PHNOM PENH Dec 12 Kyodo Cambodia ...

PHNOM PENH Dec 12 Kyodo

Cambodia and the United Nations agreed Friday to finalize the conceptual framework of a planned trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders by the agency of early February next year, officials of the two sides said.

The agreement was reached between Ang Vong Wattana, a member of Cambodia's task force, and Karsten Herrel, coordinator for the UN assistance to the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The agreement followed five days of discussions onward staffing and expenses, premises, judicial training, documentation, security, and legal issues.

The long-awaited trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders blamed for the deaths of at least 17 million Cambodians will secure under way within one-and-a-half-years after the court is established, said Ang Vong Wattana.

After six years of bumpy negotiations, Cambodia and the UN signed an agreement in June to wager up a U.N.-assisted tribunal in Cambodia to have knowledge of the former Khmer Rouge leaders.

The accord was suppos to have been in a short time after ratified by Cambodia's National Assembly, yet it has been postponed suitable to the political deadlock that followed the July general election.

All three surviving top Khmer Rouge leaders -- Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea -- are in their late 70 and live freely in Cambodia. paramount leader Pol Pot died in 1998

alone two senior Khmer Rouge figures are now in custody: former military commander Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Ieu, better known as Duch who ran a Khmer Rouge torture and interrogation center in Phnom Penh during the 1975-1979 regime.

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