Seeking Security

The final living member of the Khmer Rouge regime took the stand Monday in an attempt to overturn charges of genocide and war crimes he’d been previously convicted of in 2018. In what is believed to be the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s final hearing, the legal team of 90-year-old Khieu Samphan, former Khmer Rouge head of state, argued in a Phnom Penh courtroom that their client did not have adequate time to prepare an initial defense, among other things. “It [the verdict] should be null and void, and so I am requesting the Supreme Court chamber to … reverse the judgment,” attorney Kong Sam On told the judges, according to the AP. Experts say the original conviction is unlikely to be overturned, though a ruling isn’t expected until next year. Samphan is one of just a handful of former leaders of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, whose members are commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, that the tribunal has managed to try and convict since it started prosecuting some 15 years ago. Some have lauded the Extraordinary Chambe