The Khmer Rouge Tribunal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal - Essay Example In the trial, only four cases were planned to be carried out. The first case was against Kaing Guek Eav. Eav was the chief of the S-21 prison and was sentenced for more than 15,000 murders and crime against humanity. Eav was sentenced to a life sentence in prison. The rest of the three cases did not yield the same results. In Case two, only two people, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan were tried. One of the defendants, Ieng Sary, the foreign minister of Khmer Rouge died while his wife, Ieng Thirit was declared mentally unstable. The other two cases were never brought to trial. In this case, even the defenders’ names were not officially released. There were many others who were also not brought to trial. The government, in this case, was to blame as it forestalled on getting the perpetrators convicted. One reason behind this is that the present government is formed of many individuals who themselves participated in the incident. These people fear their own indictment and therefore t ry their best to clog the trial. In my opinion, these trials could have served as an important lesson in future against war crimes, genocides, and crime against humanity. The UN could have set a good example here. However, the tribunal did not have the desired result. It failed to try most of the criminals involved. Only Kaing Guek Eav, the chief officer of the S-21 prison was truly tried in the tribunal. The others found excuses for the trial. These people had power over the government to prevent them from standing trial.