Oct 28, 2010
DPA
Phnom Penh - The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was short on detail Thursday about the prospects for Cambodia's war crimes tribunal, one day after Prime Minister Hun Sen told him he would not tolerate further prosecutions of former Khmer Rouge cadre.
Speaking at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh, Ban said he had met earlier with senior government officials to discuss the subject.
But he would not be drawn on whether the UN would walk away from the process, saying that he felt Phnom Penh was 'committed to completion of the process.'
'The United Nations will discuss this matter with the international community members, particularly donors. That's what I can tell you at this stage,' he said.
He added that the decision on whether to proceed with more prosecutions should be made solely by the hybrid UN-Cambodian court.
Hun Sen's comments Wednesday prompted criticism that he was again interfering with the judicial process. The Open Society Justice Initiative, a George-Soros-funded tribunal monitor, condemned them as an 'unacceptable attempt to strangle the court.'
Late Wednesday the government toned down its message when Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said that, contrary to media reports, Hun Sen had not expressly forbidden further prosecutions.
'We don't say 'forbidden', because you cannot dictate, you cannot impose your will on the court,' Khieu Kanharith said, adding that the prime minister would simply prefer that the next two cases did not proceed.
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