MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now to Cambodia, where, in the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge killed as many as 2 million people. Decades later, a tribunal was established to help find justice in that Southeast Asian nation. But that tribunal has now formally declined to prosecute its last pending case. In the end, only three senior Khmer Rouge leaders were held accountable. Michael Sullivan has more, and we should note that this report includes a description of a mass murder.
MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: The Cambodian people waited so long for justice that some simply gave up after 10 years, or 20, or even 30 – prematurely, it turned out.
SULLIVAN: The regime’s chief torturer, Kaing Guek Eav, the commander of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, was the first to be tried in 2009. During his trial, co-prosecutor William Smith reminded the court and the world of the regime’s barbarity.