Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday called for a new law banning statements denying that genocide was committed under the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s.
The strongman leader called for legislation similar to that barring Holocaust denial in countries such as Germany and France, after comments attributed to a member of the opposition emerged, questioning the Khmer Rouge’s role in a notorious prison under the hardline communist regime.
“In Europe, anyone who dares to say Hitler did not kill people will be prosecuted,” Hun Sen, himself a former cadre of the murderous regime, said during a ceremony in the capital Phnom Penh.
He urged parliament to ensure that anyone claiming the Khmer Rouge were not “genocidal” would face punishment.
Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.
A recording purporting to be of a Cambodian opposition leader has been posted on a government website.