PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday a key judge on the UN-backed genocide tribunal would not leave the bench, despite his appointment to serve on the nation's appeals court.
The government had earlier said You Bunleng, one of the investigating judges for the tribunal, had been given a new post as head of the appeals court.
The United Nations had voiced concern that his transfer would hold up efforts to prosecute those behind one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.
Two UN envoys on Thursday said they believed the decision was politically motivated.
But Hun Sen said in a statement that the judge would hold both posts simultaneously.
You Bunleng is seen as crucial to determining which suspects would go on trial.
The only person detained by the court so far is Kaing Guek Eav, a former Khmer Rouge prison chief better known as Duch, who has been charged with crimes against humanity.
Hun Sen said in the statement that the appointment of You Bunleng to the appeals court was "just an additional post, whereas his role and duty as a judge at the Khmer Rouge tribunal is kept the same. Nothing blocks the process of the trials."
Cambodia's long-stalled genocide trials have frequently been buffeted by accusations of political interference by a government which includes several former Khmer Rouge members.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions to vast collective farms with the aim of creating an agrarian utopia.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.
Sarith's quote:
Now we know, Hun Sen has his own judge who will protect him. Now King Norodom Sihanouk want his own judge who will protect him too. So now they want to clean themselves and try to pretend that they are good guy. It is too late. We all know, Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihanouk are rudeless killers that worked with Khmer Rouge and the Chinese to murder 2 millions of innocent Khmer People. Khmer Rouge regime and the Communist Chinese were to exterminate all the Khmer people, so the next generation of Khmer People will be Chinese.
Date: 08/25/2007
Url:
http://english.people.com.cn/9 ....
Author: Yahoo news
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