The Khmer Rouge tribunal on Tuesday heard the testimony of a civil party left traumatized by the workload at the Trapaing Thma dam worksite who said he felt lucky to have survived. But his appearance prompted defense lawyers to air concerns that civil parties testimony was threatening their clients’ right to a fair trial.
The witness, Nhip Hort, was born in 1952 in Battambang province, part of the Khmer Rouge regime’s Northwestern Zone where the dam site was located.
The Khmer Rouge tribunal heard further testimony Monday related to the Trapeang Thma Dam worksite, but the witness’ experience as a company chief supervising workers were hindered by his ailing memory, raising a series of contradictions throughout his questioning.
Rice farmer Chhuy Huy told the court that he supervised 55 workers as a company chief at the dam site in Banteay Meanchey province, part of what was then the Northwestern Zone.
More than 100 police officers descended on a notorious slum in Sen Sok district’s Toek Thla commune on Friday in a coordinated effort to flush out drug-related crime from the ghetto, ultimately arresting 88 people for using or selling crystal methamphetamine.
Born Sam Ath, deputy municipal police chief in charge of crime suppression, said Friday’s raid of a neighborhood built on top of a drainage pond in Trapaing Chhouk village lasted from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap province is the world’s undisputed top tourist destination, according to Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travelist 2015, an exhaustive list ranking sights and travel hotspots that was released on Monday.
Cambodia’s national landmark scored 34 percent more votes than its closest competitor, the Peruvian ruins of Machu Picchu.
A former company chief at Trapeang Thma Dam worksite testified for a second day at the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Tuesday, shedding further light on the murderous command of dam boss Ta Val, who he said gave deputies carte blanche to kill their subordinates and would stalk the worksite in disguise.
Chhum Seng, a former Lon Nol soldier who commanded some 100 workers under the Khmer Rouge, drew scrutiny from the defense, which probed contradictions in testimony including his ignorance of an alleged rebellion plot that his colleagues have claimed intimate knowledge of.
A former company chief at the Trapeang Thma Dam worksite told the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday how underperforming workers were punished by starvation and were put to a test, such as walking through fire, if it was suspected that they were faking illnesses.
At the dam site, Chhum Seng worked under the brutal commander Ta Val, who he described as “a mean man who everyone was afraid of.”
Outgoing U.S. Ambassador William Todd met with Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Thursday in his final official meeting, bringing an end to a tenure that saw visits from the U.S. president and first lady, as well as the disputed 2013 national election and violence that followed.
The ambassador chose to end his three-year spell in silence Thursday, leaving the meeting at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Phnom Penh without taking questions from reporters.
The backlash began Wednesday against a new Education Ministry directive that bans political activities and unauthorized associations at academic institutions, with the country’s largest teachers’ union and various youth groups accusing the government of hypocrisy.
The directive, signed by Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron and dated Monday, threatens to shutter schools and remove academic staff and students if they are deemed to have tarnished an institution’s political “neutrality.”
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Tuesday informed Indian Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik that Cambodia wants plans to build an Angkor Wat replica in that country scrapped entirely, ministry spokesman Chum Sunry told reporters after a meeting between the two officials to mark Mr. Patnaik’s last day in his position.
When news broke in 2012 that a private Indian company intended to construct a grander “replica” of Angkor Wat temple, the most well-known building in Siem Reap City’s 12th-century archaeological park, Cambodia’s disapproval was almost instant.
Cambodia is planning to join the regional anti-drug-trafficking operation Safe Mekong, which aims to stem the flow of illegal narcotics through the notorious “Golden Triangle” area, after Thailand and Laos announced they had asked for Cambodia and Vietnam to be involved.
Thai Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya told Thai media on Saturday that Cambodia and Vietnam would be invited to join the operation, established in 2014 to coordinate intelligence between anti-drug forces in China, Burma, Thailand and Laos.
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