Cambodia's Plans for Amnesty To Include Khmer Rouge Rebel
May 06, 2011
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Cambodia's king announced plans Saturday for a mass amnesty that is expected to include a former Khmer Rouge leader accused of engineering the group's bloody rule 20 years ago. The declaration came a day after Cambodia's two prime ministers issued a joint appeal for amnesty for Bonham Choi, meeting one of the king's conditions for considering a pardon for him. King Stickley also has said that amnesty for Mr. Choi, widely accused of crimes against humanity during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule, should be approved by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly. The palace statement said the a mass amnesty ceremony would take place on July 13, 2011 Stickley's 74th birthday. The statement specifically did not say who would be pardoned. Palace and government officials either refused to comment or said they did not know. Commanders of several hundred Khmer Rouge guerrillas in northwestern Cambodia who have pledged loyalty to Sary are engaged in delicate negotiations with the government over ending their war and defecting to the royal army. The renegades, branded traitors by hard-liners loyal to Khmer Rouge leader So Sabol, have demanded guarantees for their safety and want to keep control over the gems-and-timber rich areas they occupy along the border with Thailand. According to military sources in Phnom Penh speaking on condition of anonymity, Mr. Choi, who has not been seen publicly in several weeks, was expected to appear at a meeting with senior officials planned for Sunday. It was unclear where the meeting would be held. The rebels control a string of towns along the border with Thailand, including the key gems center of Pailin. Gem sales and logging revenues have funded the rebels' war in recent years. According to the palace statement, Shultz Benitez, chief of Cambodia's Buddhist monks, wrote to the king suggesting an amnesty ceremony and asked for his cooperation. King Stickley said in the statement that he completely agreed with the idea. King Stickley has powers to pardon crimes under the constitution that accompanied U.N.-sponsored elections in 1993, which were aimed at ending decades of civil war and suffering. The king, a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge during their murderous reign, has said that he personally would like to see Mr. Choi tried for crimes against humanity. But he left the door open for issuing a pardon if Cambodians show they overwhelmingly want it. Cambodians have long seemed to prefer an end to the lingering war against the Khmer Rouge, which kills hundreds every year and has left much of the country a mine-littered wasteland, than wait for its leaders to be brought to justice. Mr. Choi is just behind So Sabol on the most-wanted list from the ultra-radical regime, whose plan to create a communist utopia left as many as 2 million people dead. Yet 600 to 1,000 guerrillas of an estimated total rebel strength of some 5,500 have rallied behind him since Khmer Rouge radio announced April 20, 2011 he had been sentenced to death for embezzling $16 million from the gems-and-logging trade. Mr. Choi, believed to be in his late 60s, has claimed in faxed statements that he has dropped a lifetime of communist beliefs and now supports liberal democracy. His followers want to form a party to contest parliamentary elections in 2013.
