This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7766488.stm

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Khmer trial to clear last hurdle Khmer trial clears final hurdle
(about 8 hours later)
The final obstacle to starting trials at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia is expected to be lifted. Judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia have ruled that a former prison chief, known as Comrade Duch, should not face additional charges.
Judges are due to decide whether the first person to appear before the UN-backed court should face extra charges. He already faces charges of crimes against humanity, but prosecutors wanted to add conspiracy charges too.
The suspect is a former prison chief, Comrade Duch, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. They argued this would make it easier to prosecute other Khmer Rouge leaders.
Prosecutors want to add conspiracy charges to his indictment, saying this would make it easier to prosecute other Khmer Rouge leaders. The ruling means the final obstacle to starting the trials has been lifted, although Duch is unlikely to appear in court again until at least next March.
The BBC correspondent in Cambodia, Guy Delauney, says the judges' decision cannot be appealed, so there should be no further procedural obstacles to the trial beginning.
Even so, the former jailer is unlikely to appear in court again until next March at the earliest.
DelaysDelays
Comrade Duch is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders to be charged with crimes against humanity. Duch's trial would have been well under way by now but for an appeal by the prosecutors.
His trial would have been well under way by now but for an appeal by the prosecutors.
They said that even though the former prison chief faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the scope of the indictment was not wide enough.They said that even though the former prison chief faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the scope of the indictment was not wide enough.
Specifically, they want him to stand accused of being part of a joint criminal enterprise with other Khmer Rouge leaders - a conspiracy to murder, starve and torture as many as two million Cambodians in the late 1970s. Specifically, they wanted him to stand accused of being part of a joint criminal enterprise with other Khmer Rouge leaders - a conspiracy to murder, starve and torture Cambodians in the late 1970s.
The appeal has resulted in a delay of around six months, and that has been hard to bear for people like Van Nath - one of the few survivors of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison which Duch controlled. Judges rejected this, but they did widen the scope of the charges to include torture and pre-meditated murder.
"We used to have seven people who survived Tuol Sleng at that time. Now there are only three of us... Maybe we'll just die first," he said. The prosecutors may be disappointed, but for survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime, the more important factor is that a start to the first trial is now in sight, says the BBC correspondent in Phnom Penh, Guy Delauney.
The tribunal will name the date next week, and it is likely to be in the first quarter of next year.
As many as two million people are thought to have died under the Khmer Rouge. People were forced from the cities to work in the fields. Many died from starvation and overwork, while others were executed.
Our correspondent says that Duch may help to resolve the puzzle which has nagged away at Cambodians for so many years - why did Khmer kill Khmer, so often and so brutally?
The former prison chief has been cooperating with investigating judges - and the signs are that he will provide information about how the Khmer Rouge leadership made the decisions which led to so many deaths.