RTE (Ireland)
The European Union is urging Cambodia to prosecute Khmer Rouge leaders for their roles in one of the 20th century's worst genocides.
An estimated 1.7 million people died in the 1970s during the rule of the pro-rural revolutionary Pol Pot. Given Cambodia's relatively small size, those deaths accounted for almost 30% of the population.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was set up last year by the United Nations and Cambodia to conduct tribunals that could take three years and cost €40 million. Some of that funding would come from the EU.
Launching the tribunals have been held up by disagreements between the two sets of judges, from the admissibility of evidence and witness protection to pettier issues like the heights of the judges' chairs.
Speaking at a meeting of EU and Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Nuremberg, the site of the post-World War Two Nazi genocide trials, Javier Solana said the EU would continue to press Cambodia on the issue.
Diplomats say the UN side of the court would walk away if it felt its local counterparts were dragging their feet or acting on orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier who lost an eye in the capture of Phnom Penh in 1975.
Hun Sen, who is not linked to any Khmer Rouge atrocities, has made it publicly clear that he wants the trial to go ahead.
But the Cambodian government and administration remains riddled with former Khmer Rouge cadres, many of whom do not want prosecutors raking through their pasts.
Furthermore, China, the main Khmer Rouge ally, has lobbied Hun Sen to stall the proceedings to prevent the full extent of Beijing's involvement coming to light, according to diplomats.
Pol Pot, the 'Brother Number One' architect of the Khmer Rouge's 'Year Zero' peasant revolution in which people were tortured and executed or died of starvation, disease or overwork, died in 1998.
The question has long been whether the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, now in their 70s and 80s, would also die before they could be tried and a fuller story of their rule would emerge.
Among those expected to face trial are 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, all living free.
An estimated 1.7 million people died in the 1970s during the rule of the pro-rural revolutionary Pol Pot. Given Cambodia's relatively small size, those deaths accounted for almost 30% of the population.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was set up last year by the United Nations and Cambodia to conduct tribunals that could take three years and cost €40 million. Some of that funding would come from the EU.
Launching the tribunals have been held up by disagreements between the two sets of judges, from the admissibility of evidence and witness protection to pettier issues like the heights of the judges' chairs.
Speaking at a meeting of EU and Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Nuremberg, the site of the post-World War Two Nazi genocide trials, Javier Solana said the EU would continue to press Cambodia on the issue.
Diplomats say the UN side of the court would walk away if it felt its local counterparts were dragging their feet or acting on orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier who lost an eye in the capture of Phnom Penh in 1975.
Hun Sen, who is not linked to any Khmer Rouge atrocities, has made it publicly clear that he wants the trial to go ahead.
But the Cambodian government and administration remains riddled with former Khmer Rouge cadres, many of whom do not want prosecutors raking through their pasts.
Furthermore, China, the main Khmer Rouge ally, has lobbied Hun Sen to stall the proceedings to prevent the full extent of Beijing's involvement coming to light, according to diplomats.
Pol Pot, the 'Brother Number One' architect of the Khmer Rouge's 'Year Zero' peasant revolution in which people were tortured and executed or died of starvation, disease or overwork, died in 1998.
The question has long been whether the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, now in their 70s and 80s, would also die before they could be tried and a fuller story of their rule would emerge.
Among those expected to face trial are 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, all living free.
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