Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Judges and prosecutors from Cambodia and foreign countries were sworn in Monday to begin the U.N.-backed judicial process to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity.
It was a major step forward in the search for justice for victims of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, whose extremist policies in the late 1970s killed an estimated 1.7 million people. Some were executed; others died of starvation, disease and overwork.
After decades of inaction and delays, trials are expected to start in 2007.
“They should not have kept victims like me waiting this long,” said Chum Mey, a survivor of the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, where thousands were tortured and executed. “I am already 76 years old, and don’t know how long I can wait.”
None of the top leaders of the 1975-79 communist regime have been held accountable. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, but several deputies, aging and infirm, live freely in Cambodia.
Cambodia and the U.N. agreed in 2003 to jointly establish the tribunal. Funding problems and drawn-out talks led some critics to suggest that Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government stalled the process to avoid embarrassing Khmer Rouge members who had become government backers.
