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Slow progress at Khmer Rouge tribunal with no starting date for full trial of prison chief

By SOPHENG CHEANG and SUSAN POSTLEWAITE | Associated Press Writers

10:44 AM CST, February 18, 2009

A tourist looks at human skulls Monday, Feb. 16, 2009, at Choeung Ek, one of the main Killing fields of the Khmer Rouge regime in the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A U.N.-backed genocide tribunal is set to begin on Feb. 17, 2009, to try five Khmer Rouge leaders accused of crimes against humanity. Kaing Guek Eav, the commander of Toul Sleng under the Khmer rouge, also known as 'Duch,' will be the first leader to be tried. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) (Heng Sinith, AP / February 16, 2009)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A long-delayed Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal wrapped up its opening session Wednesday with judges saying they must agree on a list of witnesses before announcing when a full trial of the former head of the regime's notorious torture center will begin.

Kaing Guek Eav — better known as Duch — is charged with crimes against humanity. He is the first of five defendants from the close-knit, ultra-communist regime that ruled Cambodia in the 1970s and turned it into a vast slave labor camp in which an estimated 1.7 million people perished.

Three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the U.N.-assisted tribunal began a procedural session Tuesday to lay the groundwork for a full trial expected in March. The precise date has not been set and details still need to be ironed out, including who will testify.

Duch oversaw the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh — previously a school, now the Tuol Sleng genocide museum — where some 16,000 men, women and children were detained and tortured. Only a handful survived.

The 66-year-old Duch, the only defendant who has expressed remorse for his actions, is accused of committing or abetting a range of crimes including murder, torture and rape. He has yet to address the court.

One 69-year-old observer at the trial said the Khmer Rouge executed five of his family, including his parents, on a single day in 1976 for refusing to hand over a cow to the authorities.

"I'm coming to see the court find justice through the law," said Na Uth, who traveled with 24 others from the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey to watch the proceedings. "My anger never stops. I always think about it. I can't think straight."

Duch disappeared for two decades after the Khmer Rouge fell, living under false names and converting to Christianity. British journalist Nic Dunlop discovered Duch in northwestern Cambodia in 1999.

Dunlop is among 30 witnesses who will be summoned to testify at Duch's trial, according to Judge Silvia Cartwright of New Zealand. The tribunal incorporates mixed teams of foreign and Cambodian judges, prosecutors and defenders.

Judges had not decided whether to allow as evidence a short film shot by conquering Vietnamese forces as they entered Tuol Sleng prison in January 1979.

The film, which shows decapitated bodies and previously unknown child survivors, was only released by Vietnam in December.

Co-prosecutor Chea Leang said the film provided "crucial" new facts.

Defense lawyer Car Savuth argued the film was fabricated by the Vietnamese. He said orders had been given to kill all prisoners so there could not have been any young survivors when the Vietnamese arrived.

"There were no children at S-21 — they were all executed," Duch's lawyer said.

Duch's trial began 13 years after the tribunal was first proposed and nearly three years after the court was inaugurated.

The tribunal has drawn sharp criticism. Its snail-paced proceedings have been plagued by political interference from the Cambodian government as well as allegations of bias and corruption.

U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters Wednesday that the United States strongly supports bringing those responsible for the genocide to justice. He said the United States has so far provided more than $1.5 million to support the tribunal.

Others former Khmer Rouge facing trial are Khieu Samphan, the group's former head of state; Ieng Sary, its foreign minister; his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs; and Nuon Chea, the movement's chief ideologue.

All four have denied committing crimes.

Another observer from Banteay Meanchey said she could never forgive the defendants.

"When I think of the regime it makes me very angry. My heart hurts badly," said 47-year-old Ly Sokha, whose parents and five older brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge.

"I want them to be executed just like my parents were."

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Additional reporting by Associated Press correspondent Jerry Harmer.