We may be genocidal thugs, but at least we didn't burn people alive.

by Michelle . · 2009-08-05 16:56:00 UTC
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The Cambodian genocide trials seem to get more grisly by day, as witnesses recount horrific experiences from the country's infamous "killing fields." Case in point:

A former security guard at the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison told a tribunal Wednesday he watched as a Western prisoner was burned alive.

But the head of the prison - the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial in the U.N.-assisted tribunal - denied it.

"It's hard for me to believe that the prisoner was burned alive. I believe that nobody would dare to violate my order," Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, told the court. "They had to be killed and then burned to ash."

I'm all in favor of fair trials and innocent-until-proven-guilty, but there's something about being the head of a prison known for its creative torture tactics, and notable lack of survivors, that has a way of damaging one's credibility.

[Photo of a sign at Tuol Sleng prison, now a memorial museum.]

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
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