Revisiting the Killing Fields

But justice—and punishment—will not come easily. Nuon Chea is ailing and suffering from heart disease; he may not live to see a verdict. And only one other person has been charged so far: Kaing Guek Eav—commonly known as Duch—who ran the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh. Many analysts believe that the pace of prosecution has been deliberately slowed by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen in a bid to control the trials—probably to prevent testimony that would prove embarrassing to members who used to be in the Khmer Rouge. After nearly a decade of unenthusiastic negotiations between the government and the United Nations, the trial format will mix international staff with Cambodia's inept, corrupt judiciary. Whatever the outcome of the war-crime prosecutions, that dubious legal system is unlikely to be overhauled anytime soon.

© 2007