Stark drama recalls Pol Pot horrors as doubts form over trials

With claims of witness interference and bribery surrounding the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders, justice for victims may be further away than was hoped, writes Simon Roughneen in Tik Panhao, Cambodia

IN some of Cambodia’s thousands of killing fields, the bones of the dead can sometimes be seen, rising to the surface after storms or rain, like grisly emblems of an unburied past. Perhaps 16,000 died at the S-21 Detention Camp in Phnom Penh, or at the Choeung Ek killing field outside the city. An estimated 2 million people died during Pol Pot’s reign of terror.

On Wednesday evening, Tik Panhao was the scene of a searing, stark drama in the dimly-lit marketplace in front of the village pagoda, a bumpy hour’s motorcycle ride outside Phnom Penh. Tears run down Nhem Roeun’s face as she watches and listens to the performers on a makeshift stage.