AsiaLIFE

From the show trials of 1979 to the current Khmer Rouge Tribunal is the legal process bringing truth and justice to the traumatised victims of the Khmer Rouge? Words by Nora Lindstrom.

Phung-Guth Sunthary has been a daily attendee at the tribunal since public hearings began. A civil party at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (ECCC), her father, professor Phung Thon, perished at S-21 when the camp was under the command of his former student, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch.

Sunthary wants to know the truth about what happened to her father, a respected professor of international public law. Her quest for the truth has been documented in the film About My Father, which was recently screened at the International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes in Biarritz, France.

“As the trial of the Khmer Rouge was going to be the first international trial that would accept victims in the court as civil parties, it seemed important to us to make a film that would focus on victims’ stories,” says the film’s director Guillaume Suon. “Through the eyes and the voice of a victim we wanted to explain what the important points of this trial are.”

Televised Tribunal

Sunthary’s is one of only 93 civil party cases brought against Duch in Case 001 at the war crimes tribunal. More civil parties are expected in Case 002 against Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, and Nuon Chea, yet it is evident not all those who suffered under the Khmer Rouge will be able to, or even want to, raise charges against the senior leaders of the murderous regime.

Judith Strasser is a clinical psychologist and senior advisor for the German Development Service (DED) at the local NGO Transcultural Psychological Organisation (TPO). She says studies have shown that victims who have chosen to become civil parties tend to have experienced more traumatic events during the Khmer Rouge, and also have higher rates of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

“There is a motivation to seek justice for their own suffering and the suffering of those who died,” she says. “However, a lot of victims are not aware about the possibilities to participate in the trial due to a lack of consistent information delivery, especially in rural areas.”

Access to and awareness of the trial are important issues, however, an even more extensive question lies in whether a multi-million dollar, televised trial meets the needs of a nation where according to studies as many as 14 percent of the population over 35 years of age suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder following the Khmer Rouge.

“As in any juridical process, the logic of law does not always meet the needs of victims,” Judith says. “Proceedings are complex and rules sometimes hard to understand for someone with no legal background and limited education.”

Nevertheless, a publicly broadcast trial with millions of viewers can encourage victims to speak out.

“The tribunal helps psychological processing for the victims,” says Dr. Muny Sothara, psychiatrist with TPO. Although few expect the tribunal to bring “100 percent justice”, a sense that at least some justice has been served can help both those party to the tribunal as well as those following it to process their experiences, he maintains.

“In Case 001 of the ECCC, we saw that participating actively in the tribunal's proceedings can lead to the experience of empowerment and solidarity among victims,” Judith says. “However, this is only the case if the necessary support structures are available.”

Testimonial Therapy

For nationwide reconciliation and processing, Sothara argues more grassroots activities are needed. TPO, the only NGO in Cambodia providing secondary and tertiary psychological and psychiatric services to trauma victims, currently offers Testimonial Therapy – a trauma healing approach especially designed for victims of severe human rights violations.

The technique is based on the notion that most victims of mass atrocities and severe human rights violations avoid talking about what happened to them. This prevents emotional processing of the events for the victims, as well as prosecution of the perpetrators. Through Testimonial Therapy, participants together with a counsellor write down their experiences, creating a testimony. The testimonies are then read aloud to the survivors and other community members in a Buddhist ceremony.

The method can help people “gain back dignity when their story is recognised and accepted by others,” according to Sothara. The ceremony can be a very cathartic experience, bringing relief and supporting the emotional recovery for the victim.

“The purpose of Testimonial Therapy is to process traumatic memories and to document human rights violations,” says Judith. She acknowledges that remembering past horrors can potentially re-traumatise the victim. However speaking out will lead to more questions being asked about the Khmer Rouge era, and people starting to challenge their beliefs of what happened during that time.

Testimonial Therapy ceremonies are not truth and reconciliation commissions, such as seen in post-apartheid South Africa. “At this point, Cambodian society is not ready to allow confrontations between perpetrators and victims,” says Judith. Sothara agrees, citing security concerns.

In About My Father, Sunthary tells her father’s captors and executioners they should not fear her as she seeks only truth and justice, not vengeance. She confronts Duch at the tribunal, demanding to know what happened to her father.

In response, Duch seems bewildered and emotional. He maintains he simply did not know his former mentor spent seven months at the otherwise so meticulously documented house of horror. Sunthary does not believe him.

“While some speak of reconciliation, for me it’s too early,” she says in the film. For her, truth must come before forgiveness is conceivable.