If the trial of four elderly former Khmer Rouge leaders is not expedited, it may degenerate into a death watch
Monday 14 December 2009
By Tom Fawthrop
guardian.co.uk
The clock is ticking away at the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Phnom Penh. Only one trial has been completed so far. The next case: the all-important trial of four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders is shrouded in doubt, given the court's timetable and calculations that the trial not begin until mid-2011.
But by 2011, who knows how many of these ageing former leaders will still be alive? Nuon Chea, right-hand man of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary, former foreign minister, are both octogenarians. Former head of state Khieu Samphan and "Khmer Rouge first lady" Ieng Thirith are in their late 70s. They are in frail health and have received periodic hospital attention during the two years they have been detained in cells under UN supervision and control.
The crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime were committed in the late 1970s. The first trial was the case of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, the director and chief interrogator of the Khmer Rouge regime's chamber of horrors S21 prison. The trial finished last month, with the five judges due to deliver their verdict in the new year.
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