Ian MacKinnon
The Guardian (UK)
Talks began in Phnom Penh yesterday to avert the collapse of the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders accused of the extermination of 1.7 million Cambodians.
A high-level committee of Cambodian and international judges is meeting in a final effort to set the ground rules for the special war crimes tribunal to try leaders of Pol Pot's regime. The UN-appointed international judges have said that they will pull out if agreement cannot be reached on a framework to ensure a fair trial.
Two attempts to resolve the differences, in November and January, failed. But officials of the court, where Cambodian judges are in a majority and thus have a veto, are optimistic that some contentious issues have been resolved in informal discussions.
The collapse of the trial to hold Khmer Rouge chiefs to account for the torture, starvation and execution of so many in the "killing fields" would dash the hopes of Cambodians who have been waiting almost 30 years for answers.
After almost a decade of wrangling between the UN and the Cambodian government, the court's three-year mandate began in July, fostering the hope that hearings could begin within months. Yet even if the rules are agreed and indictments are served, as few as 10 of the most senior Khmer Rouge leaders and those said to be most responsible for the genocide are likely to appear in the dock.
The trials themselves, under a hybrid system of Cambodia and international law, are set to take three years. But many of those who would have been defendants, such as Pol Pot and Ta Mok, the regime's military commander, are already dead. Of four others likely to be indicted, only one, Kang Kek Ieu, known as "Duch", who headed the S-21 Tuol Sleng torture centre in Phnom Penh, is in military custody. Without a trial he must be released by November next year.
Others, such as Pol Pot's deputy, Nuon Chea, his foreign minister, Ieng Sary, and Khieu Samphan, his nominal head of state, live freely in Cambodia. Now in their late 70s or early 80s, they could die before facing justice.
A high-level committee of Cambodian and international judges is meeting in a final effort to set the ground rules for the special war crimes tribunal to try leaders of Pol Pot's regime. The UN-appointed international judges have said that they will pull out if agreement cannot be reached on a framework to ensure a fair trial.
Two attempts to resolve the differences, in November and January, failed. But officials of the court, where Cambodian judges are in a majority and thus have a veto, are optimistic that some contentious issues have been resolved in informal discussions.
The collapse of the trial to hold Khmer Rouge chiefs to account for the torture, starvation and execution of so many in the "killing fields" would dash the hopes of Cambodians who have been waiting almost 30 years for answers.
After almost a decade of wrangling between the UN and the Cambodian government, the court's three-year mandate began in July, fostering the hope that hearings could begin within months. Yet even if the rules are agreed and indictments are served, as few as 10 of the most senior Khmer Rouge leaders and those said to be most responsible for the genocide are likely to appear in the dock.
The trials themselves, under a hybrid system of Cambodia and international law, are set to take three years. But many of those who would have been defendants, such as Pol Pot and Ta Mok, the regime's military commander, are already dead. Of four others likely to be indicted, only one, Kang Kek Ieu, known as "Duch", who headed the S-21 Tuol Sleng torture centre in Phnom Penh, is in military custody. Without a trial he must be released by November next year.
Others, such as Pol Pot's deputy, Nuon Chea, his foreign minister, Ieng Sary, and Khieu Samphan, his nominal head of state, live freely in Cambodia. Now in their late 70s or early 80s, they could die before facing justice.
3 comments:
It's been more than two decades of this fucking talking, when they gonna stop this bullshit, Look at Saddam Hussen, he is already dead.
I'm sick and tired of all these bullshit trial. Just hang :
ieng sary
khiev samphan
nuon chea
sihanouk and the rest
and be done with it.The place to hang these criminals is OLYMPIC STADIUM, and invite all the victimes families to witness it ,that's it.
you forgot that hun sen was one of the killer. hun sen's new biography was re-written by the vietnamese communist to make hun sen younger than his real age. some said chea sim, heng samrin, hor nam hong, his son hor nam bora, and tep vong had their hands with blood. it does not look good the krt while cambodia has the leaders are mostly former khmer rouge. it won't have any trial, because that what it is.
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