Search Results for: khmer rouge

JURIST’s Sarisha Harikrishna interviews Professor Dr. John D. Ciorciari, Dean of the Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University Bloomington on the practical challenges of prosecuting genocide and war crimes in Asia. While international courts have established legal frameworks for addressing mass atrocities, their application in Asia faces distinct obstacles shaped by regional politics and diplomatic [...]

Cambodian lawmakers unanimously passed a revised law on Tuesday that toughens penalties for anyone who denies atrocities, including genocide, by the former Khmer Rouge regime. According to the government, the legislation aims to prevent history from repeating itself, to promote remembrance of Cambodia’s past, and to provide justice to victims. The draft legislation, first approved [...]

The Cambodian government Friday approved a draft law that aims to punish those who ignore, minimize or deny the crimes committed by the communist regime between 1975 and 1979. Under the revised law, the civil penalty for genocide denial will now be increased to one to five years imprisonment and 10 million to 50 million [...]

The approval of establishment of a hybrid special tribunal in The Gambia represents a significant development in the field of transitional justice, offering a potential model for other nations grappling with legacies of human rights abuses. This innovative mechanism, blending elements of international and domestic justice systems, aims to address the widespread violations committed during [...]

A court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Monday convicted four land rights activists on charges of provoking a “peasant revolution.” The activists are part of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC). The Cambodian government charged the activists with plotting against the state for discussing the history of wealth distribution and land rights in Cambodia. [...]

This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On December 9 we see the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, signed on the December 9, 1948, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed 75 years ago. It represents an an important occasion that aims to raise [...]

It’s been one full year since Myanmar has come once again under military rule. Since the February 1, 2021 coup, the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation has attracted international media attention, but for the wrong reasons. The country, with a 60 million population of varied ethnicities, continues to witness public protests against the junta, counter military [...]

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has delivered a split decision in the appeal against co-investigating judges’ conflicting closing orders in the case of former Khmer Rouge navy commander Meas Muth. Muth, who was charged by the ECCC in absentia on March 3, 2015, is believed to have [...]

International Criminal Court (ICC) members voted Friday to elect British human rights lawyer and Queen’s Counsel Karim Khan as the court’s next prosecutor, taking over from Fatou Bensouda. The vote, which took place during the second resumed nineteenth session of the Assembly of States Parties, saw Khan win support from 72 nations, surpassing the 62 [...]

Former Khmer Rouge leader Kaing Guek Eav, known as “Duch”, died in prison on Wednesday at age 77. The Trial Chamber of The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) convicted Kaing in 2010 of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 35 years of imprisonment. On appeal, the [...]