Global Policy Forum

By Craig Etcheson

The Cambodian official responsible for setting up a tribunal to judge the Khmer Rouge leadership has announced, once again, that "the government is too busy" to address the issue of justice for the crimes of the Pol Pot regime.

Long-awaited legislation to create a special trial for former Khmer Rouge leaders will not be passed on to Cambodia's National Assembly until later this month, the government said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said in April the government would submit the legislation to lawmakers before he left for an aid donors' meeting in Tokyo this month.

"The government is too busy, so we decided to do it after we return from the meeting," senior cabinet minister Sok An told Reuters.

Hun Sen and senior members of his cabinet are scheduled to go to Tokyo on Wednesday for the June 11-13 meeting. They are due to return to Cambodia on June 14.

Cambodia and the United Nations agreed in April last year on how to try former leaders of the radical communist group, blamed for an estimated 1.7 million deaths during their 1975-79 "killing fields" regime.

Although legislation to create a tribunal was approved by Cambodia's parliament earlier this year, Hun Sen kicked it back to the government in mid-February to have all references to the death penalty removed. Cambodia does not have a death penalty. The process has been stalled since then.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in April 1998 as government troops were closing in on his jungle hideout in northern Cambodia, but many of his old comrades are living freely after surrendering.