Forensic Legacy of the Khmer Rouge: The Cambodian Genocide

Abstract

The people of Cambodia were subjected to widespread forced migration and labor, disease, starvation, torture, murder, and indeed, genocide over a period of four years during the control of the country by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. While the country awaits some form of justice from the hybrid tribunal hearing cases against a few of the perpetrators of these crimes, it has undertaken to memorialize the dead in visible monuments in order that the people remember and never allow it to happen again. This paper outlines the few forensic investigations which have been undertaken on the remains of the deceased from this period in Cambodia's history. The current status of the legal proceedings and the current death investigation system in Cambodia are also presented. There is a wealth of objective forensic information that can be gathered from analyzing the remains that have been disturbed and placed in monuments (stupas), and also in the undisturbed graves across the country. This information cannot only assist in any legal proceedings, but can aide in training medicolegal experts in Cambodia for the future good of the country and its rule of law.

THE FORENSICS EXHIBITION: Displaying Human Remains as Material Evidence of Genocide

“…One of the most pressing concerns was management of the dead, many of whom had been hastily disposed of in mass graves, wells or rivers, or left scattered on the surface of the land (Bennett 2018, 187). Unable to farm land or fish waterways polluted by corpses, and managing the profound trauma associated with surviving the regime and its atrocities, the Cambodian population also faced difficulties caused by the rupturing of the cultural and religious practices and beliefs relating to the respectful treatment of the dead, and their successful transition to the afterlife (Bennett 2015; Gruspier and Pollanen 2017).…”

“…The Forensics Exhibition was one of three displays of human remains housed at Tuol Sleng that I saw during three visits between September 2017 and October 2018. However, according to the exhibit's creators, it is now stored in a room not open to the general public (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 420). It can be viewed online in a two‐dimensional form (http://d.dccam.org/Projects/Forensic_Study/Forensics_Exhibition.htm).…”

“…This project, launched in 2001 in the lead up to the beginning of the trials at the ECCC, was envisaged to have three phases and provide significant forensic evidence to supplement the extensive documentary evidence relating to the regime (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 419). Phase 1 was a feasibility study for the forensic exhumation of a mass grave of Khmer Rouge victims as well as an assessment of the state of forensic pathology in contemporary Cambodia (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 424). Phase 2 sought to identify gravesites undisturbed by either the removal of bones for the purposes of memorial construction or looting, and to select skulls “exhibiting typical patterns of trauma seen as a result of execution methods used by the Khmer Rouge” (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 424).…”

“…Phase 1 was a feasibility study for the forensic exhumation of a mass grave of Khmer Rouge victims as well as an assessment of the state of forensic pathology in contemporary Cambodia (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 424). Phase 2 sought to identify gravesites undisturbed by either the removal of bones for the purposes of memorial construction or looting, and to select skulls “exhibiting typical patterns of trauma seen as a result of execution methods used by the Khmer Rouge” (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 424). The final phase was to have been the scientific exhumation of an undisturbed mass grave.…”

“…The potential significance of this exhibit also lies in the singular lack of forensic evidence admitted by the ECCC because of the sense that forensic examinations were unlikely to “provide any additional evidence that would be conducive to ascertaining the truth … than that which is already on the case file” (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 428). This is contrary to the actions of other international courts and tribunals (Gruspier and Pollanen 2017, 428) and has further undermined the possibility of future forensic examinations.…”