Son of Dith Pran Talks About Khmer Rouge Trials

Karen Ziner, my former colleague at the Providence Journal, has written an article of interest to those following events in Cambodia, now and in the past. Here is the link and top of article. I am unsure if you need to register to get on the ProJo site. Her email is kziner@projo.com

Karen is one of the finest journalists I know.

Son of Dith Pran says father would have relished seeing Khmer Rouge brought to justice at trials

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, February 15, 2009

By Karen Lee Ziner

Journal Staff Writer

Titony Dith and his father, Dith Pran.

Photo courtesy of Titony Dith

In April of 1975, as the Khmer Rouge advanced on Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, Titony Dith saw the rocket attacks and dead and wounded people lying on the streets. He was just a boy.

That was shortly before the Khmer Rouge captured his famous father, Dith Pran, whose story was immortalized in the film The Killing Fields. Dith Pran died of cancer last year, before Khmer Rouge leaders could be brought to trial.

“He would love to have seen the Khmer Rouge brought to justice,” said Titony Dith, 44, in a phone interview from his home in Virginia. “Before he became sick, he told me he’d like to see the trial go on, and for the Khmer Rouge to be brought to justice for all the people who died under the brutal regime of Pol Pot.”

Dith Pran had ties in Rhode Island’s Cambodian community — one of the largest in the country –– and made numerous visits here, including to speak about the Khmer Rouge holocaust. After his death, Cambodians here said that if not for Dith Pran, the world might not have recognized their suffering.