Updated

Sophany (SO-fah-nee) Bay saw her two young daughters and son die at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia after the family was forced from their home nearly four decades ago and she was sent to toil in the fields under a reign of terror.

The 69-year-old says she finally feels a sense of justice after a U.N.-backed tribunal on Thursday convicted two of the movement's aging, top members of crimes against humanity and gave them life sentences.

The Center for Justice and Accountability says 50 Cambodians in the United States were among the 4,000 civil parties represented in the proceedings in Cambodia.

Census data shows more than 300,000 Cambodians live in the United States. Many came here as refugees after the Khmer Rouge's reign ended in 1979.