Tribunal Expected To Probe Further Suspects

Who's next? (Photo: Reuters)

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
12 March 2010

Judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal are prepared to begin investigating additional suspects beyond those already in custody, an official for the UN-backed court said, but it remains unclear whether any more leaders of the regime will ever be brought to trial.

The question of further indictments beyond five suspects already in detention has put tribunal judges at odds in the past and led to warnings by Prime Minister Hun Sen on national instability.

While the tribunal has been mainly focused on the trial of those five leaders, “investigators have started studying the case files for Case 003 and Case 004,” said Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal. “Concrete investigative steps are expected to start in some weeks’ time.”