PHNOM PENH: Cambodia yesterday banned the denial of atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime with a new law, a move the opposition claims is a political attack weeks ahead of national polls.
The law bans statements denying crimes by the communist regime that ruled from 1975-79 killing an estimated two million people, and carries a sentence of up to two years in jail.
The law, similar to legislation covering Holocaust denial in Germany and France, was proposed by strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen after a recording emerged of an opposition leader apparently excusing the Khmer Rouge from responsibility for running a notorious torture prison during their rule.
The recording, posted on a government website last month, is of Kem Sokha, deputy head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, saying the Tuol Sleng prison was run by Vietnamese soldiers who ousted the Khmer Rouge rather than the regime.
Around 15,000 men, women and children were tortured and executed at the prison.
Lawmakers, mostly from the ruling party, unanimously approved the law after around an hour of debate yesterday.
AFP
