- News>
- World
Cambodia UN sign landmark pact for Khmer Rouge trial
Phnom Penh, June 06: Cambodia and the United Nations today signed an agreement to hold a genocide trial for former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, whose brutal rule claimed 1.7 million lives.
Phnom Penh, June 06: Cambodia and the United Nations today signed an agreement to hold a genocide trial for former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, whose brutal rule claimed 1.7 million lives.
The agreement marks a breakthrough in the quest for justice 24 years after the Khmer Rouge lost power and six years after Cambodia first asked for UN assistance in holding a tribunal.
None of the Khmer Rouge leaders has ever faced trial for the atrocities committed during their 1975-79 rule, when nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population died.
Sok An, Cambodia's chief negotiator of the pact, and Hans Corell, the UN deputy secretary-general for legal affairs, signed the document at Chaktomouk conference hall, which the government has set as the venue for the internationally assisted tribunal.
The agreement must still be ratified by Cambodia's legislature, and Corell and others have warned that it may still be a long time before the trials are convened.
On a stage in front of more than 500 observers students, government officials, diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organizations Sok An and Corell raised glasses of champagne to toast the agreement.
Bureau Report
None of the Khmer Rouge leaders has ever faced trial for the atrocities committed during their 1975-79 rule, when nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population died.
Sok An, Cambodia's chief negotiator of the pact, and Hans Corell, the UN deputy secretary-general for legal affairs, signed the document at Chaktomouk conference hall, which the government has set as the venue for the internationally assisted tribunal.
The agreement must still be ratified by Cambodia's legislature, and Corell and others have warned that it may still be a long time before the trials are convened.
On a stage in front of more than 500 observers students, government officials, diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organizations Sok An and Corell raised glasses of champagne to toast the agreement.
Bureau Report