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Cambodian and international judges agreed the underlying rules on
Wednesday for the special court to try Pol Pot's top surviving
henchmen, allowing the long-awaited "Killing Fields" tribunal to
proceed in earnest.
Canadian co-prosecutor Robert Petit, who has been compiling
preliminary cases against the top Khmer Rouge leaders, told
reporters he would lodge his first formal accusations with the
court "within a few weeks".
Around 1.7 million people are thought to have died during Pol
Pot's four-year reign of terror, which was brought to an end in
1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.
Most of the victims of his "Year Zero" revolution were executed,
or died of torture, disease, overwork or starvation.
Pol Pot himself died in the jungle in 1998 in one of the Khmer
Rouge's final redoubts along the border with Thailand. Neither the
self-styled "Brother Number One" nor any of his comrades ever faced
justice for the atrocities.
The $53 million United Nations-backed court has been plagued by
delays and arguments between local and international legal
officials, although today's approval of the court's internal
rules removes the last formal obstacles to its work.
However, no suspect will be appearing in court for at least six
months.
French investigating judge Marcel Lemonde said he hoped to have
his probes into the first suspects wrapped up some time within the
first half of 2008.
"We want our investigation work to finish as quickly as
possible," he said.
The most likely defendants are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea,
former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, former President Khieu Samphan
and Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation and torture centre
in Phnom Penh.
Japan is the major financial backer of the court, which is
expected to reveal the full extent of China's involvement with the
Khmer Rouge.
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