Khmer Rouge may be tried for genocide

Khmer Rouge may be tried for genocide

PHNOM PENH (AP): A researcher gathering evidence against the Khmer Rouge said on Sunday he believes enough documentation exists to convict the communist guerrilla group's leadership for war crimes and genocide committed during its brutal four-year rule of Cambodia.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said his center has selected 53 Khmer Rouge documents out of an archive of more than 3,000 to be presented to a visiting team of UN experts assessing the possibility of an international tribunal against the Khmer Rouge.

"We have plenty of information and have selected specifics bearing the names of the leadership," Youk Chhang said. "I am not a lawyer, but as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide, I think it is enough," he said. "But let the experts and lawyers decide."

Sir Ninian Stephen, former governor-general of Australia, and American Stephen Ratner, an authority on international law and war crimes, arrived in Phnom Penh on Saturday for a week-long visit.

The third member of the team, Rajsoomer Lallah, former chief justice of Mauritius, is due in Phnom Penh on Monday.

The trio were appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in July to assess existing evidence against top Khmer Rouge leaders, held responsible for the deaths of as many as 2 million people by execution, starvation and disease.

Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, co-prime ministers at the time, wrote Kofi Annan in June 1997 requesting assistance in bringing the Khmer Rouge to justice.

Supreme Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot escaped prosecution when he died of an apparent heart attack in April, but many top members of the guerrilla group are still alive and at large.

Former Khmer Rouge deputy prime minister Ieng Sary received amnesty from the Cambodian government in 1996 after leading a massive defection of rebel forces that crippled the movement. The amnesty, however, did not cover indictments by an international court.

One-legged Khmer Rouge army chief Ta Mok and ideological chief Nuon Chea continue to lead a dwindling band of supporters against the government in the mountainous jungles of the Thai-Cambodian border.