Reuters
Phnom Penh - Plans to try Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen for the atrocities of Cambodia's "Killing Fields" are running out of time and cash, the court's leading international prosecutor said on Wednesday.
"We need another year," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference about progress of the $56m trial of those "most responsible" for the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror.
An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation as Pol Pot's dream of turning the southeast Asian nation into an agrarian peasant utopia descended into one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
The regime's chief inquisitor, Duch, and "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea have both been arrested and charged with war crimes, but Petit said the court would run out of money next year, jeopardising efforts to bring more suspects to trial.
"We could end the process next year when we run out of money, but I don't think that is going to satisfy anybody," he said.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has already started to ask donors for more funding for the United Nations-backed court, made up of Cambodian and international judges.
Japan is the major donor to the tribunal, which is expected to reveal the full extent of links between regional rival China and the Khmer Rouge.
Pol Pot died in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng in 1998.
"We need another year," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference about progress of the $56m trial of those "most responsible" for the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror.
An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation as Pol Pot's dream of turning the southeast Asian nation into an agrarian peasant utopia descended into one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
The regime's chief inquisitor, Duch, and "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea have both been arrested and charged with war crimes, but Petit said the court would run out of money next year, jeopardising efforts to bring more suspects to trial.
"We could end the process next year when we run out of money, but I don't think that is going to satisfy anybody," he said.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has already started to ask donors for more funding for the United Nations-backed court, made up of Cambodian and international judges.
Japan is the major donor to the tribunal, which is expected to reveal the full extent of links between regional rival China and the Khmer Rouge.
Pol Pot died in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng in 1998.
2 comments:
Where did the 56m go to. Some in the ECCC must have good accounting system.
Damn, these people need money but don't say how much they needed. However, because Robert Petit said, "We need another year," I would estimate $20Millions based on $60Millions for the three years trial.
I hope we will get the international support for it. If not, we can just let some people go and just focus on the most guilty one and done with it. Let's face fact, If we can't convict the most guilty one, there is no way to convict the less guilty one.
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