Cambodia war crimes

Witness History

In 2009, a UN-backed war crimes tribunal opened in Cambodia to try the senior Khmer Rouge commanders responsible for genocide.

An estimated two million people were killed during Pol Pot's regime in the 1970s.

Aged 26, New Zealander Kerry Hamill was on a sailing trip with friends when he mistakenly found himself in Cambodian waters.

He was taken to Tuol Sleng prison where thousands of people were tortured and murdered.

In 2022 Kerry's brother, Rob Hamill, told Josephine McDermott how he testified against the infamous torturer Comrade Duch.

(Photo: Kerry Hamill aboard his boat. Credit: Rob Hamill)

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