Opposition decries genocide trial delay

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy(R) offers rice to a Buddhist monk at the Cheoung Ek killing fields on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh. Cambodia's opposition leader Tuesday accused the government of deliberately delaying efforts to try former Khmer Rouge leaders as his party commemorated the fall of Phnom Penh to the communist guerrillas 32 years ago.(AFP/Suy Se)

April 17, 2007
AFP

Cheoung Ek - Cambodia's opposition leader has accused the government of deliberately delaying efforts to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Hundreds of party supporters and monks gathered at the Cheoung Ek killing fields outside the capital - where thousands were bludgeoned to death by Khmer Rouge cadres - to mark Cambodia's grimmest anniversary.

Sam Rainsy today demanded a global effort to try those responsible for one of the worst genocides of the 20th century, following a series of delays to a UN-backed tribunal.

"The tribunal has been created, but it does not work," he said.

"The world as a whole must push for the trial of criminals who massacred millions of people."

Up to two million people died of overwork and starvation or were executed 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.

Cambodia's long bid to find justice has again been delayed by a row over legal fees for foreign defence lawyers participating in the trials.

International judges on the tribunal have set the end of this month as the latest deadline for resolving the issue.

But the dispute has already forced jurists to repeatedly postpone the approval of tribunal regulations necessary for the long-stalled trials to move forward, pushing a possible start date back to 2008.

Rainsy said some former Khmer Rouge cadres who currently hold government posts were guilty of atrocities committed under the regime.