Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen says the bones of victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide must be preserved as evidence for coming trials.
Mr. Hun Sen rejected calls to burn the victims' remains, saying cremation would hamper efforts to try the former regime's leaders.
He spoke at a ceremony near the Choeung Ek killing fields, where thousands died during four years of Khmer Rouge rule, from 1975 to 1979.
Cambodia's former king, Norodom Sihanouk, wants the bones burned according to Buddhist tradition, rather than displayed for what he calls the pleasure of tourists.
Cambodia and the United Nations agreed in 2003 to create a tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for the atrocities. But no trials have been held.
The ultra-Maoist movement's campaign to establish a classless, agrarian society led to the deaths of nearly two million people, from execution, overwork, disease and starvation.