Cambodian lawmakers pass law against Khmer Rouge genocide denial

PHNOM PENH: Cambodian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a draft law making it illegal to deny atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, including genocide.

The ultra-communist movement — led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot — wiped out about two million people through starvation, torture, forced labour, and mass executions during its 1975-79 rule.

The draft legislation, similar to Germany’s law against Holocaust denial, still needs approval from the Senate before King Norodom Sihamoni promulgates it, but both steps are seen as formalities.

All 115 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Hun Manet, voted to approve the draft law, the National Assembly said in a statement.

The bill is to “provide justice for victims of the Khmer Rouge and prevent the atrocities from returning in Cambodia,” it said.

Under the seven-article bill, anyone who denies or condones the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge can be jailed for one to five years and could face fines ranging from $2,500 (10 million riel) to $125,000.

The bill’s definition of atrocities includes genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, which a UN-backed court prosecuted top Khmer Rouge leaders for nine years ago.

Adoption of the draft bill comes ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in mid-April.

It was made at the request of influential former leader Hun Sen who in May claimed that some politicians still refused to recognise the Khmer Rouge’s genocide and called on the government to punish them by law.

The law would replace a similar bill, also initiated by Hun Sen and enacted in 2013, that bans statements denying crimes by the communist Khmer Rouge and carries a sentence of up to two years in jail.

Hun Sen last month also called for a new law to label anyone who attempts to topple his son’s government as “terrorists”, as the country marked the anniversary of the ousting of the Khmer Rouge.

Rights groups have accused Hun Sen — who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades — of using the legal system to crush opposition.

Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge cadre, stepped down in 2023 and handed the premiership to his eldest son, Hun Manet.

A UN-backed tribunal found two top Khmer Rouge leaders guilty of genocide in a landmark ruling in 2018.

Several European countries, including Germany, Austria and France, have laws making it illegal to deny the genocide committed by Adolf Hitler’s regime in the 1930s and 1940s, which killed some six million Jews.

-AFP