Knowledge about the ECCC

To understand knowledge of the ECCC better, all respondents were asked several questions about their factual knowledge of the Court. In general, responses show an overall good knowledge and an improvement on the 2008 results. For instance, in 2008 only about half of respondents (53%) appropriately described the ECCC as a mixed tribunal and in 2010, this proportion increased to two-thirds (67%).

Figure 5: Factual Knowledge about the ECCC

However, many facts about the Court remain unknown. The questionnaire asked if respondents could accurately state how many people had been arrested and were awaiting trial at the ECCC at the time of the survey. Nationally, just 11% of adult Cambodians correctly identified the number of people arrested and 11% correctly named them. More than half (54%) knew that Duch was on trial, leaving 46% either not knowing or mistaken about who was on trial. Most important, knowledge about the ECCC among those who did not live under the Khmer Rouge regime was significantly lower compared to those who did. In 2010, just 3% of those who did not live under the Khmer Rouge regime were able to identify correctly the individuals that had been arrested to stand trial, compared to 14% of those who lived under the Khmer Rouge regime.[1]

Table 4: Factual Knowledge about the Duch Trial at the ECCC

Despite the wide coverage of the Duch trial in the media, the responses indicate general confusion both in the media and among the population about Duch’s jail sentence.[2] That verdict is currently being appealed, which may explain some of the uncertainty. Nevertheless, just 12% of the population was able to state accurately for how many years the Trial Chamber sentenced Duch to prison, and 11% could accurately state how many years he will spend in prison. The majority either did not know or provided inaccurate responses to either or both of these questions. Furthermore, 91% of the respondents did not know that the verdict was being appealed at the time of the survey.

Table 5: Factual Knowledge Duch Trial’s Verdict at the ECCC

[1] See Legacy section in the Background Chapter for information about history curriculum and education project implemented recently.

[2] The confusion arose because of the distinction between the sentence, 35 years, and time Duch would actually serve in prison. This confusion was especially acute on the day of the verdict, see Sirik Savina and Richard Kilpatrick, “The Duch Verdict: A DC-CAM Report from the Villages”, (Cambodia: The documentation center of Cambodia, July 26 2010), available at http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Living_Doc/pdf/The_Duch_Verdict-A_DC-CAM_Report_from_the_Villages.pdf. Some newspapers announced 30 years, see for example,“Duch Trial: Khmer Rouge prison chief sentenced to 30 years in prison”, The telegraph, 26 July 2010, available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/cambodia/7909799/Duch-trial-Khmer-Rouge-prison-chief-sentenced-to-30-years-in-prison.html while others said 19 years, see for example, “Khmer Rouge Prison Chef sentenced to 19 years” VOANews.com English, Voice of America, available at http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Cambodia-Verdict-2010Jul26-99215139....