KRouge tribunal judges open crucial talks

Cambodian and foreign judges attend a meeting of the review committee on the internal rules for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) at the Khmer Rouge tribunal's premises on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Khmer Rouge tribunal judges met 07 March in a bid to salvage Cambodia's genocide trials from bureaucratic collapse, with some officials warning it could be the last chance to bring former regime leaders to justice.(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)

By Seth Meixner

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Khmer Rouge tribunal judges met Wednesday to save Cambodia's genocide trials from bureaucratic collapse, with some officials calling it the last chance to bring former regime leaders to justice.

The week-long discussions will be the third attempt to negotiate internal regulations which govern every aspect of the tribunal and which are necessary for the first cases to go forward.

Judges failed last November to adopt the rules, while a special committee of jurists deadlocked again in January over several key points.

But tribunal officials are optimistic that some consensus will be reached in this round of talks, and that a full plenary of judges will officially adopt the rules by April, opening the way for the first trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders to begin early next year.

After nearly seven years of negotiations, the United Nations and Cambodia agreed in 2003 to a joint three-year tribunal to try former regime leaders. The tribunal formally opened in July.

But only one top cadre is currently in custody, while several other possible defendants live freely in Cambodia.

The death last year of former Khmer Rouge military commander Ta Mok, the only other regime leader to be arrested, has heightened concerns that other aging cadres will die before ever being brought to court.

Foreign and Cambodian judges held separate meetings at the weekend in what sources close to the tribunal said was a sign that both sides were seeking a way to end the infighting that has bogged down the rule talks.

"We have considerable hope that this work will be finalised during this meeting," tribunal administrators Michelle Lee and Sean Visoth said in a joint statement to the judges before the start of talks.

"Despite some uncertainties, we ... continue pledging our support to your work. ... The eyes of the world are on us once again during these 10 days," the statement added.

Judges remain divided over the role of international defence counsel, with Cambodia's Bar Association voicing strong concern that their cases could be commandeered for foreign lawyers.

Co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde, who is representing the international jurists in the rules meeting, has refused to rule out the possibility that the 14 foreign judges could collectively resign from the tribunal -- a move that would likely doom the long-stalled genocide trials.

Despite pledges to support the tribunal, suspicions remain that the government, which includes many former Khmer Rouge members, is trying to stall the proceedings, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

Non-governmental organisations and some diplomats have accused China, a key Khmer Rouge ally, of trying to scupper the trials altogether, saying Beijing's unconditional aid to impoverished Cambodia is partially meant to guarantee that its role in the regime never comes to light.

Up to two million people died of overwork, starvation and execution under the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools.

Millions more were driven from the cities onto vast collective farms as the ultra-Maoist regime sought to create an agrarian utopia.