在屠殺結束二十七年、柬埔寨和聯合國爭鬥了十年後，對柬埔寨the Khmer Rouge 政權留存活的領袖，終於展開司法調查及審判的程序。七月十日檢調單位開始針對一九七五年到一九七九年間此政權暴政統治，包括虐待、處死、過度勞動、飢餓及疾病等因素，最後導致一百七十萬人死亡的慘劇，展開司法調查。
由於時隔已久，不少被告都已死亡，而且證人也漸凋零，讓此調查更加困難，面對更多不確定性。但是，在許多團體的不斷努力之下，終於突破了當前柬埔寨當局的阻撓，能開始在聯合國的支持下，展開司法調查，仍是對暴政、屠夫、獨裁者最好的警惕。
Cambodian court faces high hurdles
By Seth Mydans International Herald Tribune
Published: August 4, 2006
More than 27 years after the mass killings ended and after a decade of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations, formal proceedings have begun against the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.
On July 10, the prosecutor’s office began its investigation of the men accused of masterminding a killing regime that took 1.7 million lives from 1975 to 1979 through torture, execution, overwork, starvation and disease.
The first shipment of 383,149 pages of documentary evidence, contained on 524 reels of microfilm, was delivered to the prosecutors on July 17.
But even if a loose timetable holds, it will be a year and a half before the first defendant is brought before a mixed Cambodian-foreign tribunal. Because of limits on time, space and funding, only a small handful are likely to face trial for complicity in the deaths of as much as one-fourth of the population.
The United Nations has given the tribunal a budget of $56.3 million for a three-year process that began with the investigation, which many experts say may have to be extended.
It is also racing against mortality as aging suspects die off and those who remain grow sicker and more frail. The Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. Another leading figure, the military commander Ta Mok, died July 20.
Of the four most prominent names that remain, three are in their late 70s and report having medical problems. Only one, Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, the commander of the torture chamber Tuol Sleng, is in custody. He has become an evangelical Christian. An earlier interview suggested that he may be as enthusiastic now about repentance as he was then about slaughter.
The decades-long gap between the crimes and the trial, arising from various political and geopolitical agendas, will probably dull the memories of defendants and witnesses alike, experts said.
The trial was delayed throughout the 1980s when the United States and other nations insisted on recognizing the jungle-based Khmer Rouge guerrillas rather than the Vietnamese-backed government that ousted them in 1979.
In recent years, Prime Minister Hun Sen has raised obstacles, apparently concerned that the unpredictable process could weaken his firm grip on power.
Whether true or not, courtroom testimony could implicate members of the current government, several of whom were ranking Khmer Rouge cadres themselves. One of these is Hun Sen, who was a middle-ranking field officer but who scholars say was not involved in serious abuses.
The tribunal was established by an agreement between Cambodia and the United Nations in 2003 that grew out of a Cambodian request in 1997 for assistance. It has been controversial from the beginning, with Cambodia insisting that its shaky legal system form the basis for the complex tribunal.
Critics doubt the quality and independence of the 17 Cambodian judges and prosecutors, who they say are poorly trained and subject to political manipulation. An analysis by the human rights organization Licadho asserted that seven of the appointees "are clearly unsuited to the task" because of their records in politically manipulated trials. Four other men named to be judges have never served as judges before, it said.
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