Head of Rutgers Genocide Center Can Provide Unique Insight as Verdict Nears in Khmer Rouge Trial

 NEWARK, NJ –As the world awaits a verdict on the fate of former Khmer Rouge leader “Comrade Duch,” many see the war crime tribunals trials in Cambodia as a last chance for justice for the 2 million people murdered during the rule of Pol Pot.

Alexander Hinton, an internationally known expert on genocide and professor of anthropology and global affairs at Rutgers University in Newark, can discuss the genocide and the tribunals.  Hinton not only attended much of the trial but also has witnessed firsthand the genocide’s emotional toll; he traveled to Cambodia to meet with survivors as part of his extensive research for his 2005 book, Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide.  He is now working on a book on the trial of Comrade Duch and the search for peace and justice in Cambodia after the Khmer Rogue genocide.

In addition to his research, Hinton is director of the Rutgers Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights, and is responsible for the establishment of the Documentation Center of Cambodia Public Information Room at Rutgers-Newark, which houses papers, photographs, films and other materials that provide a record of the 1975-1979 genocide.

Next month, he will publish Transitional Justice: Global Mechanisms and Local Realities after Genocide and Mass Violence; he co-edited Genocide, Truth, Memory, and Representation, which was published in 2009. Hinton also has written numerous journal articles on the topic.

TO REACH PROF. HINTON: ahinton@andromeda.rutgers.edu or by phone 973-353-5255 (office) or 973-820-1087 (cell)