New York-based Human Rights Watch Wednesday assailed Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government for putting obstacles in the way of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, one day after UN judges canceled a meeting with their Cambodian counterparts over fees foreign lawyers should pay to the Cambodian Bar Association.
"Stop blocking everything else, you know, get out of the way," Brad Adams, director of the agency's Asia Division said. "Let the trial go forward. Let there be some little bit of justice for the Khmer Rouge before it's too late."
The tribunal is facing its deepest crisis yet this week, as observers say failure now to iron out all differences and put in place rules governing the trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders will mean a collapse of the tribunal under its own time restriction.