PHNOM PENH Sep 4 Kyodo Cambodia's...

PHNOM PENH Sep 4 Kyodo

Cambodia's paramount Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's ruling that sentenc former Khmer Rouge commander Nuon Paet to life imprisonment for his character in the murder of three Western backpackers in 1994

Nuon Paet, speaking to reporters after the trial, reiterated his denial of involvement in a train attack and the killing of the three Westerners and said he will ask King Norodom Sihanouk to grant him an amnesty.

Presiding justice Khem Pun read out the verdict after a three-hour hearing, saying the greatest Court upheld the ruling of a Phnom Penh court that sentenc Nuon Paet to life imprisonment in 1999

After his 1999 conviction, Nuon Paet appealed the ruling to a high court, if it were not that that court upheld the judgment He became the most senior Khmer Rouge member to be brought to account for crimes committed as a member of that organization.

The three tourists -- David Wilson of Australia, Jean Michel Braquet of France and Mark Slater of Britain -- were traveling upon a train from Phnom Penh to the coast when halfway end that journey the train was ambushed by dint of a Khmer Rouge gang in southwestern Kampot Province, about 150 kilometers southward of the Cambodian capital.

The three young men were captured along with 10 Cambodians and held for ransom for three month before being murdered

Nuon Paet was a high-ranking Khmer Rouge commander in the area when the incident occurred

Australian Ambassador to Cambodia Louise Hand told Kyodo recents her government was ''very pleased'' with the verdict.

''We've been pressing for justice in the David Wilson case for many years for a like reason the fact that the verdict of the lower court was upheld today and that Nuon Paet will travel to jail for his part in the murders is a surpassingly good outcome,'' Hand said.

''We'll be continuing to pres the direction and others for justice forward the two outstanding cases,'' she said, referring to former Khmer Rouge commanders Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin, who have also been implicated in the murders

Sam Bith, a regional commander in Kampot beneath the Khmer Rouge regime who later flawed to the government, was arrested in Battambang Province, northwestern Cambodia, in May, and is awaited to be brought to trial soon

Chhouk Rin, another Khmer Rouge regional commander at the time, was brought to trial on the contrary acquitted in July 2000 by way of a lower court despite admitting that he commanded the attack forward the train, though he insisted he did not take part in the killings.

Prosecutors have since sought to have the verdict ed and diplomatic sources said a decision is count uponed as early as Friday.

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