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The Supreme Court Chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal handed a life sentence to Kaing Kek Iev, the torture chief better known by his revolutionary name, Comrade Duch.

The sentence, announced at the court a year and a half after an initial commuted sentence of 19 years for a raft of atrocity crimes, concludes the first case of the court. But the court did not issue strong reparation for victims of the regime, something many had hoped for.

A throng of people crowded the UN-backed tribunal building outside Phnom Penh, anxious to hear the final verdict.

The court is currently trying three more top leaders of the regime, but many critics say this is as far as the hybrid court will go.

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More than 12,000 people were tortured and sent to their deaths under Duch’s supervision, a crime judge Kong Srim called “one of the worst cases” in human history.

Duch, who was a math teacher before he joined the regime and converted to Christianity after its fall, appeared somber as he was led out of the court by a guard at the conclusion of the hearing. He will eventually be moved from the tribunal’s detention facility to a state prison until his death.

Kang Ritheary, a defense attorney for Duch, said it was difficult to comment on the final decision, but that there was “some controversy” in the way the court interpreted the law.

“Justice has come after 33 years,” said Chea Leang, the Cambodian prosecutor for the court. “I think impunity has been erased.”

Her UN counterpart, Andrew Cayley, said the prosecutor “got more than we asked for.”

“I think the victims can be satisfied with that,” he said.

Stephen Rapp, US ambassador at large for war crimes, called it a “great day” for the tribunal and “an important step toward justice and reconciliation for the people of Cambodia.”

However, lawyers for the civil party victims who took part in the trial said the court failed to provide the reparations they had wanted. The court decided it would publish and broadly distribute their names.

Rupert Abbott, a researcher for Amnesty International, said the judges had missed a chance to be “more creative,” although he said Amnesty welcomed the final closure of the case.

Members of Kaing Kek Iev’s family declined to comment Friday, but Muth Thim, a former Khmer Rouge soldier and close neighbor of Duch, called the sentence “too heavy.” “He was only following orders,” Muth Thim said.

For survivors of Duch’s prison, like Chum Mey, the final verdict meant closure after a long wait.

“I can be at ease,” Chum Mey said after the hearing. “I am very happy.”

“This is what I’ve prayed for,” said Bou Meng, who also survived the prison, “for my deceased wife, for the people of the world to know, for more than 10,000 Cambodian victims.”

With Duch’s sentencing complete, and a trial for three top leaders under way, the Khmer Rouge tribunal must still face thorny questions over two more cases and five more suspects.

Cases 003 and 004, which are before the office of investigating judges, would require indictments that senior Cambodian officials strongly oppose.

Andrew Cayley, the international prosecutor at the court, says the court cannot simply drop the charges brought against the five suspects.

“You cannot dismiss charges except where there has not been a crime committed, the perpetrators have not been identified, or where there is insufficient evidence,” he said in an e-mail Wednesday. “The court will only remain credible and just if all parties involved follow the law and the rules. If legal processes are hijacked for other ends this will adversely affect the court’s legacy.”

However, critics of the court say it is unlikely to see the two cases through in the face of continued government opposition, funding woes and other obstacles.

The Cambodian government has weathered intense criticism in recent weeks, for failing to approve the UN nomination of an international investigating judge, following the resignation of a German judge last year who said public opposition to the two cases by senior government officials made it impossible to do his job.

Without the official sanction of the government, the new judge, Laurent Kasper-Answermet, could face legal hurdles pushing the two cases forward, court observers said.

For now, Case 003, which would indict two suspects, appears closed, while Case 004, which accused three more Khmer Rouge leaders of atrocity crimes, remains in the office of investigating judges.

And the rule on whether Kasper-Anserment can legally reopen Case 003 is “a bit vague,” said Anne Heinel, a legal expert for the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

Court monitors say that without the cooperation of the host country, it will be difficult to move the cases forward at all.

Peter Maguire, author of “Facing Death in Cambodia,” said a dismissal of the cases will be a political choice, not a legal one.

“For years Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has stated unequivocally that Case 002 against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders would be the [tribunal’s] last trial,” he told VOA Khmer Thursday. “However the UN brass refuses to accept their host’s political decision.”

Meanwhile, two suspects in those cases told VOA Khmer this week they would be relieved to have the cases dropped.

Im Chaem, who is named as a suspect in Case 004, said she would like the court to drop the case against her.

“My feeling would be delight, and I would never think about involvement in past politics,” she said.

Meas Muth, a suspect in Case 003, said Cambodia needs peace and reconciliation, not another trial.

“In fact, everyone needs to apply the principle of national reconciliation well, in order to have safety and peace in our society,” he said. “No one other than ourselves will think about that. And if again we have suffering, no one will come to help us.”

The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia has extended the sentence of a former Khmer Rouge torture chief to life in prison.

Kaing Kek Iev, better known as Duch, had appealed to reduce his 35-year-term, but the court ruled his harsh crimes instead deserved an even longer sentence.

Comrade Duch, who ran the main torture center of the Khmer Rouge during their brutal rule in the 1970s, was found guilty in 2010 of overseeing the torture and execution of more than 12,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, and gave him a commuted 19-year sentence.

Although Duch admitted his role and asked for forgiveness, he surprised the court and upset victims by asking for acquittal. The 69-year-old argued he was a junior official only acting on orders and that more senior leaders should be held responsible because they did much worse.

The tribunal’s Supreme Court disagreed. Speaking through a translator, the judge said Duch’s sentence must be proportionate to the crimes he committed. “The accused is responsible for detention, interrogation, torture, enslavement, and execution of a number of individuals who were not political enemies,” he said.

The ruling ends the first and only successful prosecution by the United Nations-backed tribunal.

The decision Friday was largely welcomed by observers and critics who say the court has not pursued cases against former Khmer Rouge aggressively enough. At the court, survivors of the Tuol Sleng prison camp cheered the ruling.

Bou Meng spoke to reporters after the verdict, saying he was 100 percent satisfied with the court’s decision and the trial chamber is an example of a world court.

There were a few dissenters to Friday’s verdict, including one of the tribunal’s main observers.

Clair Duffy with the Open Society Justice Initiative said the life sentence violated Duch’s rights, arguing that it failed to account for eight years when he was illegally detained by the Cambodian military.

“They gave him a five year reduction for the violation of his rights at trial and even the prosecutor agreed that that was correct. And by majority, mainly the national judges and one international voting with them, they've given absolutely no recognition for that,” Duffy stated.

Since its founding in 2005, the court has spent close to 200 million dollars and been dogged by allegations of political pressure to limit prosecutions.

A second trial is underway of the three most senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge. They are former chief ideologist Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, and foreign minister Ieng Sary.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister has said the second trial should also be the last and warned further prosecutions could split the country.

Last year, a United Nations-appointed judge was forced to step down after allegations that two other cases were dismissed after improper investigations.
Cambodian authorities have refused to appoint his replacement, who has shown a willingness to prosecute more cases.

Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge executed, tortured, starved, and worked to death up to two million Cambodians in pursuit of a communist utopia.

Kaing Kek Iev, the Khmer Rouge torture chief better known as Comrade Duch, will hear the final decision on his sentencing by tribunal judges on Friday.

Duch, who is 69, was handed a commuted sentence of 19 years at the end of his atrocity crimes trial in 2010, angering many victims of the regime and the few remaining survivors of his Tuol Sleng prison.

At least 12,000 people were tortured and sent to their executions under Duch’s supervision.

“It’s a life sentence if they sentence him to 45 years,” said Chum Mey, who survived the prison and is now the head of a Khmer Rouge victims group. “Let’s sentence him to 45 years. Duch will never live for 100 years.”

Duch’s defense team has said he should be released, because his role in the regime does not fall under the mandate of the UN-backed tribunal.

Friday’s decision will close for good the first case of the tribunal, which has struggled with questions of its legitimacy even as it undertakes its second trial, of three senior leaders.

A growing number of critics of the court, which has cost nearly $200 million, say it is only likely to finish two cases, despite two more before its investigating judges.

Sum Rithy, another Tuol Sleng survivor, said Thursday that Duch’s sentence need not be added to, but it should not have been commuted from the original 35 years handed down by judges.

Anne Heindel, a legal expert for the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said Duch’s crimes were only a part of the Khmer Rouge atrocity.

Tribunal spokesman Huy Vannak said Friday’s sentence will mark a historic success for the court.

“At that time, we can say justice has been given to everyone,” he said.

At least six demonstrators were arrested in front of City Hall on Wednesday as they joined a protest for the release of eight others in the Borei Keila neighborhood eviction last month.

A similar protest in January led to the unlawful detention of around 30 residents before they escaped a detention center in the capital.

Both protests were for the release of the eight people arrested during a violent forced eviction on Jan. 3, where residents threw bottles and rocks at police attempting to push them from their homes to make way for a development deal.

Some of Wednesday’s female protesters tore off their shirts as they faced off with riot police carrying batons and shields. Others threw bottles of water at police. No one was injured.

Koet Che, deputy city administrator, declined to comment at the scene.

Am Sam Ath, lead monitor for the rights group Licadho, said the solution to ongoing eviction problems was not in police violence.

“The Cambodian government should find a good solution for the protesters, to show the internationals and Asean that it can respect human rights,” he said.

The head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has provided hundreds of thousands of documents to the Khmer Rouge tribunal, addressed the court on Wednesday to vouch for the accuracy of the research.

Defense attorneys for three jailed regime leaders have challenged the authenticity of documents from the well-established organization, which has collected documentation on Khmer Rouge atrocities for nearly 15 years.

Chhang Youk told the court that documents were thoroughly vetted and that the age of the paper, dates, signatures and other proof are used to verify their authenticity. Chhang Youk is scheduled to appear before the Trial Chamber on Thursday.

He told the court Wednesday he had established the center for the purpose of national reconciliation in the wake of Khmer Rouge atrocities and that he hoped the UN-backed court would provide accountability for the leaders of the regime.

The Senate elections held over the weekend produced results as expected, analysts said Monday. But the polls, open only to already chosen members of local commune councils, don’t reflect the will of the people, election observers said.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party received about 78 percent of the votes, with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party taking the remainder, increasing from two to 11 seats.

Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said the numbers showed voting along party lines, as expected, rather than commune councils extending the will of the people.

“There is no relationship like that,” he said. Some commune councils are unpopular over their handling of community problems like land disputes, he said.

Cambodia has two legislative houses, the National Assembly, elected in national polls, and the Senate, elected by commune councils, which are chosen by popular vote.

The next commune council elections are to be held later this year, with national parliamentary elections to follow the year after.

Hang Chhaya, executive director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, said the Senate should be elected by popular vote as well.

“How can the senators represent the people if the commune council votes for them,” he said.

Tep Nytha, secretary-general of the National Election Committee, said that representative elections like this in the Senate are not uncommon.

Meanwhile, the Senate remains relatively inactive, said Lao Monghay an independent political observer. The Senate does not draft laws or investigate issues, he said, making it “powerless.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday demanded a rubber plantation turn over two security guards accused at opening fire on a gathering of villagers earlier this month.

Police say they are searching for two men who shot at a crowd of villagers who had gathered in protest to a land concession in Kratie province on Jan. 18. Four people were injured in the shooting, but no arrests have so far been made.

Hun Sen called the violence intolerable and called on TTY Corporation, which is owned by powerful business tycoon Na Marady, to turn over the security guards.

The Kratie court has issued a summons for the two guards.

At the inauguration of a new road in Mondolkiri province, Hun Sen said the company should be punished if it is found to be protecting them.

“I condemn such violence and cannot tolerate it,” Hun Sen said. “And ask the TTY Corporation to help hand over the offenders to the authorities of justice.”

Hun Sen said he had ordered Interior Minister Sar Kheng to arrest the men.

Land disputes are a growing concern in areas of more and more land concessions. Rights workers have pointed to tens of thousands affected and a potential source of widespread unrest.

Hun Sen said Tuesday he would take back land concessions if the violence continues.

Am Sam Ath, lead investigator for the rights group Licadho, welcomed premier’s words, but he said, “we will watch the effectiveness in implementation of Hun Sen’s speech.”

Judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal cut short questioning by a defense attorney of a witness at the court who sought to mention confidential suspects in another case.

Michiel Pestman, defense for jailed leader Nuon Chea, began a line of questioning about former leaders Ta An and Im Chaem, two suspects the court has kept confidential despite repeated press mentions in Case 004.

Nil Nonn, head judge of the Trial Chamber, stopped him and reminded him to keep his questions limited to the case at hand—No. 002.

Pestman and other defense attorneys have repeatedly tried to prove their clients are not getting a fair trial due to political interference at the court. The political objection to cases 003 and 004 have been an ongoing issue for the court.

Pestman was questioning former cadre Prak Yut, who confessed to working with Ta An but provided no further information. The international prosecutor has accused Ta An of mass killings in Kampong Cham province and other atrocity crimes, charges he has denied.

In other testimony Monday, Nuon Chea told the court the decision to evacuate the cities had been made to avoid retaliation from the US after the ouster of the Lon Nol regime.

The evacuation of the cities was the beginning of Year Zero for the regime, which sought to remake Cambodia as an agrarian utopia in policies that proved disastrous.

Nuon Chea said Monday Vietnamese forces were an ever present threat in Cambodia and that people had been moved to work camps to “save forces” to work in the agricultural sector.

Tens of thousands of families have been affected by dozens of land disputes over the last four years, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights reported Monday.

More than 47,000 families have been embroiled in 223 land disputes, the center reported. Nearly 80 land cases involved government land concessions that affected more than 30,000 families.

Often, the rule of law was not applied in the cases, leaving many families poorer, the report said.

Land disputes have become an increasingly thorny issue for Cambodian authorities, leading to violent demonstrations that have blocked national roads, are held outside courts or municipal buildings and have led to the detention of many civic representatives.

Chor Chanthyda, a project coordinator for the center, said economic concessions have been granted nationwide, but the problems are concentrated in resource-rich provinces like Kampong Speu, Kratie, Mondolkir and Ratanakkiri.

Under the concessions, families face the loss of their land and the threat of violence or court action if they protest, she said.

“They face poverty because they have no farmland for crops,” she said.

The government has granted concessions to 222 private companies, mostly from China, South Korea and Vietnam, since 2005, said Uch Leng, a project officer for the rights group Adhoc.

“The private companies and the government don’t offer appropriate compensation [to villagers] and don’t take care of their livelihoods,” he said. “On the contrary, people who are affected fall into poverty, and the private companies that come to develop do not improve people’s lives.”

Government spokesman Ek Tha said there is no government policy to “ill treat people.”

“We have a policy to help people improve their lives,” he said. “We think of people’s well being and suffering.”

The CCHR report recommends collaborative, participatory approaches in conjunction with rights groups and villagers, as well as improved local communication, to mitigate problems.

Government officials must take more action to prevent forced eviction, with more and more families ending up in inferior relocation sites and a high number of children dropping out of school as a result, a housing advocate said Thursday.

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Sia Phearum, executive director of the Housing Rights Task Force, told “Hello VOA” people are being forced off land they earned through “backbreaking” work, and that promises made by politicians during the 2008 national election are going unfulfilled.

“If we continue tragedies like the issues of Borei Keila or Dey Krahorm, we will receive sin or remorse,” he said. “You as the authority, the government, from the vote of the people, you haven’t fulfilled your own task to solve the problem for them.”

He suggested clearer policies for proper compensation and fairness for people evicted under development projects, who often face difficulties once they leave their home neighborhoods for inferior sites outside the city.

As many as one in five children drop out of school after forced evictions, he said. Evictees go “from landowners to being servants,” he said. “That’s the direct impact for them, and that’s why we are seeing protests, like closed national roads, almost every month.”

Neth Ratana, a representative of villagers from Snuol district, Kratie province, where a rubber plantation is displacing hundreds of families, said she wants the government to find ways to share land.

Sorn Touch, a Borei Keila evictee who appeared on an earlier “Hello VOA,” said Thursday that officials have since threatened to sue her for defamation. “Now they want to imprison me,” she said.

Another Borei Keila evictee, Khan Malin, said at the relocation site, she must pay around $0.08 to use the toilet and $0.11 to take a shower. “When I don’t have the money, I just wash my feet and take my children to bed.”

Both women say they worry about their safety at night.

Sia Phearum said his group and other NGOs are not opposed to the government, but the tradeoffs for concessions and development are not worth it.

The nation’s leaders should take responsibility for the problem and not blame their subordinates, and they should not disappoint those who elected them, he said.

“The people who voted for these leaders need to think, too,” he said. “Because there is no rule of law, these companies associated with powerful leaders in the country are always forcing people out of their residences and arresting people and detaining those who dare to protest. The authorities were not voted in by the companies. They were seen as capable, and people voted for them to serve them, so they should serve the people.”

With the Khmer Rouge tribunal mired in controversy over the government’s refusal to approve a UN-appointed judge, court observers now say it is time for the UN to decide on a minimum standard of justice it is willing to accept.

The UN sent its special expert for the court to Cambodia this week to meet with government and court officials over Swiss judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who is replacing a German investigating judge who quit over political interference last year.

The expert, David Scheffer, said following his meetings that Kasper-Ansermet could continue as investigating judge without the approval of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, putting him in opposition to the government’s position.

That has put differences between the UN and the government in sharp relief, even as the court continues the trial of three former leaders of the regime, known as Case 002.

The UN must decide when it will pull out of the process and leave two cases before the court to the national judicial process, said Lath Ky, a court monitor for the rights group Adhoc.

If the UN believes the conclusion of cases 001 and 002 are enough, “there’s no need to find any other solution,” he said. “The UN should not delay in giving a specific message to the Cambodian side.”

For its part, the Cambodian side has expressed clearly it wants no further cases to go to trial, he said.

Long Panhavuth, a tribunal monitor for the Cambodian Justice Initiative, said the main problem that has emerged at the court is cooperation between the UN and Cambodian sides.

The office of the investigating judges has much work to do now, including bringing civil parties and witness into its cases, and it must keep the public informed, he said.

“Without cooperation, no matter who is appointed, it will be superficial, and the problem will continue relentlessly,” he said.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the UN and Cambodia are partners and are continuing to discuss their differences. “No party can force a sovereign nation to follow this person or that,” he said.

Cambodians who survived the Khmer Rouge will have to live with the emotional scars of the regime, but staying positive can help them move forward, says Sam Keo a Cambodian psychologist who has written a new book.

“Out of the Dark: Into the Garden of Hope” is an attempt to help Cambodians move past the trauma, he said on “Hello VOA” Monday.

“The disease that we endured during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime cannot be completely healed,” said Keo, who is a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles. “It stays on. But we can help them work as normal for certain periods of time, until they run into big stresses.”

“Out of the Dark” is an exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and Keo’s own struggles with it, he said.

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Keo was in high school when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, forcing him into work camps where he was beaten, tortured and left for dead.

His father was killed by soldiers of the regime, and four of his younger brothers died of starvation and disease before the age of 10.

Overcoming such trauma is not easy and going back into the past does not help either, Keo said.

“We have to forgive ourselves because if we flash back to that split second, and ask, what would they have done?” he said. “If we jumped to help, we all could have been killed, and no one would have lived to tell the tale.”

Bou Meng and Chhum Mey spend less time at the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders these days, and more time at the torture center they both survived.

The two men sit at the Tuol Sleng musuem, the former prison known the Khmer Rouge as S-21, selling the stories of their lives to tourists.

The men say they are not happy to do so, but they have no choice if they want to earn a living.

Bou Meng, who sells copies of his biography, “A Survivor From Khmer Rouge Prison S-21,” by Huy Vannak, said he earns a few dozen dollars a day. On good days, he might earn a few hundred.

“I sell my book for $10, but some people give me $20 without getting back the change,” he said. “I thank them and kiss their hands to show that it’s their hands that help feed me for my daily survival.”

Bou Meng endured severe torture here under the Khmer Rouge, making it hard to return.

“Whenever I enter this place, I get really tense, but I have to come to earn some money, to feed my family, because I’m inadequately supported by the state,” he said.

Author Huy Vannak, who is now a spokesman for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, said he wrote the book “in hopes of making Mr. Bou Meng’s life meaningful, and to help him in various ways, both financially and mentally.”

Canadian tourist Claude Brale bought the book on a recent visit to the museum after talking with Bou Meng.

“I saw a lot of depth in his face and his eyes, and from there I wanted to read more about his story,” Brale said.

In another corner of the museum grounds, survivor Chum Mey sits selling books about the Khmer Rouge and magazines that tell his story of survival. It’s the only way he can support his family, he said.

The tribunal, which has already tried the former head of Tuol Sleng, Kaing Kek Iev, “has never provided anything to the victims,” Chum Mey said. “There are now only two remaining survivors of the S-21 prison after the passing away of Vann Nath, but there has not been any result for us at all.”

“Why does the court not pity the two remaining survivors who are sitting selling books to feed our stomachs?” Bou Meng said. “Why does it pity only the accused so much? What is the court is! I'm so disappointed.”

Huy Vannak said the court does not distinguish between Chum Mey, Bou Meng and the many other victims of the Khmer Rouge. “We don’t think there should be special treatment for any party,” he said.

Visitors here said that by buying books, they hope they help in some way.

“I hope it buys him some comfort in his life and enables him to have a better quality of life,” said Adam Marris, an Australian. “I hope he gets some satisfaction from being able to tell his story and perhaps make the world a better place.”

The Kratie provincial court has issued a summons for two rubber plantation security guards accused of opening fire on demonstrating villagers earlier this month, a court official told VOA Khmer.

The two men will be questioned in the injury of four villagers, who were among a large group gathered outside TTY Corporation, which has a massive land concession threatening the land of some 500 families.

The summons requires the two men to appear on Jan. 30 for questioning under the new penal code for the use of illegal weapons, a court official said on condition of anonymity.

Am Sam Ath, an investigator for the rights group Licadho, said the two suspects remain at large.

“Maybe the company has more power in the country, and that is why authorities have hesitated to arrest the suspects,” he said.

TTY, which is owned by business tycoon Na Marady, has a nearly 10,000-hectare concession on land that was once a protected forest in Snuol district, he said.

Provincial Police Chief Chhoung Seanghak said police are working the case and focusing on the two guards.

On Tuesday, Environment Minister Mok Moreth visited the site of the clash to measure land and find a compromise with villagers there.

Several hundred families from the Borei Keila neighborhood filed suit against development company Phan Imex on Wednesday, for what they claim is a breach of an agreement to properly house residents displaced by their project.

Nearly 400 families were forcibly evicted from the Borei Keila site this month, and former residents say Phan Imex failed to construct two buildings of a promised 10 in order to house them.

Instead, many have been sent to relocation sites far from the city that lack proper health, hygiene, education and commerce opportunities, they said. The complaint calls for around $2,500 per family in compensation.

Tim Sakmony, a representative of the residents, said damages to homes in forced evictions cost families between $1,000 and $4,000.

“The company completely bulldozed my house,” Eng Than, 51, told VOA Khmer. “Dishes, rice, soup pots, blankets, mosquito net, clothes.”

Suy Sophan, president of Phan Imex, said the company will work to reach an agreement with families that have proper documentation and was offering a $500 relocation fee to families without it.

The UN’s special expert to the tribunal said Wednesday Cambodia’s refusal to appoint a Swiss investigating judge is a “breach” of its agreement at the inception of the UN-backed court.

However, David Scheffer said the failure of the government to approve the appointment did not mean the judge could not do his work in the office of investigating judges.

“Regardless of that breach, the judge has full authority to operate as the international investigating judge of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia,” Scheffer told reporters following meetings with senior Cambodian officials.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon nominated Kasper-Ansermet to replace a German judge who resigned because top political figures continuously made public comments objecting to two cases at the court, which is currently conducting a trial of three senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

The Supreme Council of Magistracy, the governing judicial body of the government, met over Kasper-Anserment earlier this month, but would not approve his appointment.

Kasper-Ansermet has shown a willingness to prosecute two additional cases at the courts, Nos. 003 and 004, which are steadfastly opposed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials.

Those two cases have been at the center of widespread worries that government officials have worked to influence the decisions of Cambodian tribunal staff, including judges, a charge top officials deny.

Scheffer’s statements Wednesday appeared counter to concerns that the tribunal would not function without the appointment of the judge.

“I think the UN position on that is clear, that he doesn’t actually require the appointment by the Supreme Council of Magistracy to continue on with his work,” said Clair Duffy, an independent tribunal monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative. “So he is in office and everyone is now going to wait to see to what extent he can fulfill his obligation under these circumstances.”

Government spokesman Ek Tha disagreed. “With respect to the law, what does it mean if you are working without an appointment?” he said.

Meanwhile, critics of the court say Cambodia’s failure to appoint the judge adds to a series of hurdles calling into question the government’s commitment to a successful tribunal.

“I think this is such a violation of the agreement that the UN will have to consider whether it will be involved in the [tribunal] at all,” Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told VOA Khmer. “Not just in cases 003 and 004. It’s a real crisis that the government has created.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen met with senior diplomats on Tuesday, reminding them that Cambodia will remain neutral in regional conflicts, including those in the South China Sea and on the Korean peninsula.

Cambodia is the head of Asean this year, and as such, “plays a role as coordinator in various conflict in the region, but not to side with one side or the other,” Hun Sen told reporters after meeting 26 ambassadors and eight consuls, according to a spokesman.

A number of Asean countries have conflicts with China over maritime territories in the South China Sea, and Cambodia retains friendly relations with both North and South Korea.

Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said Cambodia’s role as the president of Asean means it must move discussions over such conflicts forward.

“If Cambodia does not want to interfere in the South China Sea conflict, Asean members won’t be happy,” he said.

On the other hand, China, which has strong bilateral partnerships with many Southeast Asian nations, including Cambodia, will not want Asean interference, he said.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Hun Sen also reaffirmed Cambodia’s push for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told reporters.

Hun Sen also said he would be seeking new markets for Cambodian products throughout Asean and farther afield, including East Africa and the Middle East, Koy Kuong said.

Representatives from at least seven different neighborhoods convened in a demonstration in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, marking the three-year anniversary of a violent forced eviction that pushed out hundreds of families.

Protesters tore their shirts and removed their shoes, some claiming the ruling Cambodian People’s Party had given them T-shirts and $2.50 for favorable votes in the last election.

“These shoes are a message to the government to think about villagers before development,” said Chan Vichet, a representative of former residents of Dey Krahorm, which three years ago saw hundreds of families violently pushed from their homes.

The Dey Krahorm event was a harbinger of evictions to come, with residents from the the neighborhoods of Boeung Kak lake and Borei Keila the most prominent among scores of forced moves.

The evictions have entailed long standoffs between residents and developers, confusion over land titling and accusations of swindling—and ultimately end with the use of government security forces and violence to push residents from their homes.

Residents have found themselves on inferior relocation sites far outside the city, lacking clean water, businesses and access to schools.

Rath Sophal, 32, has been living at a site called Damnak Traying, 30 kilometers from the capital, since being pushed from Dey Krahorm.

“I have an old mother, and she is always finding frogs and crabs to feed my children,” Rath Sophal said. “Everyone here has difficulties living, and no government officials have come to see us.”

Sia Phearum, director of the Housing Rights Task Force, an advocacy group, said that debt and unemployment increase for villagers after they are evicted.

Around seven in 10 relocated families find themselves in debt after an eviction, up from only half, and joblessness went from around 18 percent to more than 35 percent after the evictions.

The group counted nearly 50 community evictions last year alone, affecting almost 12,000 families.

Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema was not available for comment Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with diplomats from 32 countries on Monday to lobby for Cambodia’s bid to be a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Cambodia is pushing for a seat on the council for 2013 and 2014; voting will be held later this year.

The Security Council consists of five permanent members—China, France, the UK, the US and Russia—and 10 non-permanent members and decides on international matters ranging from deployment of peacekeeping forces to sanctions against member nations.

“Becoming a [Security Council] member is a very important responsibility and would be an honor for Cambodia,” said Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

However, Cambodia’s poor human rights record, its failure to approve a UN-appointed judge at the Khmer Rouge tribunal and past threats to shut down the UN’s human rights office all stand as black marks against it, he said.

In a meeting with 26 ambassadors and eight consuls, Hor Nahmong cited Cambodia’s chairmanship of Asean this year and its handling of the ongoing border row with Thailand through the UN as virtues, a spokesman for the ministry said.

However, Ou Virak said Cambodia has not shown itself to be a “good member” of the UN, although politically it could win a vote for a seat on the UN council because “many countries pity Cambodia.”

Political analyst Lao Monghay said Cambodia’s diplomats and consuls around the world must work hard to lobby other states for votes later this year.

“We’ve gained an understanding of and experience with international affairs,” he said. “The international community recognizes Cambodia, and we have faith in ourselves.”

The Khmer Rouge tribunal on Monday heard testimony from an official of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, who said the hundreds of thousands of documents submitted to the UN-backed court have been carefully scrutinized for authenticity.

Vann Than Peou Dara, deputy director of the center, was summoned after defense attorneys for Khmer Rouge leaders on trial expressed doubt over the documentation.

Documents are carefully examined and verified by their sources before they are admitted to the court, he told the court.

Defense attorneys subsequently said their doubts would not be allayed by the deputy, and they called for the appearance of the head of the center, Chhang Youk.

The Documentation Center has collected nearly 1 million documents on the Khmer Rouge since it began as a field office for Yale University genocide researchers in 1995.

Nearly half a million documents have been handed over to the courts, Vann Than Peou Dara said Monday.

Many of those documents were preserved by Vietnamese forces after the ouster of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, he said.

Monday’s hearing coincided with the arrival of the UN’s new special expert for the tribunal, David Sheffer, who is expected to address an ongoing controversy in the court’s office of investigating judges.

The UN-appointed judge Siegfried Blunk resigned last year, citing political interference in two cases before the court, and the Cambodian government has so far refused to approve the nomination of his replacement, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet.

Scheffer met with tribunal officials on Monday and is expected to meet Cabinet Minister Sok An, who is in charge of the tribunal for the government, as well.

Hepatitis B, a disease that attacks the liver, has high prevalence in Cambodia, but there are now a number of drugs to treat it, a US doctor said Thursday.

Taing Tek Hong, a Florida-based physician, told “Hello VOA” that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the following drugs to treat hepatitis B: Interferon alpha-2b, Peg Interferon alfa-2a, Lamivudine (Epivir-HBV), Adefovir  (Hepsera), Entecavir (Baraclude), Telbivudine (Tyzeka), Tenofovir (Viread).

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In 2002, as many as 13 percent of Cambodian blood donors tested positive for the antigen of the Hepatitis-B virus, he said. Another study showed prevalence of around 12 percent for people aged 20 to 35.

Chronic infection affects most infants, around a third of infected children below age five and around 6 percent of anyone affected age six and above, he said. Chronic infection leads to death in around 15 percent to 25 percent of patients, he said.

“Hepatitis B can be transmitted by sexual contact, sharing of needles and syringes contaminated with infected blood, accidental needle sticks, or mother to child,” Taing Tek Hong said. “Risk factors include unprotected sex with more than one partner, unprotected sex with someone who’s infected with HBV, having a sexually transmitted infection, such as gonorrhea or chlamydia, men who have sexual contact with other men, and sharing needles during IV-drug use.”

Other risks include living in a household with someone with a chronic infection, working where exposure to blood is common, receiving dialysis or traveling to regions like Africa, Central and Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, he said.

Two separate teams of scientists trying to develop a vaccine for the H5N1 strain of bird flu have agreed to temporarily postpone their research because of growing concern that a highly-infectious version of the virus the researchers are working with could fall into the hands of terrorists or trigger a deadly pandemic.

The laboratory-altered strain the scientists are working with is a potent airborne variety of H5N1 that easily could spread among humans. The original H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed 340 people worldwide since it was first detected in 2003.  

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin in the United States and at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands say they are voluntarily halting their work for 60 days.  They say the two months will give governments, international organizations and the scientific community time to determine whether the research can be conducted safely.

Biosecurity officials and health experts say that if the potent altered virus reached the general public, it potentially could cause a devastating pandemic. Some fear a worldwide epidemic of airborne bird flu could rival the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak that killed between 20 million and 40 million people in less than two years.

The U.S.-based journal, Science and the British journal, Nature, both published the researchers’ announcement on Friday.

The original H5N1 strain of avian influenza is not transmitted through the air, and it does not spread easily among humans.  H5N1 usually only infects people that come into direct contact diseased birds.   

In December, the journals, Science and Nature, reluctantly agreed to a U.S. government request not to publish key details of the H5N1 experiments because terrorists could use the information to make a biological weapon. It is not clear if or when studies will be published.  Washington is funding the H5N1 research.  

Most H5N1 deaths have occurred in East and Southeast Asia, including China, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

The group Human Rights Watch released its annual World Report Sunday, painting a bleak picture of conditions across much of Asia.

HRW said Burma's human rights situation remained dire last year, despite the transition to a military-backed civilian government. The report accuses Burma's military of rape, torture and the killing of civilians in ethnic minority conflict zones, marring the government's recent political reforms.

The group accuses China's one-party government of imposing sharp curbs on freedom of expression, association and religion, and openly rejecting judicial independence and press freedom. Meanwhile, the document says Chinese citizens are increasingly rights-conscious and challenging authorities over abuses of power and corruption.

North Korea was accused of systematically violating the basic rights of its population through arbitrary arrest, lack of due process, torture and ill-treatment of detainees. The group said Pyongyang practices collective punishment for various offenses for which it enslaves hundreds of thousands of its citizens in prison camps, and periodically executes people for hoarding food, stealing and other so-called anti-socialist crimes.

HRW also detailed what it views as severe violations of human rights in nations including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

The United Nations says Cambodia is refusing to permit a Swiss investigating judge to take his place on the tribunal trying suspected Khmer Rouge war crimes, blocking at least two pending cases.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday the U.N. has been formally notified of Cambodia's decision not to appoint Swiss magistrate Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to the court.

The spokesman described the decision as a "matter of serious concern," and said it breaches the terms of the 2003 agreement between Cambodia and the United Nations that established the tribunal.

Kasper-Ansermet was to have filled a vacancy created by the departure of German judge Siegfried Blunt - who resigned late last year complaining of interference by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The tribunal has convicted a notorious Khmer Rouge prison warden and is hearing a second case involving three top former Khmer Rouge leaders. But as long as Blunt's post remains vacant, the court cannot bring anyone else to trial.

Blunt first came under criticism when a prosecutor complained last year that he and co-investigating magistrate You Bunleng had failed to properly investigate what have come to be known as Cases 003 and 004. Several international staff members also resigned to protest the handling of the cases.

Details of the two cases have never been officially released. Press reports, however, say both involve former Khmer Rouge military commanders who were allegedly complicit in the arrest, imprisonment and in some cases massacre of thousands of Cambodians.

Kasper-Ansermet has had his own problems with his Cambodian counterpart. Shortly after his arrival in Cambodia, he charged that You Bunleng was blocking him from releasing important information about the two suspended cases.

You Bunleng responded that Kasper-Ansermet was not yet legally accredited to the court and did not understand the legal principles of its work.

Cambodia's Supreme Council of Magistracy met last week to decide whether to approve the Swiss jurist's appointment.  But U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told VOA's Khmer service this week that Cambodia was "under an obligation" to appoint the reserve judge when there is a vacancy.

A coalition of 23 Cambodian rights and relief groups went further. In a press release Thursday, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee argued that Kasper-Ansermet was officially appointed when he was named a reserve magistrate and that he requires no further approval.

The group also called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the investigating judges, saying the legacy of the tribunal will be seriously damaged without one.

No such inquiry is planned, although the U.N. this week named American lawyer David Scheffer, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes, to observe and advise on the court's work.

About 1.7 million Cambodians are believed to have died or been executed during the period of Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has argued that going ahead with more prosecutions would deeply divide Cambodian society, destabilizing the country.

The Supreme Council of Magistracy has made a confidential decision over the nomination of a Swiss judge at the Khmer Rouge tribunal who has already said he wants more information on two controversial cases at the court made public.

The council met last week over the UN appointment of Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, who was put forward as a replacement for an international investigating judge who resigned last year citing political interference in cases 003 and 004.

Chea Leang, Cambodian prosecutor for the hybrid court, who attended the meeting, said a decision has been made but it is “confidential.”

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana told the Phnom Penh Post Friday the decision has been forwarded to the Council of Ministers for approval.

A UN spokesman told VOA Khmer this week the government has an obligation to fill vacant posts at the court.

The Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee said Thursday “intervention” by the council to prevent the appointment of Kasper-Ansermet “ultimately violates the agreement between the Cambodian government and the United Nations.”

Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, could not confirm whether a decision from the Supreme Council of Magistracy had reached his council.

In its new role as this year’s head of Asean, Cambodia sent a letter Friday the world’s five nuclear powers requesting they sign onto a treaty to keep Southeast Asia free of nuclear weapons.

The letter was delivered to China, France, Russia, the UK and the United States.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said by signing onto the treaty, the five states would be strengthening an international non-proliferation treaty.

Independent political analyst Lao Monghay said the Asean policy was modeled off a US policy to prevent nuclear weapon proliferation from states such as North Korea and Iran.

“It would be a success for Cambodia and the Asean countries if the Asean zone were to be free from nuclear weapons,” he said. “This is a good thing, particularly in the context of the strategy of the world’s nuclear powers right now.”

An online campaign this week to stop two Congressional bills aimed at regulating the Internet found broad support in Cambodia, where Web users are a small but growing group.

Internet juggernauts Facebook, Google and Wikipedia campaigned in one form or another on Wednesday, urging their users to oppose the Senate’s Stop Online Piracy Act and the House of Representative’s Protect IP Act.

Both bills are ostensibly to prevent online piracy, but opponents fear they could have far-reaching implications for basic freedoms and stymie the progress of the Internet.

Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the bills could impact global use of the Internet, and so “is a problem for Cambodia.”

Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodian Institute for Media Studies, said such online restrictions are not necessary when there are already copyright laws on the books.

And government spokesman Phay Siphan said the bills could create “gaps” in knowledge between rich and poor countries by limiting access to information.

The Cambodia government has an obligation to approve or appoint an investigating judge at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, a UN official says.

The government’s Supreme Council of Magistracy has so far failed to replace German judge Siegfried Blunk, who resigned last year amid heavy criticism, citing political interference at the UN-backed court.

The UN appointed a reserve judge to the position, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, but that appointment has not been confirmed, leading to ongoing concerns of political interference at the court.

“Cambodia is under an obligation to appoint the reserve international Co-Investigating Judge as the international Co-Investigating Judge when there is a vacancy,” Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said in an e-mail.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said Cambodia and the UN are cooperating “well” and that the Supreme Council of Magistracy is considering the replacement judge.

Meanwhile, the UN has appointed a new special expert for tribunal issues. David Scheffer, a former US ambassador at large for war crimes, will replace Clint Williamson.

Former king Norodom Sihanouk left for medical treatment in Beijing on Thursday on advice from his Chinese doctors, royal officials said.

He traveled with his wife and their son, King Norodom Sihamoni, and it was unclear how long they intend to stay.

In an October speech, the king said he had come back to Cambodia to stay, but a royal adviser said his medical condition had made it impossible to keep that promise.

Last week, the former monarch, a once powerful and revered figure to most Cambodians, issued an order that his body be cremated after his death.

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Norodom Sihanouk, who is 90, has suffered from cancer, diabetes and hypertension and has made frequently, prolonged trips to China since abdicating the throne in 2004.

In a Jan. 6 missive, the former king said the “ashes of my bones to be clean and kept in an urn inside the Royal Palace.”

However, Chea Kean, vice president of the National and International Ceremony Organizing Committee, said he has no preparations yet for a state funeral or other ceremony.

Non Ngeth, head of the Nahanikaya branch of Cambodian Buddhism, said any preparation for a person’s death would be a way of looking down on his life.