Cambodian Paper Gives Details of Khmer Rouge Tribunal's Activities in Pailin

17 Jan 08
Koh Santepheap
Translated from Khmer and posted online

"According to civil organization sources reporting from Pailin, on 15 January a number of officials from the KRT, including two investigation judges [Yu Bun Leng and Marcel Lemonde], met with a total of some 150 people including the authorities, officials, and armed forces from all establishments. The meeting was reported to have been held in secret in a conference hall of Pailin City's office on the morning 15 January."

According to the same sources, the meeting "started from 0830 following an open interview of I Chhien, Pailin City governor, with reporters."

"Miev Samai, deputy chief of Pailin City office, told Koh Santepheap by telephone on the day the meeting was held that 'the meeting was held without the presence of Pailin City Governor I Chhien but the latter did have a brief chat with Khmer Rouge tribunal officials that morning -- an unofficial encounter -- before the meeting started'.

"This deputy office chief also said that at the meeting, on the authorities side were Koet Sothea and Tat Suhoum, deputy city governors; and a total of some 150 civil servants and armed forces from all establishments. Miev Samai stressed that the essence of the talks was that the KRT officials explained the principles of the tribunal to all levels of civil servants and relevant authorities so that the latter more clearly understand the court process, and also requested participation in the process."

Continuing the Koh Santepheap report quoted "Chhorn Makara, an investigation official of ADHOC [Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, a local human rights nongovernmental organization) in Pailin, as saying that "the meeting was held in secret with reporters banned from attending." Chhorn Makara also said that journalists were allowed in the hall to briefly take photos before the meeting started" "and "were asked to leave" during the discussion "only between Pailin City authorities and KRT officials."

Still according to Chhorn Makara, "In his brief interview with reporters before the meeting, Pailin City Governor I Chhien said very little when answering questions relating to the trial of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently detained at the KRT but talked more about the development of Pailin City."

Concluding the Koh Santepheap online report in Cambodian on 17 January quoted Reach Sambat, spokesman of the KRT, who told Koh Santepheap by telephone the following:

"Reporters were also given the opportunity to take photos and report from the meeting hall for some 20 minutes."

Reporters were indeed not allowed to listen to the discussion at the meeting but this did not mean that they were banned from reporting. This is because at the meeting the tribunal needs to talk about some issues with those officials and armed forces the goal of which was to clear any doubt the latter have on the KRT."

There were also questions and answers by the local officials about the trial of the five Khmer Rouge leaders.

"It seemed that the local officials' participation spirit was high in suggesting that the KRT proceed at a fast speed in order to know who really were responsible for the dark regime [of the Khmer Rouge] because some of their relatives also died in the killing field regime."

"On 16 January there will also be a public discussion in the compound of Kaong Kang monastery in Pailin City."

Former Middle-Ranking KR Cadres in Pailin Gather to Ask Tribunal’s Co-Judges

16-01-2008
By Rithy
Kampuchea Thmei
Unofficial Translation from Khmer by KRtrial.info

Phnom Penh: Attended by the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Co-Investigating Judges, the two-day public forum which is being held in former Khmer Rouge stronghold Pailin is a chance to clear all doubts of former Khmer Rouge cadres.

The Co-Investigating Judges of the tribunal have been asked many questions surrounding a question “At which level would a person be tried?”

The forum started in the morning of January 15 in Pailin Municipal Hall and was attended by only government’s officials, policemen, soldiers, military police as well as the [Pailin’s] governor and deputy governors. In the morning of January 16, a public forum will be held with ordinary people in Koang Kang Pagoda near Phnom Yat. The forum aims at allowing people to ask questions regarding the Khmer Rouge tribunal, which is currently on the way. Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde have been ready to answer to participants’ questions.

In the forum for the officials in Pailin’s Municipal Hall, journalists were not allowed to listen, but only given approximately 3 minutes to take pictures. Therefore, the journalists could not directly hear the questions and answers. They only get sketchy information from the tribunal’s spokesman and some officials attending the forum.

“This is a success for an unpredictable and valuable task of the Co-Investigating Judges who have traveled to Pailin to hold the forum,” Tribunal Spokesman Reach Sambath told Kampuchea Thmey.

“We have cleared away all doubts of former middle-ranking Khmer Rouge officials here who have been worried that they would be tried like the five top leaders being detained in the tribunal,” he said, adding that now they understood and were not worried anymore.

“At first we expected around 70 officials would participate in the forum, but it turned out to be completely different as up to more than 100 officials participated,” he said, adding that they had asked many different questions.

Some people asked “why not focus on the regime after 1970 too since in the war during Lon Nol regime, USA bombed [Cambodia] and killed a lot of people.” Some people asked “whether they would be punished if they wanted to be witness because they knew clearly about the issue.”

They also requested the tribunal to accelerate its process as soon as possible since they wanted to know the reason why Democratic Kampuchea killed people. “The tribunal’s Co-Judges are old, the people who want to know the truth are also old, the followers of Khmer Rouge leadership are also getting old, and the charged people are also aging, so if the tribunal is still delayed, it is feared that those old people would die without knowing the truth,” they raised in the forum.

Marcel Lemonde explained in the forum that the tribunal would not be possible to go on without good cooperation from the people. Concerning the question “why not focus on the regime after 1970 too”, Marcel Lemonde responded that the trial was held in accordance with the agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodian on the establishment of the tribunal in 2003. “It was adopted officially by the National Assembly, and the law for the prosecution of former Khmer Rouge leaders relies on the existing agreement,” he said. “Therefore, the people who will be tried are the top leaders and those most responsible for the Democratic Kampuchea regime only,” said Marcel Lemonde, adding that middle-ranking cadres who had only carried out what they had been told to do were not relevant.

Pailin’s Governor Y Chhean told journalists that he was not worried about the Khmer Rouge tribunal and that he even provided his cooperation. However, in response to the question, “Which is your priority between the “development” and the trial?” Y Chhean said, “I would choose “development” as my priority rather than trial.” The reason he would choose the development is that he thinks the country has had enough of war and it should end now.

Y Chhean, Ieng Vuth Evaded the Forum

Y Chhean (Photo: Rasmei Kampuchea)

16-01-2008
By Den Sorin
Moneaksekar Khmer
Unofficial Translation from Khmer by KRtrial.info

The Co-Investigating Judges representing the Khmer Rouge tribunal have traveled to Pailin in order to explain the former officials and people of the Khmer Rouge in this former Khmer Rouge stronghold to understand the former Khmer Rouge trial and to calm their fears.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal's representatives, visiting the former Khmer Rouge soldiers and people, included co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde.

Yesterday (on Tuesday) in Pailin's Municipal Hall, there was a meeting with more than 100 former Khmer Rouge officials. However, Y Chhean, Pailin governor, and his deputy Ieng Vuth shirked from attending the forum. Ieng Vuth is an important "character" in the forum since his parents are being detained at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. But, he did not appear in meeting in which he could ask the tribunal's representatives whatever he wanted to.

According to legal observers, before and after the arrest of Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, who are Ieng Vuth's parents, Ieng Vuth dared to talk to foreign and local journalists. In contrast, now as the representatives of the Khmer Rouge tribunal visited Pailin to hold the public forum, Ieng Vuth evaded it.

Another Pailin's deputy governor Koeut Sothea, who is also a former Khmer Rouge official, was seen in the forum yesterday, which was attended only by former Khmer Rouge officials, whilst Y Chhean and Ieng Vuth disappeared. In the forum held in Pailin's Municipal Hall, journalists were only allowed to take pictures, but could not listen to the question and answer session. However, the journalists and observers will be permitted to listen freely in the forum on Wednesday.

According to Khmer Rouge tribunal officials, the today’s forum (on Wednesday) which will be held in Koang Kang Pagoda, is expected approximately 200 participants, including former Khmer Rouge officials soldiers and people to attend.

According to the former Khmer Rouge officials who attended the yesterday’s forum in Pailin's Municipal Hall, although it was an open forum, Cambodian and international co-Investigating Judges who are the representatives from the Khmer Rouge tribunal could not answer their questions.

"They come to Pailin to hold the public forum on the Khmer Rouge trial, but when former Khmer Rouge officials asked them, they could not answer," said the former Khmer Rouge officials, adding that they asked questions relating to the rumour of the further arrest of the former Khmer Rouge officials. "It is said that only former top Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried, but we want to know which is the highest or the lowest level of the Khmer Rouge officials that will be tried," they said.

At present, top leaders such as Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith have been arrested. Duch was not a top leader of the Khmer Rouge, but was the former chief of Tuol Sleng prison, involving deeply with the regime.

Former Khmer Rouge officials said that at the present time some former Khmer Rouge leaders in the Central Committee of the Communist party were still at large and that there was a rumour circulating around that about 10 more Khmer Rouge leaders would be arrested. That is why some former Khmer Rouge officials wanted to know how high rank a Khmer Rouge official is considered a “top leader” and how low rank they are, in order to avoid confusion.

However, You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde told the former Khmer Rouge officials that the decision [to consider someone as a top Khmer Rouge leader] did not depend on them but on the investigation and voices of the Trial Chamber’s co-Judges with at least 4 out of 5 as well as voices of Supreme Court Chamber’s co-Judges with at least 6 out of 9. Therefore, if the investigation could place burdens on any former Khmer Rouge leader, the Co-Judges are the ones who decide whether the arrest of that former Khmer Rouge leader is possible. If they could find the [supporting] voices as mentioned above, the arrest would be made immediately.

According to a source close to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, some former Khmer Rouge military commanders might also be arrested. And this is the reason why the rumour of the arrest of around 10 more former Khmer Rouge commanders and officials caused unrest. The representatives of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, visiting the former Khmer Rouge base, are going to hold another public forum on Wednesday in which journalists and observers will be allowed to listen until the end.

Cambodia tribunal seeks witnesses

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008
Al Jazeera

A team of judges has headed into Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge heartland in an effort to find witnesses to testify in the forthcoming trials of members of the former regime.

The judges and tribunal officials have been holding meetings in the western town of Pailin, hoping to enlist participation from former low-ranking Khmer Rouge members still living in the area.

The town, close to the Thai border, was home to four of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently awaiting trial.

But finding witnesses to take part in the United Nations-backed trials has not been easy, with many former Khmer Rouge members worried they may also be punished.

People's help needed

The tribunal has been delayed for many years and is jointly overseen by Cambodian and international judges.

But officials say without the help of the people, it will struggle to fulfil its mandate.

"We were trying to explain to these people that the court can proceed fairly as long as it has the support of the Cambodian people," Marcel Lemonde, a French co-investigating judge told one of the meetings in Pailin.

"If the Cambodian people do not understand that this trial is in their interests, this court will not be able to proceed fairly."

Up to two million people died during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power between 1975 and 1979.

Pol Pot, the group's former "Brother Number One" died in 1998, but five senior figures of his regime are being held awaiting trial, including his deputy, Nuon Chea, or "Brother Number Two".

Few Cambodian families were untouched by the slaughter, but in Pailin - home to many former Khmer Rouge foot soldiers – the tribunal has been met with scepticism.

Late last year the tribunal held its first hearing in an appeal by the former commander of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 detention and interrogation centre against his continued detention.

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, claimed that his human rights had been violated by being held for more than eight years in jail without trial.

But the tribunal rejected his appeal, saying he might try to flee the country or threaten potential witnesses if he were released on bail.

Aside from Duch and Nuon Chea the other former Khmer Rouge officials awaiting trial include the regime's former foreign minister, Ieng Sary, his wife and former social affairs minister, Ieng Thirith, and the former president of the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan.

The first formal trials are expected to begin later this year.

In Pailin, Judges Find Questions of Trust

You Bunleng, a Cambodian judge, right, and Marcel Lemonde, left, a U.N.-appointed judge sit during a meetings with local officials and residents in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold, Cambodia, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. Forging ahead with its work of prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders, Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has embarked on an unusual mission to win the hearts and minds or at least the grudging cooperation of the group's old loyalists. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Pailin
15 January 2008

Khmer Rouge tribunal judges met for the first time with former rebels in the remote mountains of the northwest Monday, in an effort to curb fears of further arrests of low- and mid-level cadre.

In a three-hour, closed-door meeting in Pailin, the judges and former Khmer Rouge discussed the mandate of the tribunal, which is to prosecute only top leaders of the regime.

Pailin authorities, police, and military officials met with judges and about 150 former Khmer Rouge.

“There were many questions,” said Pailin Deputy Governor Keut Sothea, a former Khmer Rouge cadre, of the meeting. “The questions were meant to clear any doubt. Other participants said they were given enough explanations to trust” the judges.

Tribunal investigating judge You Bunleng said the meetings were aimed to allay fears of Pailin residents who live among former Khmer Rouge. Pailin was a Khmer Rouge stronghold, and many former supporters of the regime still live in the area.

Two top leaders, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, who were both arrested in late 2007 and charged with atrocity crimes, lived in Pailin.

“We know that the ECCC can proceed because of a clear understanding and cooperation from local authorities,” You Bunleng said, referring to the tribunal by its official name, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. “And the people have to understand too.”

Pailin Governor Y Chhean, who is close to former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, told reporters in Pailin he was cooperating with tribunal officials.

Some former cadre in the area, however, expressed concern about the fate of their former leaders, all of whom await trials while detained at a tribunal center in Phnom Penh.

In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge court goes to the Khmer Rouge

Tue, 15 Jan 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - About 150 former Khmer Rouge attended meetings with the prosecuting judges of the impending Khmer Rouge tribunal Tuesday, although many of their leaders did not, officials said. The visit by the prosecuting judges and officials of the joint UN-Cambodia 56-million-dollar tribunal followed concerns the rank and file members of the movement from former stronghold Pailin would not cooperate with the tribunal.

Court media officer Reach Sambath said the ice was broken and the two-day visit, which ends Wednesday, was a success. Some local officials in the remote municipality on the north-western border with Thailand, around 500 kilometres from the capital, expressed doubt.

"We feel it was a success. Many people asked questions, and we answered," Sambath said from Pailin by telephone.

However local officials said many of the majority former Khmer Rouge residents remained unconvinced that trying their aging former leaders, five of whom are currently in custody and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, was necessary and remained scared they may yet be targeted.

Officials said Pailin governor and former Khmer Rouge commander Y Chhien was not there. The area's parliamentary representative Ieng Vuth, whose mother Khieu Thirith and father Ieng Sary are both in jail awaiting trial at the hearings, was also not present.

"Many people asked why jail them when they are so old and why only focus on the 1975-79 period," local deputy director of religion, Sam Savouen, said.

Other officials, most of whom are former Khmer Rouge and many of whom still credit former deputy prime minister of the regime, Ieng Sary, with brokering a deal with the government in 1996 which ended the fighting while leaving the Khmer Rouge in charge of the resource-rich area, declined comment and did not attend.

Sambath said the court would visit a pagoda and speak with more people Wednesday before ending the visit, hopefully winning more hearts and minds along the way with honesty and detailed answers.

"We want their trust and we need their participation," he said.

Up to 2 million people died during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 ultra-Maoist Democratic Kampuchea regime which sought to abolish social classes, markets, religion and even money in a drive to create an agrarian utopia.

U.N.-tribunal meets Khmer Rouge cadres to calm fears

Tue Jan 15, 2008
By Ek Madra

PAILIN, Cambodia (Reuters) - French and Cambodian judges of the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal met former Khmer Rouge fighters in one of Pol Pot's final strongholds on Tuesday to allay their fears about the long-awaited trials.

Even though the $56 million court was set up to investigate only those "most responsible" for the deaths of the Khmer Rouge's estimated 1.7 million victims, many ageing former guerrillas are worried they will be sucked into the process.

However, French investigating judge Marcel Lemonde assured government officials in Pailin, a Khmer Rouge redoubt on the Thai border, this was not the case and asked for help in convicting five top cadres already charged with atrocities.

"The court cannot achieve its goal without participation from the local authorities and public," Lemonde said.

Sam Yet, a 49-year-old former black-shirted guerrilla, said he was ready to provide evidence against his former commanders, a rare expression of support for the court in a region where Pol Pot is still revered as a national hero.

"The leaders of the Khmer Rouge should be held accountable and punished for their roles," he told Reuters as he walked with his wife down the main street in Pailin, a wild border town under Khmer Rouge control until a 1997 surrender deal.

"Brother Number One" Pol Pot died in the final redoubt of Anlong Veng, also on the Thai border, in 1998, nearly two decades after his four-year ultra-Maoist regime was removed by a Vietnamese invasion.

However, his right-hand-man, Nuon Chea, as well as former president Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife were charged with crimes against humanity or war crimes last year.

The other suspect in detention is Duch, commandant of the notorious "S-21" interrogation and torture centre in Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng high school. Duch has already confessed to mass murder and implicated members of Pol Pot's inner circle.

Pailin governor Ee Chhean, one of Pol Pot's messengers during his time in the jungle, said he believed the trials would not stir up too much dirt in a region where all survivors have dark secrets.

"The government is not going to have a trial that causes social unrest," he said.

KRouge judges open first talks in former rebel stronghold

Co-investigating judge of the "Killing Fields" tribunal, French Marcel Lemonde (L) speaks during their first meeting with former lower ranking of Khmer Rouge rebels at Pailin city hall in the northwestern province of Pailin January 15 ,2008 REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

PAILIN, Cambodia (AFP) — Judges from Cambodia's genocide tribunal met Tuesday for the first time with former Khmer Rouge rebels in one of their last strongholds to urge them to cooperate with the UN-backed court.

Although the court's mandate allows it to try only the most senior Khmer Rouge leaders, many lower-ranking cadres suspect they could be prosecuted for atrocities committed by the regime, which seized control of Cambodia in 1975.

"We hope our meeting will help clear up any misunderstanding about our mission in order to convince them to give evidence in future trials," said judge You Bunleng.

"The court cannot implement its task without their support and involvement," he said before meeting with government and security officials -- many of whom were once Khmer Rouge members -- in western Cambodia's Pailin region.

Pailin was one of the final refuges of the brutal regime which was driven out of power in 1979. Soldiers and officials fled to the remote region to regroup and try and battle the new government.

Judges and other tribunal officials will on Wednesday meet with villagers, many of whom were also members of the communist movement, at the end of their brief visit to the remote region.

Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.

Schools, religion and currency were also outlawed and the educated classes targeted for extermination by the communists.

Five regime heads have been detained so far on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges, and tribunal officials have not ruled out more arrests.

Pailin governor and former Khmer Rouge cadre Y Chhean said it would be up to individual ex-rebels whether to cooperate with the court's efforts to gather evidence.

The tribunal was established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the United Nations, with trials expected to begin in mid-2008.

ECCC "meet and talk" with the former KR killers ... now high-ranking CPP officials

Y Chhean, the governor of Pailin, gestures before a meeting of the local officials and residents in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. Forging ahead with its work of prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders, Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has embarked on an unusual mission to win the hearts and minds — or at least the grudging cooperation — of the group's old loyalists. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Sok Kimsan (C) ,former khmer rouge soldier, talks to the media during their first meeting with co-investigating judges of the "Killing Fields" tribunal, You Bunleng and French Marcel Lemonde at Pailin city hall in the northwestern province of Pailin January 15 ,2008 REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Cambodian local officials sit as they attend a meeting in Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold, Cambodia, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. Forging ahead with its work of prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders, Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has embarked on an unusual mission to win the hearts and minds or at least the grudging cooperation of the group's old loyalists. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Co-investigating judges of the "Killing Fields" tribunal, You Bunleng (R) and French Marcel Lemonde (C) attends their first meeting with former lower ranking of Khmer Rouge rebels at Pailin city hall in the northwestern province of Pailin January 15 ,2008 REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Co-investigating judges of the "Killing Fields" tribunal, You Bunleng (R) and French Marcel Lemonde (L) talk before their first meeting with former lower ranking of Khmer Rouge rebels at Pailin city hall in the northwestern province of Pailin January 15 ,2008 REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal seeks cooperation of former Khmer Rouge cadre

2008-01-15

PAILIN, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia's genocide tribunal embarked on an unusual mission Tuesday to win the hearts and minds - or at least the grudging cooperation - of old Khmer Rouge loyalists as the panel forges ahead with prosecuting the group's leaders.

Tribunal officials hope to dispel fears that low-ranking former Khmer Rouge will become targets of the court and thus gain their valuable help in investigating the alleged crimes of their leaders.

The effort, launched Tuesday and to be carried out over several days this week in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin, is the first activity of its kind conducted by the tribunal in the former guerrilla heartland.

It follows last year's arrests of five senior figures of the Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies led to the deaths of some 1.7 million of their countrymen in the late 1970s.

Kaing Guek Eav, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan are being held in the tribunal's custom-built jail on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their trials are expected to start later this year.

The tribunal now needs «very strong cooperation» from the public at large, including those who were part of the Khmer Rouge movement in the past, to help its investigation of the five's cases, said Reach Sambath, a tribunal spokesman.

«The mandate of this court is to try only the most senior and most responsible Khmer Rouge leaders, so the ordinary former Khmer Rouge should not be worried,» the spokesman said.

But some in Pailin were reluctant and indifferent when they were earlier approached by Cambodian and U.N.-appointed investigating judges, he said, so it is necessary to explain to them how the tribunal works. The judges are not targeting specific individuals in Pailin.

The arrests of the five figures - a former head of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture center, its chief ideologist, foreign minister, social affairs minister and head of state - were the strongest sign yet that justice might be done for atrocities carried out when the Khmer Rouge held power three decades ago.

Officials Seek to Reassure Pailin Rebels

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
14 January 2008

Top officials of the Khmer Rouge tribunal arrived in the former stronghold of Pailin Monday to allay fears among low-level cadre they could share the fate of their arrested former leaders.

Five former top leaders are in tribunal custody, including Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, who both lived in Pailin until their arrest. The laws governing the tribunal do not include the prosecution of low- or mid-level cadre.

Tribunal investigating judges for three days will meet with former Khmer Rouge to explain the role of the courts and their mandate, tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.

“We have come here to meet and chat with the people who are officials and local authorities in Pailin,” Reach Sambath said. “Among them are a number of people who are former separatists, and who joined the Cambodian government.”

The rebels will ask judges “some questions to quell misunderstandings and unclear ideas” about the tribunal, he said.

Hisham Moussar, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc, said the three-day forum in Pailin was “important” to show the tribunal has “two voices.”

“So at the time of prosecution, there will be uncontested justice,” he said.

Tribunal judges travel to former Khmer Rouge stronghold: official

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Top officials from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal travelled for the first time to the regime's former stronghold Monday to allay fears of mass arrests of former rebels.

Judges investigating the murderous Khmer Rouge regime joined other court officials for the three-day visit to the western, Pailin region to "meet and talk" with former rebels, said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.

"The aim of the meetings is to explain to them about the role of tribunal and its mandate -- that this court will only try the most senior and the most responsible Khmer Rouge leaders, and the ordinary Khmer Rouge officials should not be worried," he told AFP.

The visit also aimed to clear up misunderstandings about the joint Cambodian-UN tribunal in the hope of convincing many to give evidence for the prosecution in upcoming trials, Reach Sambath said.

"We need cooperation from many of them because they could be key witnesses in order to assist the trials," he said.

Pailin, near the Thai border, was one of the final refuges of the brutal regime which was driven out of power in 1979, and many soldiers and officials fled to the remote region to regroup and try and battle the new government.

Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.

The tribunal, established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of negotiations between Cambodia and the United Nations, seeks to prosecute crimes committed by senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

Five heads have been detained to face charges for crimes committed during the regime's 1975-79 rule. Trials are expected to begin in mid-2008.

All the defendants claim to be suffering from serious health ailments, causing concern among those hoping to find justice before the alleged perpetrators die.