As many as 15 former Khmer Rouge leaders could face tribunal indictments, a legal expert said

Hello VOA 15 Supects to be Charged
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
04 September 2007

As many as 15 former Khmer Rouge leaders could face tribunal
indictments, a legal expert said Monday.

Only five suspects have been forwarded from prosecutors to
investigating judges, including the Tuol Sleng prison chief known as
Duch.

But prosecutors have identified 10 more whose names have not been
forwarded, said Hisham Mousar, a legal expert and tribunal observer
for the independent rights group Adhoc.

No matter how many former leaders eventually face trial, Cambodians
should not view the tribunal as an act of revenge.

Rather, the courts are a symbol of justice and a lesson to future
leaders that war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity will not
go unpunished, said Mousar, speaking as a guest on "Hello VOA."

Mousar also said a recent stir over whether former king Norodom
Sihanouk should be immune to tribunal proceedings was more a matter of
historical interpretation of the former monarch's role.

Questions have been raised in recent days over whether a parliamentary
declaration that the former king be immune to court proceedings is
valid.

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