Khmer Rouge Leader Gets Trial Date At Last

[Robbien]

Source: Washington Post

BANGKOK, Jan. 7 -- Three decades to the day after the fall of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime, the country finally received word of a possible starting date for the trial of one of its key leaders.

International co-prosecutor Robert Petit said that Kaing Khek Iev, who was better known as Duch when he headed the Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh, will probably go on trial in March. But he said four other defendants, all in their 80s, are unlikely to take the stand until 2010.

The trial process, which has so far cost $50 million, has been marred by delays, controversial defense motions, accusations of corruption and, most recently, a public dispute between Petit and his Cambodian co-prosecutor, Chea Leang, over future prosecutions.

. . .

As many as 1.7 million Cambodians -- roughly one-fifth of the population -- were killed or succumbed to disease, malnutrition or overwork during the four years the Khmer Rouge were in power before they were removed by Vietnamese forces in 1979.

"After 30 years, no one has been tried, convicted or sentenced for the crimes of one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th century," said Brad Adams, who is Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "This is no accident. For more than a decade, China and the United States blocked efforts at accountability, and for the past decade, Hun Sen has done his best to thwart justice."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010702466.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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