Ieng Thirith

Ieng Thirith: Served as Former Minister of Social Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea

Born: c. 1932 (birth day is unknown)

Charges: Crimes against humanity

Ieng Thirith, originally Khieu Thirith, was educated in France. There she met and married Ieng Sary, a man who would become foreign minister under the Khmer Rouge. Her sister married Pol Pot. She fled to the jungle along with her husband and Pol Pot when the Communist Party faced persecution in Phnom Penh. Upon the Khmer Rouge’s ascension to power, Thirith became Minister of Social Affairs and head of Democratic Kampuchea’s Red Cross. During the Khmer Rouge–instituted transition to an agrarian society, Thirith was assigned the duty to tour the country and evaluate health conditions. She noted the widespread health crisis that was developing and blamed it on “anti-revolutionary” forces throughout the country. This prompted a series of “purges” by Pol Pot resulting in numerous executions. Thirith allegedly helped orchestrate purges throughout the country as well as targeted for execution those within the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thirith and her husband were arrested on November 12, 2007. They both await trial. Thirith allegedly suffers from dementia.

Ieng Sary: Deputy Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 and 1978.

Born: October 24, 1925

Charges: Crimes against humanity; war crimes

Ieng Sary, sometimes referred to as “Brother Number 3” in the Khmer Rouge regime, began his association with Pol Pot while they studied together in France. Sary was also related to Pol Pot by marriage when he wed Khieu Thirith, the sister of Pol Pot’s wife. Sary fled to the jungles of Cambodia with Pol Pot to escape persecution from the Sihanouk government. He later went to Beijing where he actively supported groups that would ultimately be instrumental in overthrowing Cambodia’s government and installing the Khmer Rouge to power. Once the Khmer Rouge assumed control of the country in 1973, Sary returned to Cambodia and was a leader in foreign policy.

Sary oversaw the recruitment of former non-Communist diplomats into the Communist party. Many of these diplomats participated in ideological training. However, many were arrested by the foreign ministry and sent by Sary to S-21 where they were executed. Sary made frequent public statements in which he encouraged “smashing” opponents of the regime. “Smashing” reportedly was a euphemism for systematic executions. These statements allegedly demonstrate his complicity with and encouragement of atrocities. There is evidence to suggest that Sary was instrumental in attaining coerced confessions from some prisoners of the Khmer Rouge. Sary also played a key role in convincing ex-patriate Khmer intellectuals to return to the country, upon which many were executed. In 1996, Sary was pardoned after his defection from the Khmer Rouge. He and his wife were arrested on November 12, 2007. They both await trial.

Brother Number 2

Nuon Chea, "Brother Number 2": Chief political ideologist of Khmer Rouge; served as Pol Pot’s “right hand man.”

Born: July 7, 1926

Charge: Crimes against humanity.

Nuon Chea worked with the Cambodian Communist party from its 1960 inception. He served as the Deputy Secretary of the Central Committee and a member of the Standing Committee. This high status made him Pol Pot’s “right hand man.” He is accused of playing a leading role in crafting the Khmer Rouge’s policy of targeted execution. In order to consolidate the Party’s ideology, Chea lead its efforts to target political opponents. Many of the details of Chea’s role have been provided by Duch’s statements since his arrest. According to Duch, Chea orchestrated mass “purges” within the party. These purges involved direct orders from Chea to kill particular political opponents. Further, Duch testified that Chea directed his activities at S-21. According to Duch, on one occasion when the prison was overcrowded, Chea recommended killing 300 arrested soldiers, rather than interrogating them and obtaining forced confessions to expedite processing. In 1998, Nuon Chea surrendered, publicly “confessed,” and was given amnesty. His confession infamously lamented the deaths of Cambodians alongside the deaths of animals killed in the transition to the Khmer Rouge’s classless society. After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge, he lived in a small village near the Thai border where he was arrested on September 19, 2007. Chea currently awaits trial in custody.

Khang Khek Ieu ("Duch")

Khang Khek Ieu ("Duch"): Head of Special Security for Khmer Rouge; served as commandant of the infamous prison “S-21” (“Tuol Sleng”).

Born: November 17, 1942

Charges: Crimes against humanity; torture. Trial set to begin early 2009.

Duch was the head of “Santebal,” the national security wing of the Khmer Rouge. In this capacity, Duch may be directly connected to the abuse or murder of 15,000 Cambodians.

Duch was an early member of the Khmer Rouge leadership. From 1971 to 1974, prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover, Duch held Khmer Rouge prisoners in a facility named “S-21.” After the Khmer Rouge overthrew the government, Duch moved S-21 closer to the capital and reestablished the prison in a former high school outside of Phnom Penh which came to be known as “Tuol Sleng.” In this notorious facility, Duch and his security officials allegedly extracted forced confessions of political opponents through torture. Victims reportedly admitted they were “agents of foreign powers,” which provided a rationale for their executions. The family members of political targets were also killed. On one day in 1977, 114 women who were either married or related to previously executed men were executed. A note signed by Duch in response to an inquiry about the disposition of nine children arrested because of political associations of their families, simply stated “kill them all.” Other documents provide evidence that Duch oversaw experiments performed on prisoners and prisoners’ bodies involving torture tactics. Duch has confessed to killing prisoners personally in the waning days of the Khmer Rouge. As the Vietnamese invaded, Duch remained in S-21, trying desperately to destroy all documents revealing his role in the Khmer Rouge regime. He escaped to Thailand in 1979.

In the 1980s and early ’90s, Duch lived in Cambodia in hiding as a teacher as under the name of “Hang Pin,” in a town near the Thai border. In 1995, his wife was murdered during an attack on their home. Shortly thereafter Duch converted to Christianity. He joined an evangelical church and become a lay pastor. In 1999, he turned himself in to the authorities. His trial is anticipated to begin in early 2009.

Tourists look for luck at Pol Pot’s grave

pol pot

A group of unidentified Cambodian officials tour the cremation site of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot near Anlong Veng, Cambodia. A $1 million tourism master plan is being finalized to preserve and protect 15 Khmer Rouge sites, and charge admission.

ANLONG VENG, Cambodia - He was one of the greatest mass killers of the 20th century, but that doesn't stop the hopeful from praying at Pol Pot's hillside grave for lucky lottery numbers, job promotions and beautiful brides.

Nor does it stop tourists from picking clean the bones and ashes from the Khmer Rouge leader's burial ground in this remote town in northwestern Cambodia.

The grave is among a slew of Khmer Rouge landmarks in Anlong Veng, where the movement's guerrillas made their last stand in 1998 just as Pol Pot lay dying. A $1 million tourism master plan is being finalized to preserve and protect 15 of the sites, and charge admission.

Included on the tour will be the houses and hideouts of the Khmer Rouge leaders, an execution site and places associated with Ta Mok, a brutal commander and Anlong Veng's last boss.

"People want to see the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge and places where they committed atrocities," says Seang Sokheng, who heads the district tourism office and himself an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier.

Anlong Veng, he says, now receives about 2,000 Cambodian and 60 foreign tourists each month — a number that should jump when a casino is built by tycoons from nearby Thailand. A museum is also in the works, spearheaded by Nhem En, the chief photographer of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture center in Phnom Penh, a major tourist attraction for years.

"There are museums about World War II in Europe and people are still interested in Hitler. Why not about one of the world's most infamous leaders?" says Nhem En, now the deputy chief of Anlong Veng district. The museum will include his extensive photo collection and even a rice field to show visitors how people slaved under Khmer Rouge guns during their mid-1970s reign of terror.

Like virtually everyone here, he says he took no part in the atrocities but blames the top leaders.

"Pol Pot was cremated here. Please help to preserve this historical site," reads a sign next to a mound demarcated by bottles stuck into the ground and protected by a rusting, corrugated iron roof. A few wilting flowers sprout around the unguarded grave site, which officials complain has been virtually stripped of Pol Pot's cremated remains by foreign tourists.

"People come here, especially on holy days, because they believe Pol Pot's spirit is powerful," says Tith Ponlok, who served as the leader's bodyguard and lives near the burial ground.

Cambodians in the area, he says, have won an unusual number of lotteries, prompting Thais to come across the border and beseech Pol Pot to reveal winning numbers in their dreams. Government officials from Phnom Penh and others also make the pilgrimage, asking his spirit to make assorted wishes come true.