ELEANOR HALL: One person watching the trial in Phnom Penh very closely is New Zealand Olympic rowing great Rob Hamill, whose brother was among those killed by the Khmer Rouge at Tuol Sleng prison.
Rob Hamill told our New Zealand correspondent Kerri Ritchie that his brother Kerry was captured when he sailed close to Cambodia in the late 1970s.
ROB HAMILL: My brother was sailing his yacht, taking a charter from Singapore up to Bangkok and got blown off course and ended up in Cambodian waters, got captured by a Khmer Rouge gunboat.
One of the guys on the boat, there were three of them, one was killed at that time and my brother and another charter, a guy from England were taken back to Tuol Sleng.
KERRI RITCHIE: And what happened then. I mean, what do you know happened to your brother?
ROB HAMILL: Well, we didn't know for a long time what had happened. He was a regular letter writer to us when he was in his travels and his adventures and enjoying life and living it to its fullest and they just stopped.
We didn't know what happened for a long time. It was a good year wondering, hoping, wondering you know, before we found out what happened.
KERRI RITCHIE: How do you know that your brother was in that Khmer Rouge torture prison?
ROB HAMILL: We were contacted, we weren't contacted by anyone actually. We found out through the media - reading an article in a paper and it was on a radio station that particular day and information had been sourced through Interpol and that a confession; all the prisoners, there were about a dozen or so Westerners that were captured during that three-year period, and all were made to sign confessions that they were CIA agents and Interpol had some documents that were confirmed as my brother's handwriting.
KERRI RITCHIE: The trial is underway of the prison boss and he has asked for people to forgive him. When you heard that, how did that make you feel?
ROB HAMILL: It rings a little hollow. I mean I think Duch was a person who, I mean he must have been an ambitious man. He didn't get to be commandant of that prison by accident and from what I, my understanding in the research I have conducted suggests that he was ruthless and clinical and cruel.
I am going through a process where our family haven't grieved properly. Personally I want to be able to forgive but I can't do that.
KERRI RITCHIE: Is it hard being here in New Zealand and watching it from here? Do you wish that you were there in Cambodia to see this first-hand?
ROB HAMILL: I feel I should be there. Right at this minute I almost, just circumstances don't allow.
KERRI RITCHIE: But you are going to go to Cambodia to give a statement in coming months?
ROB HAMILL: I don't know when. It depends on the court process but certainly I hope to face Duch and make a statement on behalf of our family and the effect he had on our family in the hope that it aids in some way the sentencing process.
KERRI RITCHIE: How will you convey how much it ripped apart a Kiwi family?
ROB HAMILL: Mmm, well I am just going to tell the story and will describe the pain, the anxiety, the hope, the desperate hope. I think that was really, really hard on my parents in particular and they paid for it too with their health.
KERRI RITCHIE: What punishment is fit for this man? What would you like to see? What would bring you and your family comfort?
ROB HAMILL: I don't know. Look, I don't know what to expect from this. If I could bring myself to believing Duch's words, you know, that he can somehow see the error in his ways and I can believe him, there may spring a strange comfort, I don't know. I don't know ultimately but it is going to be, it needs to be done.
ELEANOR HALL: That was Rob Hamill whose brother was killed by the Khmer Rouge. He was speaking to our New Zealand correspondent Kerri Ritchie.
News Source: abc.net.au
Rob Hamill told our New Zealand correspondent Kerri Ritchie that his brother Kerry was captured when he sailed close to Cambodia in the late 1970s.
ROB HAMILL: My brother was sailing his yacht, taking a charter from Singapore up to Bangkok and got blown off course and ended up in Cambodian waters, got captured by a Khmer Rouge gunboat.
One of the guys on the boat, there were three of them, one was killed at that time and my brother and another charter, a guy from England were taken back to Tuol Sleng.
KERRI RITCHIE: And what happened then. I mean, what do you know happened to your brother?
ROB HAMILL: Well, we didn't know for a long time what had happened. He was a regular letter writer to us when he was in his travels and his adventures and enjoying life and living it to its fullest and they just stopped.
We didn't know what happened for a long time. It was a good year wondering, hoping, wondering you know, before we found out what happened.
KERRI RITCHIE: How do you know that your brother was in that Khmer Rouge torture prison?
ROB HAMILL: We were contacted, we weren't contacted by anyone actually. We found out through the media - reading an article in a paper and it was on a radio station that particular day and information had been sourced through Interpol and that a confession; all the prisoners, there were about a dozen or so Westerners that were captured during that three-year period, and all were made to sign confessions that they were CIA agents and Interpol had some documents that were confirmed as my brother's handwriting.
KERRI RITCHIE: The trial is underway of the prison boss and he has asked for people to forgive him. When you heard that, how did that make you feel?
ROB HAMILL: It rings a little hollow. I mean I think Duch was a person who, I mean he must have been an ambitious man. He didn't get to be commandant of that prison by accident and from what I, my understanding in the research I have conducted suggests that he was ruthless and clinical and cruel.
I am going through a process where our family haven't grieved properly. Personally I want to be able to forgive but I can't do that.
KERRI RITCHIE: Is it hard being here in New Zealand and watching it from here? Do you wish that you were there in Cambodia to see this first-hand?
ROB HAMILL: I feel I should be there. Right at this minute I almost, just circumstances don't allow.
KERRI RITCHIE: But you are going to go to Cambodia to give a statement in coming months?
ROB HAMILL: I don't know when. It depends on the court process but certainly I hope to face Duch and make a statement on behalf of our family and the effect he had on our family in the hope that it aids in some way the sentencing process.
KERRI RITCHIE: How will you convey how much it ripped apart a Kiwi family?
ROB HAMILL: Mmm, well I am just going to tell the story and will describe the pain, the anxiety, the hope, the desperate hope. I think that was really, really hard on my parents in particular and they paid for it too with their health.
KERRI RITCHIE: What punishment is fit for this man? What would you like to see? What would bring you and your family comfort?
ROB HAMILL: I don't know. Look, I don't know what to expect from this. If I could bring myself to believing Duch's words, you know, that he can somehow see the error in his ways and I can believe him, there may spring a strange comfort, I don't know. I don't know ultimately but it is going to be, it needs to be done.
ELEANOR HALL: That was Rob Hamill whose brother was killed by the Khmer Rouge. He was speaking to our New Zealand correspondent Kerri Ritchie.
News Source: abc.net.au
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