On September 22nd the Khmer Rouge trials came to an official conclusion, with the appellate court upholding the judgment on the last surviving Khmer Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan. Confirming the verdict, the appellate court reaffirmed the verdict on the former head of the Cambodian state, during the nearly four year rule of the Khmer Rouge. This final verdict in the Supreme Court of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, known by its abbreviation ECCC, finally brings to an end the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT). Even while it heralds the end of a significantly important phase in the legal process of holding the Khmer Rouge accountable for acts of genocide, by way of justice it delivers little, especially as the key members of the Khmer Rouge have died during the course of the long process.

Cambodia was under the rule of the Khmer Rouge for nearly four years at the end of the Second Indochina War, in which the American forces were defeated in Vietnam leading to their withdrawal in 1975. Even as it signaled the end of the Vietnam War and its subsequent unification in 1976, it left devastating consequences on the region. While the US efforts were broadly focused on Vietnam, the implications of the conflict on the two neighbouring states of Cambodia and Laos were equally detrimental. In the 1954 Geneva Accords that ended the French presence in Indochina, the division of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam was enshrined, as was the neutrality of both Laos and Cambodia, which had actually become independent of French rule by 1953. However, this neutrality remained on paper even as the US eroded the territorial sovereignty of both Cambodia and Laos, while it ostensibly bombed these areas in the view that Vietminh forces were using these regions to access resources and move towards South Vietnam.

The emergence of political groups such as the Khmer Rouge and the Pathet Lao was a critical factor that shaped the regional political space in Indo-China during these years. The Khmer Rouge came to power in April 1975 and their rule in Cambodia till the Vietnamese intervention in December 1978, has witnessed a period of humanitarian atrocities and genocide with protracted forms of violence. The Vietnamese intervention supported the KNUFNS (Kampuchean National United Front for National Salvation), a breakaway faction within the Khmer Rouge led by Heng Samrin. The current Prime Minister Hun Sen was part of this group. From 1979 till the Paris Peace Accords in 1991 there was little political resolution to the Cambodian crisis, leading to a polarization of powers at the domestic, regional and global levels. In the aftermath of the UN sponsored elections in 1993 Cambodia has slowly slid back from the path of democracy to a single party rule under the leadership of Hun Sen.

As part of the reconciliation efforts, the United Nations began the framework for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as early as 1997, even though the actual establishment of the ECCC occurred only in 2006. At the time of the ECCC’s conception in 1997, the Royalist party led by Prince Norodom Ranariddh was a part of the coalition government set up in the aftermath of the UN sponsored elections. The Royalists supported the need for accountability and pushed for the UN backed ECCC as a way to heal the country’s divisive past and to account for the period of intense suffering that the Cambodian people had to endure under the Khmer Rouge.

However, the delay in implementation led to the actual process beginning only in 2006, with a clear mandate to focus on the central leadership of the Khmer Rouge consisting of five members - Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirath, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan. Two among the five literally got away – Pol Pot died in 1998 itself, while Ieng Thirath, the wife of Ieng Sary was found unfit to face trial as a result of severe dementia and died in 2015. While the remaining three members of the central leadership were detained, the deliverance of justice was far more complicated especially as the process met with undue delays and political resistance too, with Prime Minister Hun Sen hinting at the possibility of a civil war within the country if the trials went beyond its limited mandate and actively worked to prevent further indictments.

In terms of the technical details, the trials of the ECCC were limited to just two cases – Case 001, which convicted the former caretaker of the infamous detention centre, Tuol Sleng. Kaing Guev Eav popularly known as Duch, ran the dreaded Tuol Sleng interrogation centre that bears testimony to the crimes against humanity and stands as a memorial today. While he was initially given a 35 year sentence, it was later commuted to life and he died in September 2020. Case 002 was far more complex as it indicted three of the central leadership Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan. Ieng Sary’s death in 2013 resulted in his case becoming ineffectual leaving just the remaining two members. The case against both Nuon Chea and Khieu Samohan was divided into two parts – Case 002/01 was based on crimes against humanity for which both were found guilty. The appeal against the judgement was heard and in November 2016 this verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court Chamber within the ECCC.

The second part of Case 002/02 was for the specific crimes against minority communities belonging to the Cham and Vietnamese groups within Cambodia that were purged during the Khmer Rouge period. It was this hearing that highlighted the crime of genocide as it was focused on targeted extermination of individuals belonging to specific groups - religious, racial or ethnic. The hearing began in October 2014 and the verdict was pronounced in 2018, with clear convictions against both Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, for violating the principles of the Geneva Conventions and carrying out acts of genocide against the minorities within Cambodia. Following this, the long and lengthy process of the appeal started, during which Nuon Chea died in August 2019, leaving Khieu Samphan as the final member to face the charges of genocide.

The appellate courts verdict on September 22, 2022, is reminiscent of a poignant completion of the Khmer Rouge trials at the ECCC. Khieu Samphan’s doctoral thesis is regarded as the blueprint upon which the Khmer Rouge policies were implemented. In the very final verdict of the ECCC, he stands alone to face the charges of being guilty of genocide.

Professor Shankari Sundararaman is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.