New delay for Khmer Rouge trials

The regime, led by Pol Pot, killed nearly 2 million people

The tribunal being established in Cambodia to prosecute Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide has suffered a new delay.

The Cambodian people have waited very long for over 20 years now that the nightmare is over

Peter Leuprecht, UN representative

Prime Minister Hun Sen has said the draft law for the trial needed revising as it had a few inconsistencies.

He cited a reference to the death penalty in the text and said it would have to be approved once again in parliament.

The law would have allowed for the first trials of Khmer Rouge leaders, known for their infamous "killing fields" and responsible for nearly two million deaths in the 1970s.

Almost every Cambodian family lost relatives to the regime

The announcement prompted the United Nations to urge Cambodia to reduce the delay to a minimum.

"People have waited for very long, for over 20 years now that the nightmare is over, so I think this is an additional reason for going ahead rapidly as soon as possible," said Peter Leuprecht, UN secretary general's special human rights representative to Cambodia, who has been visiting the country.

Efforts to set up the trial have encountered a string of hurdles, and for months last year, the UN and the Cambodian Government have been deadlocked over what form the trial should take.

The government has been accused of trying to delay and derail the trial, which the prime minister said could endanger stability and even cause civil war.

Sovereignty assertion

The draft had already been passed by both houses of parliament and needed only to be ratified by the king before becoming law.

Hun Sen said the UN had to respect Cambodia's sovereignty

It will now have to go through the approval process again.

The prime minister said the Constitutional Council had found a reference in the draft to the country's 1956 penal code, which allowed for the use of the death penalty, which has since been abolished.

Mr Hun Sen said he would not talk again on the issue to the UN - which had pointed out some discrepancies between the draft law and the formula agreed by both sides.

"I am the Cambodian prime minister," he said. "So I must respect the Cambodian legislative bodies. I cannot respect any other."

The tribunal - which will include a mixture of foreign and Cambodian judges and is based on an American formula - was agreed on after intense negotiations last year.

Mass trials are not expected, but it is thought that up to 30 men, many aged in their 70s, would be tried.

The Khmer Rouge took power with their brutal form of radical communism in 1975, declaring it Year Zero and forcing millions to work on the land in brutal conditions.