Judges Approve Rules For Cambodia Tribunal

By Ker Munthit
Associated Press
Thursday, June 14, 2007; Page A22

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 13 -- Cambodian and foreign judges announced rules Wednesday clearing the way for a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal to begin long-delayed proceedings against Khmer Rouge leaders in the deaths of about 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979.

The rules were one of the judges' last major tasks before they could begin working on the cases, but it was unlikely the trials would start any time soon: No one has yet been indicted. Many Cambodians worry that the aging defendants could all die before they are brought to justice.

The top Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. The only defendant now in custody is Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, who headed the notorious S-21 torture center in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Their senior-level colleagues, Nuon Chea, the communist movement's chief ideologue; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and Khieu Samphan, the former head of state, live freely in Cambodia but are in declining health.

Cambodia and the United Nations created the genocide tribunal last year under an agreement they reached in 2003. The 17 Cambodian and 12 foreign judges and prosecutors have spent the last six months in sometimes rancorous disagreement on trial guidelines.

After two weeks of meetings, the Cambodian- and U.N.-appointed officials unanimously agreed on a set of rules Tuesday, they said at a news conference in Phnom Penh. "Now that the rules have been adopted, we can move forward," Kong Srim, a Cambodian judge with the tribunal, read from their statement.

"These rules enable us to hold fair, transparent trials before an independent and impartial court," said Robert Petit, a U.N.-appointed prosecutor from Canada, also reading from the statement.

The tribunal is an unprecedented hybrid. It will operate under the Cambodian judicial system, which is often criticized as weak, corrupt and susceptible to political manipulation. Decisions require support from a majority of the Cambodian judges, backed by at least one U.N.-appointed judge.