Cambodia: Khmer Rouge tribunal to be sworn in next month

Cambodia: Khmer Rouge tribunal to be sworn in next month

Cambodia and the United Nations agreed in 2003 to set up a U.N.-assisted tribunal to prosecute surviving Khmer Rouge leaders over the deaths of about 1.7 million people during the regime's 1975-79 rule.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998. The ultra-communist movement collapsed a year later, but none of its top leaders has been brought to justice. Many still live and move freely in Cambodia.

Drawn-out negotiations and funding problems led some critics to suggest that Prime Minister Hun Sen's government was intentionally stalling to avoid embarrassing Khmer Rouge members who had become government backers.

Many fear that aging Khmer Rouge leaders may die before they can stand trial for crimes against humanity and genocide.