Cambodia rejects UN tribunal for Ta Mok

Cambodia rejects UN tribunal for Ta Mok

PHNOM PENH (AFP): Captured Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok was set
on Monday to be the first and only Khmer Rouge leader to stand
trial for genocide but the Cambodian government again rejected UN
proposals for an international tribunal.

The jailed former chief of staff of Pol Pot -- dubbed "The
Butcher" for his work during the "Killing Fields" years -- was
unrepentant under military interrogation as prosecutors prepared
to level charges, officials said.

"Ta Mok is a warlord criminal leader and we will put him on
trial," Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters before
departing for New York where he meet United Nations Secretary-
General Kofi Annan.

"But according to Article 33 of the Constitution of Cambodia
it is prohibited for any Cambodian to be sent for trial abroad,"
he added, the clearest signal yet that Phnom Penh will refuse to
hand over any rebels.

He also asserted there was a difference between Ta Mok and
rebel leaders who had defected to the government: "Ta Mok was
still fighting when he was arrested, while Khieu Samphan and Nuon
Chea surrendered."

The frail 72 year-old Ta Mok spent his third day holed up in a
city center military prison under tight guard, unrepentant for
his role in the 1975-79 ultra-Maoist regime that left up to two
million dead from execution, disease, starvation or overwork.

"Ta Mok has not taken responsibility or admitted any faults at
all: he has just blamed Pol Pot," a top military source told AFP.
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's "Brother Number One," died in April
last year.

Government officials said charges were expected against Ta Mok
on Tuesday or Wednesday but he was likely to remain out of sight
for weeks.

"At this stage we want him to stay inside where there is peace
and quiet, and to let him write down his confession himself,"
said a government source close to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"Perhaps this will take one week or one month -- it depends on
him. But we do not want to be accused of having forced him to say
anything."

Tight guard

Military police kept a tight guard around the jail, which is
surrounded by high walls lined with barbed wire. Insiders said
that although frail and tired, Ta Mok was eating normally and no
longer in handcuffs.

"He has been allowed out of his cell to go to the toilet under
heavy guard," one military policeman told AFP.
"And we are not torturing him either," another added.

Hor Namhong said it remained undecided whether Ta Mok would
face a civilian, military or "special" court. Prosecutors said
the first charge was likely to be brought under a 1994 law
outlawing the Khmer Rouge.

Under Cambodian law he faces a maximum sentence of life
imprisonment.

Fellow surviving rebel leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and
Ieng Sary -- also considered to be at the heart of "Democratic
Kampuchea" -- are living in retirement following their defections
to the government.

A UN panel recently submitted recommendations that an
international tribunal be set up, asserting Cambodia's legal
structure was not equipped to deal with leaders of the 1975-1979
regime.

However Cambodian officials argue that no international
mechanism has been set up to which Ta Mok could be handed over
and assert they are capable of putting him on trial here.

Arguing that an international trial of all leaders could spark
civil war, Hun Sen has called for a full investigation of the
entire civil war period -- which would cover U.S. bombing as well
as foreign backing for the Khmer Rouge after 1979 -- or a South
African-style truth commission.

Ta Mok was the last senior Khmer Rouge leader still at large
and his arrest effectively marks the end of the fading movement's
rebellion.

The Butcher -- Page 5