Father of a Slain Man Hopes the ECCC Process Will Shed Light On His Son's Last Days

Father hopes to see justice done

The father of a man who was murdered by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia has welcomed the arrest and forthcoming trial of one of the regime's leaders.

Roy Howes, of Backwell, hopes the arrest will be followed by the capture of other Khmer Rouge henchmen, including those responsible for killing his son, Christopher, in 1996.

Earlier this week, Kaing Guek Eve, also known as Comrade Duch, was charged with crimes against humanity by a UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia.

After seizing power in 1975, Pol Pot's communist Khmer Rouge spent three years trying to create a rural utopia.

It is thought about 1.7 million people died in the so-called Killing Fields as the Khmer Rouge abolished money and private property and ordered city dwellers to work in fields.

The Khmer Rouge government fell in 1979 and Pol Pot and his forces fled to the jungle as evidence of their atrocities was broadcast worldwide.

Bringing charges against Kaing Guek Eve, a 64-year-old former maths teacher, is a major breakthrough in efforts to bring the former Khmer Rouge leadership to justice.

He is believed to have been in charge of the interrogation and abuse of many thousands of innocent people during the late 1970s.

Mr Howes said he welcomed the charges against Kaing Guek Eve, and hoped arrests of Khmer Rouge leaders would follow.

He said: "We've been waiting a very long time for the people who ran this terror regime to be brought before the courts.

"The murders of Chistopher and his interpreter Houen Hourth were made to look as if they had just disappeared off the face of the earth. But bringing these people before the courts will, I'm sure, lead to the full facts of his final days being revealed.

"It was after his death that the Cambodian army pressed further into the jungle to bring an end to the Khmer Rouge."

Pol Pot died from natural causes in his jungle hideout in 1998.