But the trial - a joint enterprise between the UN and Cambodia - has been heavily criticised. Theary Seng, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, said putting three people on trial for the deaths of 1.7 million simply wasn't enough. (BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011)
Filming for German DW-Global with Bastian and Sarin, 18 Nov. 2011. More photos...
Filming by BBC with Guy DeLauney, 17 Nov. 2011. More photos...
Khmer Rouge Trial: Cambodia Awaits Answers
BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011
. . .
Crying for Justice
AFP, 21 Nov. 2011
Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng told AFP she was "frustrated beyond words" that only Khieu Samphan looked likely to shed light on what happened. "The people want to know who is behind the Khmer Rouge, we want to see and understand the larger picture and we're not going to get that," she said.
From Tragedy to Sham in Cambodia
Asia Times Online, 19 Nov. 2011
In KI-Media
Others have gone further, arguing that the time might be ripe for the UN to pull the plug on the controversy-plagued court altogether. Last week, Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime and a prominent advocate for victims' rights, withdrew her status as a civil party to the court, describing the proceedings as a "complete sham".
She said the UN should threaten to withdraw after setting some clear conditions for its continued participation. By pressing ahead, Seng said, the world body runs the risk of rubber-stamping a flawed process and further embedding cynicism in the Cambodian population.
"I understand the unwieldiness of any large bureaucracy, but at the end of the day it comes down to personalities, and there have been extremely weak personalities," she said. "In this regard, the UN is complicit."
In the End, Loss of Faith in Tribunal: Former Complainant
Hello VOA Special with Theary Seng, 16 Nov. 2011
Khmer Rouge Victim Quits Tribunal Saying UN-backed Court is a Sham
DPA, 15 Nov. 2011
Prominent Victims' Advocate Quits Khmer Rouge Tribunal
VOA International/English, 15 Nov. 2011
KRT Critic Offers 'Poetic Justice'
The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Nov. 2011
Theary Seng Denounces Tribunal; Introduces Dartboard Scheme
The Cambodia Daily, 16 Nov. 2011
More photos from Poetic Justice/ECCC Withdrawal Press Conference, 15 Nov. 2011
Front pages of The Cambodia Daily and The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Nov. 2011
. . .
Click here to read the full press release...
More information at "ECCC Civil Party"
More information at Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia
In KI-Media
Theary Seng Criticizes KRT as "Political Farce"
The Phnom Penh Post, 10 Nov. 2011
Radio Free Asia (both AM and PM broadcasts on 10 Nov. 2011)
Cambodian-American Lawyer Withdraws her Civil Party Status
Voice of America Khmer Service, 10 Nov. 2011
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