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Cambodian And International Jurists Study Evidence Documents For Khmer Rouge Tribunal


After taking oath for the Khmer Rouge tribunal Monday, 17 Cambodian and 10 international judges and prosecutors study evidence documents on genocide and crime against humanity for the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, say Khmer Rouge tribunal officials Wednesday.

The officials say that the tribunal is expected to begin in 2007, with no definite set up date, but the prosecutors will begin their investigative works July 10.

Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told VOA that the lawyers met with the Documentation Center of Cambodia officials for the first time Wednesday to comprehend those documents.

The center's director Yuk Chhang says that his center has programs to present those documents to the prosecutors. He says that his center gathers 5 kinds of documents: documents in paper forms, objects, photographs, documentary films on prisoners, prisoners arrests, the killings, the tortures, and confessions.

Mr. Reach Sambath says that the Documentation Center of Cambodia serves as a good source of information but the lawyers will decide which documents and to what degree they will be used at the trial.

Opposition Sam Rainsy party legislator Keo Remy says that those documents serve as basic tools for the jurists to ponder on making fair decisions to bring justice to about 1 million 700,000 victims who perished under Pol Pot regime, and their families, in the 1970's.

Seventeen Cambodian judges and prosecutors and 13 international jurists who were appointed in May for the Khmer Rouge tribunal will try the living former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the death of one million 700,000 Cambodian people.

Pol Pot died in 1998 in the jungle and Ta Mok and Duch are being held, waiting for the trial. Other leaders such as Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary are living freely in Norwestern Cambodia

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