The People's Revolutionary Tribunal ( km, តុលាការប្រជាជនបដិវត្តន៍) was a tribunal established by the

People's Republic of Kampuchea The People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; vi, Cộng hòa Nhân dân Campuchia was a partially recognised state in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as So ...

in 1979 to try the Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot and

Ieng Sary Ieng Sary ( km, អៀង សារី; 24 October 1925 – 14 March 2013) was a Cambodian politician who was the co-founder and senior member of the Khmer Rouge. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea le ...

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'' for genocide.

Trial and verdict

The tribunal began seven months after the overthrow of Khmer Rouge's

Democratic Kampuchea Kampuchea ( km, កម្ពុជា ), officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK; km, កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ) from 5 January 1976, was a one-party totalitarian state which encompassed modern-day Camb ...

and was staffed by both Cambodian and international lawyers. The tribunal was held at Phnom Penh's ''Chaktomuk Theatre'' and transcripts of the proceedings were made available in Khmer, French and English. The court heard testimony from 39 witnesses over five days. The verdict, handed down on August 19, 1979, found the two leaders of the Khmer Rouge guilty of genocide, sentenced them to death and ordered the confiscation of their property.

Defense

Hope Stevens Hope R. Stevens (February 4, 1905 – June 24, 1982) was a lawyer, political and civic activist, and businessman. Early life and education Born in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and raised on Nevis, he was one of the founders of the Barb ...

Perceptions of the trial

At that time many Western countries led by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

dismissed the

as a puppet of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and the tribunal as a show trial.See Hurst Hannum, 'International Law and Cambodian Genocide: The Sounds of Silence', (1989) 11 Human Rights Quarterly 82

After the trial

Ieng Sary was granted a royal pardon by King Norodom Sihanouk in 1996 in exchange for his defection to the government. Pol Pot died in 1998 shortly after he was placed in house arrest by his deputy

Ta Mok Ta Mok ( km, តាម៉ុក; born Chhit Choeun (); 1924 – 21 July 2006) also known as Nguon Kang, was a Cambodian military chief and soldier who was a senior figure in the Khmer Rouge and the leader of the national army of Democratic Kam ...

External links

*
People’s Revolutionary Tribunal Held in Phnom Penh for the Trial of the Genocide Crime of the Pol Pot - Ieng Sary Clique (August - 1979): Documents
' in PDF format

References