REUTERS
PHNOM PENH • Prosecutors in Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trials identified five suspects yesterday who they say were most responsible for the "Killing Fields" atrocities committed by Pol Pot's regime.
The allegations against the five "constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, homicide, torture and religious persecution", the prosecutors said in a report to investigating judges who will decide whether charges are laid.
Around 1.7m people are thought to have died during Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror, which was brought to an end in 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.
Pol Pot, the self-styled "Brother Number One", himself died in the Cambodian jungle in 1998 and none of his comrades have ever faced justice for the atrocities.
The prosecutors did not name the five, but historians have focused on four surviving henchmen of the dictator, considered one of the most cruel: "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, former President Khieu Samphan and Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation centre in Phnom Penh.
Another possible defendant is Meas Muth, a son-in-law of former Khmer Rouge military chief Ta Mok who died last year.
The prosecutors submitted thousands of pages of Khmer Rouge-era documents, statements from more than 350 witnesses and the locations of more than 40 undisturbed mass graves. The $53 million United Nations-backed court has been plagued by delays and arguments between local and international legal officials, who only agreed last month on the joint court's internal rules.
The trials will be conducted under a modified form of Cambodia's French-based judicial system, with domestic and international judges and prosecutors working jointly to try to guarantee the courts' independence.
The allegations against the five "constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, homicide, torture and religious persecution", the prosecutors said in a report to investigating judges who will decide whether charges are laid.
Around 1.7m people are thought to have died during Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror, which was brought to an end in 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.
Pol Pot, the self-styled "Brother Number One", himself died in the Cambodian jungle in 1998 and none of his comrades have ever faced justice for the atrocities.
The prosecutors did not name the five, but historians have focused on four surviving henchmen of the dictator, considered one of the most cruel: "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, former President Khieu Samphan and Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation centre in Phnom Penh.
Another possible defendant is Meas Muth, a son-in-law of former Khmer Rouge military chief Ta Mok who died last year.
The prosecutors submitted thousands of pages of Khmer Rouge-era documents, statements from more than 350 witnesses and the locations of more than 40 undisturbed mass graves. The $53 million United Nations-backed court has been plagued by delays and arguments between local and international legal officials, who only agreed last month on the joint court's internal rules.
The trials will be conducted under a modified form of Cambodia's French-based judicial system, with domestic and international judges and prosecutors working jointly to try to guarantee the courts' independence.
1 comment:
Correction,not Pol Pot regime but the truth is Norodom Sihanouk FUNK-GRUNK regime.
Pol Pot was a frontal for Sihanouk to do what he always wanted to do since 65's.
Hang Sihanouk first before rendering judgment and verdict.The mastermind of Osama type ,he is.
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