It is a very sad time in a history of a people when they have to confine speech about their deepest sufferings to the private sphere, even often having to suppress their tears. For to mourn is a basic human need and people mourn in public to share their grief with the collective to which they internally belong. In a great book entitled Inability to Mourn , written by Alexander and Mitscherlich, the author a clinical psychologist explained how in the post- war Germany many people became sick due to their inability to mourn and to recognize the problems they collective faced due to Germany s role in second world war. Perhaps, the trial may prove to be such a moment of collective mourning. One hopes it will be so and the people will begin to deal with the human impact of the large scale destruction of their loved ones and their fellow countrymen.
Reconciliation is primarily a matter of morality.
The juridical recognition of the moral fact of reconciliation is useful and necessary. However, a juridical act is no substitute for the moral imperatives required for a genuine reconciliation. Besides, for the juridical recognition to be valid, it must reach a standard that can be morally justifiable. This means that a mere juridical sham can not meet requirements of moral recognition. Dealing with large scale destruction of human life as it happened in Cambodia is bound with the most difficult questions relating to human morality.