A.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION
The book Cambodge année zéro ("Cambodia Year Zero") by François Ponchaud was released in 1977 and
translated into English in 1978.M Ponchaud was one of the first authors to bring the Cambodian genocide to
the world's attention. Ponchaud has said that the genocide "was above all, the translation into action the
particular vision of a man [sic]: A person who has been spoiled by a corrupt regime cannot be reformed, he
must be physically eliminated from the brotherhood of the pure." Murder of a Gentle Land: The Untold Story
of a Communist Genocide in Cambodia by John Barron and Anthony Paul was published in 1977. The book drew
on accounts from refugees, and an abridged version published in Reader's Digest was widely read.

In 1973, Kenneth M. Quinn of the United States embassy raised concerns over the atrocities being carried out
by the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian Civil War. In a report, he stated that the Khmer Rouge had "much
in common with those of totalitarian regimes in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union." Quinn has written of the
Khmer Rouge: "[w]hat emerges as the explanation for the terror and violence that swept Cambodia during the
1970s is that a small group of alienated intellectuals, enraged by their perception of a totally corrupt society
and imbued with a Maoist plan to create a pure socialist order in the shortest possible time, recruited extremely
young, poor, and envious cadres, instructed them in harsh and brutal methods learned from Stalinist mentors,
and used them to destroy physically the cultural underpinnings of the Khmer civilization and to impose a new
society through purges, executions, and violence."

During the genocide, China was the main international patron of the Khmer Rouge, supplying "more than
15,000 military advisers" and most of its external aid. As a result of Chinese and Western opposition to the
Vietnamese invasion of 1978 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge continued to hold Cambodia's United Nations (UN)
seat until 1982, after which the seat was filled by a Khmer Rouge-dominated coalition known as the Coalition
Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK). Motivated by its opposition to Vietnam, China trained Khmer
Rouge soldiers on its soil from 1979 to at least 1986, "stationed military advisers with Khmer Rouge troops as
late as 1990,"[ and "supplied at least $1 billion in military aid" during the 1980s. After the 1991 Paris Peace
Accords, Thailand continued to allow the Khmer Rouge "to trade and move across the Thai border to sustain
their activities ... although international criticism, particularly from the United States and Australia ... caused it
to disavow passing any direct military support."[ There are also allegations that the United States directly or
indirectly supported the Khmer Rouge to weaken Vietnam's influence in Southeast Asia. Owing to Chinese,
U.S., and Western support, the Khmer Rouge-dominated CGDK held Cambodia's UN seat until 1993, long after
the Cold War had ended.
 B. WAR CRIME TRIALS
On 15 July 1979, following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, the new government of Cambodia passed
"Decree Law No. 1." This allowed for the trial of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary for the crime of genocide. They were
given an American defense lawyer, Hope Stevens, and were tried in absentia and convicted of genocide. In
January 2001, the Cambodian National Assembly passed legislation to form a tribunal to try additional
members of the Khmer Rouge regime.

The United States refused to call the Cambodian genocide a genocide, and had refused to approve capturing
and holding a trial for Pol Pot, until 1997, after Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia, because the U.S. had been
providing diplomatic support for the Khmer Rouge in their war of insurgency against the government in Phnom
Penh.

In 1999, Kang Kek Iew ("Comrade Duch") was interviewed by Nic Dunlop and Nate Thayer and admitted his
guilt for crimes carried out in Tuol Sleng prison, where up to 17,000 political prisoners were executed. He
expressed sorrow for his actions, stating that he was willing to stand trial and give evidence against his former
comrades. During his trial in February and March 2009, Duch admitted that he was responsible for the crimes
carried out at Tuol Sleng. On 26 July 2010, he was found guilty on charges of crimes against humanity, torture,
and murder and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. On 3 February 2012 his previous sentence was replaced
with life imprisonment.

Nuon Chea ("Brother Number Two") was arrested on 19 September 2007. At the end of his 2013 trial he denied
all charges, stating that he had not given orders "to mistreat or kill people to deprive them of food or commit
any genocide." He was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has expressed remorse and
accepted moral responsibility for his crimes, stating "I would like to sincerely apologize to the public, the
victims, the families, and all Cambodian people."

After being located in an opulent Phnom Penh villa, Ieng Sary was arrested on 12 November 2007 and indicted
for crimes against humanity, as was his wife Ieng Thirith, who had been an unofficial adviser to the regime. On
17 November 2011, following evaluations from medical experts, Thirith was found to be unfit to stand trial due
to a mental condition. Sary died of heart failure in 2013 while his trial was in progress

Another senior Khmer Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan, was arrested on 19 November 2007 and charged with
crimes against humanity. He was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment. At a hearing on 23
June 2017, Samphan stated a desire to bow to the memory of his guiltless victims, while also claiming that he
suffered for those who fought for their ideal to have a brighter future.
CONTROVERSIES INVOLVED

Cambodian Genocide Denial

A few months before his death on 15 April 1998, Pol Pot was interviewed by Nate Thayer. During the interview,
he stated that he had a clear conscience and denied being responsible for the genocide. Pol Pot asserted that
he "came to carry out the struggle, not to kill people." According to Alex Alvarez, Pol Pot "portrayed himself as
a misunderstood and unfairly vilified figure". In 2013, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen unanimously passed
legislation that prohibits the denial of the Cambodian genocide and other war crimes committed by the Khmer
Rouge; a bill that mirrors legislation passed in European nations after the conclusion of the Holocaust. The
legislation was passed despite comments by opposition leader Kem Sokha, who is the deputy president of
the Cambodian National Rescue Party. Sokha stated that exhibits at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum were
fabricated and that the artifacts had been faked by the Vietnamese following their invasion in 1979. Sokha's
party has claimed that his comments were taken out of context.

Allegations of United Nations Support for Khmer Rogue

There are allegations that the United States (U.S.) directly armed the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian–
Vietnamese War in order to weaken the influence of Vietnam and the Soviet Union in Southeast Asia. It is not
disputed that the United States encouraged the government of China to provide military training and support
for the Khmer Rouge and that the United States voted for the Khmer Rouge to remain the official
representative of the country in the United Nations even after 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was mostly
deposed by Vietnam and ruled just a small part of the country.

Additional alleged U.S. actions that benefited the Khmer Rouge range from tolerating Chinese and Thai aid to
the organization (Henry Kissinger) to, according to Michael Haas, directly arming the Khmer Rouge. The U.S.
government officially denies these claims, and Nate Thayer defended U.S. policy, arguing that little, if any,
American aid actually reached the Khmer Rouge. However, it is not disputed that the U.S. voted for the Khmer
Rouge, and later, for the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which was dominated by
the Khmer Rouge, to retain Cambodia's United Nations (UN) seat until 1982 and 1991, respectively.

However, as Secretary of State Edmund Muskie said, these actions were a consequence of Vietnam's refusal
to withdraw troops, so there was never support for the Khmer Rouge:
In no way implies any support or recognition of the Democratic Kampuchea regime. We abhor and condemn
the regime's human rights record and would never support its return to power in Phnom Penh.

Allegations of US Military Support

U.S. support for the Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the 1980s was "pivotal" to keeping the organization alive, and
was in part motivated by revenge over Vietnam's defeat of the U.S. during the Vietnam War, according to Tom
Fawthrop. A WikiLeaks dump of 500,000 U.S. diplomatic cables from 1978 document shows that
the administration of President Jimmy Carter was torn between revulsion at the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge
and concern with the possibility of growing Vietnamese influence should the Khmer Rouge collapse.

Prince Norodom Sihanouk, leader of a resistance group allied with the Khmer Rouge in the war against the
Phnom Penh government, acknowledged that CIA advisers were present in Khmer Rouge camps in late 1989:
“Just one month ago, I received intelligence informing me that there were U.S. advisers in the Khmer Rouge
camps in Thailand, notably in Site B camp...."

According to Michael Haas, despite publicly condemning the Khmer Rouge, the U.S. offered military support to
the organization and was instrumental in preventing UN recognition of the Vietnam-aligned government. Haas
argued that the U.S. and China responded to efforts from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
for disarming the Khmer Rouge by ensuring the Khmer Rouge stayed armed, and that U.S. efforts for merging
the Khmer Rouge with allied factions resulted in the formation of the CGDK. After 1982, the U.S. increased its
annual covert aid to the Cambodian resistance from $4 million to $10 million.

By contrast, Nate Thayer recounted that "The United States has scrupulously avoided any direct involvement
in aiding the Khmer Rouge", instead providing non-lethal aid to non-communist Khmer People's National
Liberation Front (KPNLF) and Armee Nationale Sihanouk (ANS) insurgents, which rarely cooperated with the
Khmer Rouge on the battlefield, despite being coalition partners, and which fought with the Khmer Rouge
dozens of times prior to 1987. According to Thayer, "In months spent in areas controlled by the three resistance
groups and during scores of encounters with the Khmer Rouge ... I never once encountered aid given to the
[non-communist resistance] in use by or in possession of the Khmer Rouge."
Leakage of US Arms

Joel Brinkley stated that, although U.S. policy was to provide support to "15,000 ineffective 'noncommunist'
rebel fighters", "charges made the rounds that some of the American aid, $215 million so far, was finding its
way to the Khmer Rouge." A subsequent investigation led by Thomas Fingar of the United States Department
of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) "found some leakage—including sharing of ammunition,
joint defense of a bridge, and using one truck to transport both 'noncommunist' and Khmer Rouge fighters to
a fight." Fingar was dismissive of his own investigators's report, which he characterized as an "epiphenomenon
in a flea circus": "Isn't the larger objective here defeating the Vietnamese puppets in Phnom Penh?"