Cambodian Premier Signs Off on Plan for Genocide Trials

Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia gave his approval Tuesday to a U.S.-drafted plan for forming a tribunal to hear genocide charges, making it probable that an internationally acceptable court will put top Khmer Rouge officials on trial.

The U.S. plan, contained in a memo delivered to Hun Sen last week by Ambassador Kent Wiedemann, calls for creation of a panel composed of three Cambodian and two U.N.-appointed judges. At least one of the judges named by the world body would have to agree with any verdict.

Many details remain to be worked out in the arrangement, which breaks an impasse between Hun Sen and Western governments about how to try former members of the radical movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. More than 1 million people died under Khmer Rouge rule.

“This is an important step toward a solution,” said Jan Wanderstein, a U.N. political officer for Cambodia, of Hun Sen’s announcement in Phnom Penh, the capital.

To limit the scope of any trials, it is likely that only top Khmer Rouge officials--perhaps 20 to 30 people--will face charges.

Cambodia and the international community have negotiated for months over the composition of a tribunal. The U.S. and other Western nations contend that Cambodia’s legal system is not developed enough to create a tribunal that meets international standards.

Many Cambodian judges, for instance, don’t have university degrees, much less legal training. The country’s code of criminal procedure is a hodgepodge of antiquated and often incomplete laws.

No senior leader of the Khmer Rouge, which was driven from power by invading Vietnamese troops in 1979 and collapsed as a movement last year, has ever been held accountable for the deaths during the movement’s reign.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in April 1998. Most other top leaders were given unofficial pardons by Hun Sen in exchange for laying down their arms, but that is not expected to protect them from facing charges. Two Khmer Rouge commanders, Ta Mok and Kang Kek Ieu, are in detention.

Hun Sen was a mid-level Khmer Rouge commander during the movement’s rule and is unlikely to face trial.