Five former members of the Khmer Rouge have gone on trial in Cambodia, accused of kidnapping and killing two members of a mine clearance team.
British mine expert Christopher Howes and his interpreter, Houn Hourth, Khmer Rouge's Duch set for trial ...
Cambodia genocide tribunal indicts Khmer Rouge jailor ...
Cambodia's ruling party says it has won landslide election victory ... were working in north-western Cambodia when they were abducted and killed in 1996.
The trial is seen as a sign that Khmer Rouge figures no longer enjoy immunity.
Separately, the trial of five Khmer Rouge leaders on war-crimes charges has reportedly been delayed.
Chris Howes was leading a Mines Advisory Group operation near Siem Reap when his team was abducted by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
The kidnappers asked Mr Howes to return to his office to collect ransom money.
But he refused to leave his team. Although more than 30 members of the team were released or escaped, Mr Howes and his interpreter were killed.
Defection
A team of British detectives said in May 1998 they had firm evidence the two were taken to the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng and killed soon after the abduction.
The accused include senior Khmer Rouge commander, Khem Ngun, who defected to the government in 1998 and was given the rank of major general in the Cambodian army.
It was believed the government did not want to arrest him at a time, when it was trying to encourage Khmer Rouge members to join the government.
Khem Ngun and two other suspects were arrested last November, while the last two suspects, including his former driver, were arrested in May.
All five defendants are charged with premeditated murder and kidnapping and face life imprisonment if convicted.
Many former Khmer Rouge leaders have taken posts in the government or the army after they surrendered a decade ago.
This trial suggests they are not immune from justice, the BBC's Guy Delauney in Phnom Pehn says.
Genocide 'delay'
Separately, five senior leaders are now awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, for atrocities committed during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979.
The start of the first trial at the genocide tribunal is likely to be delayed until early next year, the Associated Press news agency has reported.
Officials said on Thursday that more time is needed to deal with an appeal for more charges against a Khmer Rouge defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, the agency reported.
Duch headed the former S-21 prison, the Khmer Rouge's largest torture facility.
"The chance to have a trial for Duch could be in 2009, early next year," said Reach Sambath, a tribunal spokesman, but he was unable to give a specific date.
The 65-year-old Duch is the youngest of the five Khmer Rouge who have been indicted, and all have health problems.
The communist group implemented radical policies considered responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
(BBC)
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