Justice and Time at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal: In Memory of Vann Nath, Painter and S-21 Survivor

Authors

Alexander Laban Hinton, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Department of Anthropology and Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

Abstract

This essay explores the interrelationship of justice and time at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia [ECCC hyperlink: http://www.eccc.gov.kh/en] (ECCC, or “Khmer Rouge Tribunal”). In doing so, it follows the trial participation of the late Vann Nath, a survivor of S-21, a torture and detention center operated by the Khmer Rouge. From April 15, 1975 to January 6, 1979, this Maoist-inspired group of revolutionary implemented policies resulting in the death of up to two million of Cambodia’s eight million inhabitants, almost a quarter of the population. This essay argue that, even as they seek to help post-conflict societies like Cambodia “move forward through justice” (as the ECCC slogan goes), transitional justice mechanisms like the ECCC are premised on a set of temporal assumptions that are part of a larger transitional justice imaginary. Scholars and practitioners need to attend to such assumptions as well as the sorts of “vernacular time,” or local conceptions of temporality that also mediate the understanding and responses of people like Vann Nath.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.8.2.3

Recommended Citation

Hinton, Alexander Laban (2014) "Justice and Time at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal: In Memory of Vann Nath, Painter and S-21 Survivor," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal: Vol. 8: Iss. 2: 7-17.
DOI:

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.8.2.3