By Tom Fawthrop

FORMER Khmer Rouge General Nuon Paet has yet to go to trial for the murders of three foreign hostages, but alleged transcripts of radio transmissions captured from Paet's hideout in 1994 clearly show that he claimed to have received orders from Pol Pot to kill the captives.

The transcripts - copies of which have been obtained by the Post - reveal that Nuon Paet sought and received instructions from Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot on how to handle the ransom negotiations and how to treat the hostages.

The transcripts also include references to Pol Pot's order to kill the three men - Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet - sometime in late September, 1994.

The radio reports were scribbled on sheets torn out of standard Cambodian exercise books. They were taken from Paet's Phnom Vour (Vine Mountain) base by Colonel Chhouk Rin - the man who planned the kidnapping - before Rin led 200 Khmer Rouge soldiers to defect on Oct 15, 1994. By then, the hostages were already dead.

The documents were handed over to General Nhek Bun Chhay, who was then the first deputy chief of staff of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). After his defection, Rin was given an amnesty and in January 1995, was appointed to the rank of Colonel in the RCAF. He also holds the position of village chief in his native province of Kampot.

The hostage crisis, which lasted more than two months, began on July 26, 1994, when a train traveling from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville was ambushed in a gorge about 12km north of the town of Kampot.

The ambush itself was not unusual - six trains had been held up at roughly the same location during the previous 18 months. This time, 12 Khmer passengers were killed and others were taken hostage, but most significantly for the Khmer Rouge, for the first time they had netted three Western tourists.

The three, who were on a backpacking holiday in Cambodia, were picked up by a Khmer Rouge ambush team led by Rin, who was following orders from deputy commander of Division 405, General Nuon Paet. They were taken to Paet's base on Phnom Vour.

What at first appeared to be a situation that could be resolved by handing over a ransom of about $50,000 for each of the hostages, was soon complicated by Pol Pot's determination to hold onto the three foreigners in order to use them as a bargaining chip to force the Australian and French governments to stop all military aid and training programs with the Cambodian government.

A captured radio communication dated Aug 23, 1994, from #99 (Pol Pot) reads: "You must understand it is very important to use these guys to scare foreign governments. This is the way...by using the three to exert pressure on the enemy [foreign governments] to scare them more and more."

At this stage of the hostage drama, the leadership was intent on keeping them alive.

According to the Aug 23 transmission, #99 directed Paet - known as #75 - to "keep the three long-noses quiet and in good condition."

Several attempts were made to strike a ransom deal with Paet. Pol Pot was clearly aware of this and specifically admonished #75 in an Aug 25, 1994, communication to "be aware of this cause, do not think about the money".

General Paet's train-robbing activities, and the use of ransom to finance this Khmer Rouge zone, was clearly known to the leadership. In fact, Paet had been praised in one KR propaganda magazine for his flair in maintaining the only significant "liberated zone" along the Thai-Cambodian border. Phnom Vuor defectors claimed that Paet had just been promoted in 1994, as deputy commander of Division 405, ranking under the veteran Khmer Rouge commander General Sam Bith, whose codename was #37.

The Pol Pot gambit with the hostages never had any chance of success. Australia and France both rejected out of hand any idea of capitulating to the terrorist pressure to change their foreign policy and military aid to Phnom Penh.

From mid-August, an RCAF military offensive attempted to lay siege to Phnom Vuor. One month after Pol Pot's directive to "keep the hostages alive", came another message with a more familiar ring.

According to the transcripts, Paet reported to his superior officer Sam Bith - located at the rebels' regional headquarters in Koh Slah, 28km away - the main points of Pol Pot's instructions.

The translation of Paet's transmission to Bith on Sept 25, 1994, reads: "According to the instructions of #99, the recommendations are that these three have no further use. Suggestion to #37 [Sam Bith] is that they must be destroyed... After the execution keep it strictly secret."

Some time between Sept 28 and the end of the month, the three Western hostages were executed. Their graves were found on Oct 30, six days after Phnom Vour was captured by RCAF troops.

Later, Sam Bith also defected to the government and now holds the rank of military adviser to the Ministry of Defense.

Prime minister-elect Hun Sen has indicated that he would like to see the trial of Nuon Paet take place in Phnom Penh as soon as possible. The prosecution may call on Colonel Rin to give evidence against his former boss.

Rin, who planned the train ambush and is therefore strongly implicated in the kidnapping, has already been cleared of any involvement in the murders. At the time of his defection, Western observers were outraged at his amnesty and acceptance into the RCAF.

However, the status of Sam Bith - #37 - is not so clear, although it is known that he was Paet's immediate superior and clearly a party to the plan to execute the hostages.

British Ambassador George Edgar declined to comment specifically on Bith's involvement.

"We want all those responsible to be brought to justice. Nobody says it is just limited to Paet. But Paet is the one who is the focus of attention. That is because an arrest warrant was issued in April 1995 for Nuon Paet."

A spokesman for the Australian Embassy also declined to comment on the case, but he acknowledged that observers are questioning the involvement of other KR officials and whether some defectors ought to be prosecuted.

Can the perpetrators of the killing fields be put in the dock? Sir Ninian Stephen must help the UN to decide, Herald Correspondent CRAIG SKEHAN reports from Bangkok.

THE former Australian Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen is preparing to visit Cambodia as part of a United Nations mission of great complexity and pathos - assessing the scope for an international genocide tribunal.

He will find many former Khmer Rouge mass killers enjoy high-level protection and jealously guard the immunity they were promised by the Cambodian Government for defecting.

And in a country where regional warlords hold sway, Sir Ninian and two other senior international jurists will have to weigh the risk of a tribunal becoming a farce.

A pointer to such a prospect could come from the imminent trial of a former Khmer Rouge officer from southern Cambodia, Noun Paet.

The middle-aged former guerilla has been arrested and charged over the murder four years ago of Australian backpacker David Wilson and his travelling companions, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Briton Mark Slater.

At issue now is whether the Cambodian Government will stage a show-trial based on a confession and quick conviction, or allow independent cross-examination of key figures in the tragedy.

The man who captured the three tourists near the southern town of Kampot, the then Khmer Rouge Colonel Chhuk Rin, was given an amnesty after defecting and is now acquiring wealth and influence.

Soon after abducting Wilson, Slater and Braquet from a train on July 26, 1994, Chhuk Rin handed the three over to Nuon Paet.

The hostages endured weeks of captivity before they were bludgeoned to death.

Transcripts of radio messages indicate a former regional Khmer Rouge commander, Sam Bith, was told by Khmer Rouge headquarters it was time for the three "longnoses" to be "destroyed".

However, Sam Bith is now a senior adviser to the Cambodian Government.

It remains unclear whether Australia will press for Chhuk Rin and Sam Bith to be called as witnesses and subjected to cross-examination.

The Cambodian Prime Minister, Mr Hun Sen, has offered the families of the murder victims legal representation at the trial. The acid test will be whether the offer allows the families to engage Cambodian lawyers to argue for the calling of specific witnesses, including Mr Hun Sen himself.

Following the abduction of Wilson, Braquet and Slater, a confidential Australian Embassy cable to Canberra reported that $US150,000 ($273,000) in Cambodian Government funds was given to the Cambodian military as ransom money.

Negotiations using go-betweens were in progress and one of the central Cambodian figures involved was the military intelligence officer Chea Dara.

Khmer Rouge headquarters widened its demands beyond ransom money to include stopping Australian and French military assistance to the Cambodian armed forces.

The Cambodian Government launched a military offensive against the mountain hideout where Wilson, Slater and Braquet were being held. Bitter recriminations followed, including accusations that Australia was weak in not doing more to stop the bombardment.

Claims were aired over complex dealings allegedly involving Chhuk Rin and Chea Dara, and suspicions that some members of the Cambodian Government believed the hostages' deaths would be advantageous.

A possible motivation for sabotaging the ransom negotiations, and the military offensive, was that the deaths of the three Westerners would lead to increases in foreign military assistance.

On April 11, 1994 - three months before David Wilson and his companions were kidnapped - Australian model Kellie Wilkinson and two British friends were abducted while travelling in a taxi to the coastal town of Sihanoukville, and shot dead on the banks of a stream the next morning.

ONLY one rank-and-file Khmer Rouge soldier, Chuon Samnang, was ever convicted for the killings, and doubts have arisen as to whether he is still in custody.

David Wilson's father, Peter, believes Nuon Paet's trial will be superficial and aimed primarily at bolstering the case for the Hun Sen Government to be accorded further international legitimacy.

The whole issue of immunity is a vexed one for Australian foreign policy. For behind the scenes, Australia has actively encouraged the granting of immunity to weaken the Khmer Rouge insurgency which followed Pol Pot's 1979 overthrow by Vietnamese-backed Cambodian forces.

Even though the pace of defections grew, Khmer Rouge hard-liners were still able to wreak havoc, including brutal attacks on Vietnamese immigrant fishermen and their families.

Defections have been facilitated not only by promised immunity from prosecution under Cambodian law for the 1975/79 Pol Pot period, but effectively for subsequent atrocities as well.

The exceptions have been a few top members of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy - men such as Ta Mok, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea - who are widely believed to be using Thailand as a sanctuary, despite official denials by Bangkok.

Many believe that Pol Pot, who died in April, was never the subject of a concerted effort to bring him to trial because there were too many connections with those in power, in Cambodia and elsewhere.

The United States, China and Thailand would face embarrassment if an international tribunal were to expose how the Khmer Rouge survived for two decades, after being driven from Phnom Penh, because of direct and indirect outside assistance.

Now there are only an estimated 300 guerillas left, carrying out isolated attacks to try to gain control of the cross-border routes used for smuggling rainforest timber. The UN General Assembly is moving towards passage of a resolution, possibly in December, to establish an international tribunal to hear charges against the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.

Sir Ninian is to visit UN headquarters in New York for a briefing before his fact-finding visit to Cambodia begins early next month.

But already there is speculation that an international tribunal's mandate would be limited to the 1975-79 period of the Pol Pot "killing fields" regime.

However, an even greater impediment to establishing a meaningful tribunal arises from the deals which have been done in Cambodia.

A couple of years ago, Mr Hun Sen virtually ceded control of the Pailin area near the Thai border to the Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary.

Recently, the Cambodian Government was concerned that the arrest under foreign pressure of Noun Paet would provoke a backlash from Khmer Rouge defectors. According to well-placed sources, the Defence Minister, Mr Dea Banh, was dispatched earlier this month to assure Ieng Sary the immunity given to him and others was not in jeopardy.

LAST month Mr Hun Sen was pictured on the front page of the fortnightly Phnom Penh Post hugging a member of the latest batch of Khmer Rouge defectors, Ke Pauk. There is voluminous material linking Ke Pauk to 1977 purges in eastern Cambodia during which an estimated 100,000 people were slaughtered.

Following the July 26 elections, in which Mr Hun Sen's party won a majority in a 90 per cent turnout, senior Cambodian figures responsible for the military, police and bodyguard units met at a top hotel.

Police chief Hok Lundy, who critics describe as brutal and corrupt, is pushing to head a new powerful internal security body, and the gathering was seen as a demarcation exercise.

The security forces have absorbed thousands of Khmer Rouge defectors over the years, some occupying senior positions. The resulting web of relationships will further complicate any attempt to uncover and punish the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.

This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.

By Joe Cochrane

Phnom Penh - A senior Khmer Rouge commander arrested over the 1994 abduction and execution of three Western backpackers may go free unless Cambodian authorities bring him to trial by February 1.

Authorities have spent nearly six months investigating the case against guerilla commander Nuon Paet, who was arrested on August 1, but acknowledge they have not compiled enough evidence to set a trial date.

Cambodian law gives authorities up to six months to investigate cases, but unless the case is then brought to trial, they must release the suspect.

Some Western diplomats said they feared investigators had bungled the case and would be forced to release the notorious Khmer Rouge commander.

"This would be in line with the lack of justice in this country," one diplomat said.

"They certainly aren't known for their sound investigation methods."

But Nop Sophon, the deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said he would insist that Nuon Paet not be released even if it meant breaking the law.

"I dare to accept any criticism, but I will not release him," he said. "Nuon Paet is a dangerous man."

Khmer Rouge soldiers under Nuon Paet's command abducted Briton Mark Slater, Australian David Wilson and Frenchmen Jean-Michel Braquet during an ambush on a train in Kampot, southern Cambodia, in July 1994.

The genocidal guerillas, holed up on rugged Vine Mountain in Kampot, negotiated with the Cambodian Government for two months before executing the trio - allegedly on Nuon Paet's orders - after talks broke down.

The case drew widespread attention, especially in Australia, where some accused the Cambodians of mishandling the negotiations.

Nuon Paet disappeared from Kampot in 1996 as the guerilla movement began disintegrating from mass defections, and was widely known to be living in Pailin, western Cambodia.

Pailin is a former Khmer Rouge stronghold that technically returned

to government control three years ago, and the Australian, British and French governments had appealed for months to Cambodian leader Hun Sen to arrest Nuon Paet.

Just six days after Cambodia's July 26 national election, which had been widely supported by those three Western nations, police captured Nuon Paet by luring him to Phnom Penh under the pretext of making a business deal.

Mr Hun Sen's political rivals, as well as the victims' families, said the arrest was a stunt to win international support for his controversial election victory and a Hun Sen-led coalition government.

Mr Nop Sophon said investigators had had difficulties interviewing eyewitnesses to the Westerners' abduction and murder.

"Some eyewitnesses, most of them, live in the former Khmer Rouge areas," he said. "It's difficult to contact them to get information for a trial."

Lawrence Pickup, deputy head of the British Embassy in Phnom Penh, said he was confident the Cambodian authorities could circumvent Nuon Paet's release before a trial.

"We're aware of the date, and so are they," Mr Pickup said.

"I'm sure they'll honour their commitments."

Australian and French embassy officials were unavailable for comment.

Phnom Penh (DPA) -- Authorities vowed yesterday not to release a senior Khmer Rouge commander, arrested for the 1994 executions of three Western backpackers, even though they are legally required to free him by today.

Investigators have spent six months preparing a case against guerilla chief Nuon Paet, who was arrested on August 1 last year,

but acknowledge they have not compiled enough evidence to set a trial date.

Cambodian law gives authorities up to six months to investigate cases, but states that suspects must then be tried or immediately

released.

However, Chhim Sarith, director of Phnom Penh's municipal court, said Nuon Paet would not be released under any circumstances.

"The Nuon Paet investigation is not finished yet. His case is very, very complicated," Mr Chhim Sarith said.

"Other countries also have very complicated court cases and if they faced this case like us, they would also delay like we have."

Human rights workers warned the authorities' actions would highlight the country's general lawlessness and lack of respect for human rights.

Thomas Hammarberg, the United Nations special representative for human rights in Cambodia, recently said Phnom Penh faced a dilemma in the Nuon Paet case between "respect for human rights versus those who commit human rights violations. Procedures should be followed".

Khmer Rouge soldiers under Nuon Paet's command abducted Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet during an ambush on a train in Kampot, southern Cambodia, in July 1994.

The guerillas negotiated with the Government for two months before executing the trio, allegedly on Nuon Paet's orders.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Web-posted, February 2, 1999

Cambodia's alleged killer of backpackers to stay in jail

Cambodia's Justice minister says the alleged killer of an Australian man and two other backpackers has had his six-month spell in jail extended indefinitely while investigations continue.

Ouk Vithun says a special exception had been made to keep Nuon Paet in prison, even though the legal time limit of six months set for criminal investigations had run out.

Nuon Paet was arrested last August, accused of the 1994 kidnap and murder of three western backpackers who were grabbed from a train on its way to the seaside resort of Sihanoukville.

They were Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, Briton Mark Slater and Australian David Wilson.

Under Cambodian law, Nuon Paet, was due for release soon, but the government has been under intense diplomatic pressure to continue his detention. 

Phnom Penh (DPA) -- A court has sent invitations to the families of three Western backpackers executed in 1994 to the forthcoming trial of the Khmer Rouge commander charged with the murders, court and diplomatic sources said yesterday.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court also asked the families of Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchmen Jean-Michel Braquet whether they wanted to bring a civil suit against Khmer Rouge commander Nuon Paet after his trial ends.

Nuon Paet allegedly ordered the trio's execution after guerillas under his command abducted them from a train in southern Cambodia in July 1994.

No trial date has been set but court officials said it could begin later this month.

An Australian Embassy official in Phnom Penh said Wilson's family was in discussions with a Cambodian lawyer about filing a civil suit against Nuon Paet.

"There have been communications from the court. What they're doing right now is trying to ascertain what the families will be pursuing at the trial," the embassy official said.

"No date has been set, and at the moment those letters have been passed on to the relevant families and they're coming to their own position on what to do about representation."

Cambodian lawyer Miech Sam On said yesterday that he had reached an agreement with Wilson's family through a lawyer in Australia about representing them in a civil suit.

"I will try my best to represent the plaintiffs," Mr Miech Sam On said.

It remains unknown how much wealth Nuon Paet has, or whether the other victims' families will file suits.

Wilson, Slater and Braquet were taken during a Khmer Rouge ambush on a train in Kampot, southern Cambodia and executed two months later - allegedly on Nuon Paet's orders - after ransom negotiations broke down.

The case drew widespread attention, especially in Australia, where some accused the Cambodians of mishandling the negotiations.

Nuon Paet's coming trial has also drawn criticism because the court has been illegally detaining him since February 1 and has refused to say whether the Khmer Rouge commander even has a defence lawyer.

The Australian Embassy says the court has appointed a lawyer, but said it did not know the person's name or when the appointment was made.

PHNOM PENH, May 19 (Reuters) - A Khmer Rouge guerrilla commander charged with the murder of three Western backpackers nearly five years ago is to go on trial on June 7, the judge in charge of the case said on Wednesday.

''The accused Nuon Paet will go on trial on June 7 at the municipal court,'' judge Buninh Bunnary told Reuters.

The judge said she had drawn up letters inviting the family of the three victims to attend the proceedings.

Nuon Paet commanded a band of Khmer Rouge guerrillas who snatched three foreign tourists, all men in their twenties, during a bloody raid on a train in southern Cambodia on July 26, 1994.

Australian David Wilson, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Briton Mark Slater were held for about two months while negotiations for their release dragged on.

The Khmer Rouge had demanded $150,000 in gold for the release of the three. Some ransom was paid but went missing during botched negotiations.

During their captivity, audio and video recordings of the three were brought out by intermediaries in which they made anguished appeals for help and for government forces to stop shelling the rebel base where they were being held hostage.

But eventually they were killed by their captors, apparently bludgeoned to death.

Their remains were found in shallow graves in a mine-strewn forest in late October 1994, when government soldiers overran Nuon Paet's base on Vine Mountain in the province of Kampot about 150 km (90 miles) south of Phnom Penh.

A lawyer representing Wilson's family said he was planning to file a civil suit against Nuon Paet.

''During the trial we'll request civil action. We'll ask for $50,000,'' the lawyer, Chuon Mom Thol, told Reuters. ''Hopefully (Nuon Paet has the money), he's a big man.''

It was not known if the families of Slater and Braquet were also planning to file civil suits, a court official said.

Nuon Paet was lured from hiding and arrested last August. He has been held in a Phnom Penh prison since then.

He faces five charges including premeditated murder and kidnapping in the deaths of the three foreigners and some 13 Cambodians killed in the initial attack on the train.

The Australian, British and French governments have long been pressing authorities to bring Nuon Paet to justice. Court officials said Paet faces 20 years in prison if found guilty. 

PHNOM PENH, May 27 (Reuters) - A former Khmer Rouge guerrilla commander charged with the murder of three Western backpackers in 1994 has denied responsibility for their "cruel, savage'' killing, according to a letter to the father of one of the victims.

Nuon Paet is due to go on trial on June 7 for the murder of Australian David Wilson, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Briton Mark Slater.

The three were snatched by a band of Khmer Rouge guerrillas during a bloody raid on a train in southern Cambodia on July 26, 1994, and killed some two months later.

In the letter to Wilson's father, Peter Wilson, Nuon Paet said the three were killed on orders of a regional Khmer Rouge commander and carried out by field commander Vith Von.

"I was very sorry about the death of the three foreign brothers,'' Nuon Paet said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

He said it was "a cruel, savage act'' of the commander who ordered them killed, "and then put the blame on me.''

Nuon Paet said at the time of the kidnapping he was not a frontline commander.

Vith Von was killed in mysterious circumstances after the kidnapping, apparently by Khmer Rouge rivals.

Nuon Paet said he had tried to negotiate the release of the "three international friends'' with government forces surrounding his Phnom Vor, or Vine Mountain, stronghold in Kampot province.

The Khmer Rouge demanded $150,000 in gold for their release and some ransom was paid but went missing during botched negotiations.

During their captivity, tape and video recordings were brought out by intermediaries in which the three made anguished appeals for help and for government forces to stop shelling Vine Mountain where they were being held.

Nuon Paet said after he heard the three had been killed he demanded to know why Vith Von had executed them. He said Vith Von showed him orders containing the command "destroy.''

The remains of the three were found in shallow graves in a mine-strewn forest in late October 1994, when government soldiers overran Nuon Paet's base.

Nuon Paet was arrested last August and has been in a Phnom Penh prison since then.

He faces five charges including murder of the foreign trio and kidnapping. Court officials said if found guilty, Nuon Paet faces 20 years in prison.

By Post Staff

FORMER KR commander Nuon Paet looks likely to receive swift justice in his June 7 trial for the murder of three westerners in 1994 - the judge Buninh Bunnary says she expects the case to be over by lunch time on the first day.

And the result appears to be a foregone conclusion. When the investigating Judge Oum Sarith was asked about Paet's chances of acquittal he said: "if Nuon Paet is found not guilty his lawyer would have to be a super-lawyer like OJ Simpson's lawyer."

Paet is facing six charges relating to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Briton Mark Slater, 28, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Australian David Wilson, 29.

The three men were seized from a train in Kampot on July 26, 1994, by the KR, and murdered after ransom negotiations failed and a military attack on the area they were being held in failed to secure their release.

Ten Khmers were killed in the initial attack on the train.

There are already indications that Nuon Paet is going to get little more than a show trial, mainly for the benefit of relations with the victims' countries.

One diplomat said that the defense had been told not to put up "a strong case because the prosecution does not have a strong case".

But he added that if the trial was not seen to be fair it is unlikely to appease the deep feelings about the issue in the countries involved.

A transcript of Sarith's questioning of Paet indicates his defense will rely on placing responsibility for the attack and the deaths on to his former commander Sam Bet, now a senior RCAF officer.

When Paet was asked: "whose idea was it to take the three foreigners as hostages?" He replied: "it was Sam Bet's idea, he was the regional commander. He ordered Veth Vorn to gather 200 of our men to ambush the train but I did not participate. . . I ordered the hostages not to be harmed."

Later in the interview he said he stopped contact with Bet because Bet did not trust him because "I had released foreigners before."

Paet had released US citizen Melissa Himes, who was working for Food for the Hungry when she was kidnapped and released in exchange for 50 kilograms of rice and some agricultural equipment.

In another interview he said that he considered the hostages "international friends that we must not harm."

He said that the actual killing was carried out by Veth Vorn on the orders of Sam Bet. He said he asked Vorn why he killed the three men and Vorn said: "'I received orders from Sam Bet the regional commander, not only from you, they hid it from you."

However, Oum Sarith said that they would be calling as a witness Ouk Bon, Paet's former bodyguard, who will testify that he heard Paet give the order to kill the hostages.

Meanwhile attempts are underway to charge other former KR leaders for the train attack and westerners' murder.

A letter from the prosecutor to Hun Sen sent earlier this month has been obtained by the Post. It requests that Hun Sen remove the immunity enjoyed by Sam Bet and Chhouk Rin, who was in charge of the attack on the train.

The letter stated that there is evidence to lay charges under criminal and anti-terrorism legislation against the two men.

Both men are now members of RCAF, and are covered by a law that prohibits charges being laid against government employees without the approval of their superiors.

So far there has been no direct confirmation that Hun Sen has given the go ahead.

It is likely that the Government will face international pressure to put more people on trial for the crimes particularly if Nuon Paet implicates them in his own trial.

Australian Ambassador Malcolm Leader and British Ambassador George Edgar said they have not requested specific people be tried, but have always maintained to the Government their expectation that those people responsible for the murder of their nationals would be brought to justice.

The ambassadors refused to comment on the case, saying they would wait and see what happened.

Sam Bet said that he was not worried by a trial and would come to the court if summonsed. Chhouk Rin is also understood to be prepared to stand trial, though he regards the train attack as having been covered by the amnesty he received when he defected.

But both men are likely to find their first experience of the court is in the witness box rather than the dock.

Judge Buninh Bunnary said the court has issued summons asking Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin to come to the trial as witnesses.

"We already sent the summons letters through the second bureau of the Ministry of Defense," she said.

It is still to be seen how co-operative they would be. Oum Sarith said that during the investigation Chhouk Rin and Sam Bith avoided being interviewed by court officials.

"We summoned them. . . they did not come," he said, adding that Bith had sent some written answers that were passed on to the judge.

By Chris Fontaine

PHNOM PENH (AP) -- Cambodia's Defense Ministry approved a summons Friday for a former Khmer Rouge general to testify at the trial of an ex-comrade accused of ordering the 1994 killing of three Western tourists.

Prince Sisowath Sirirath, a co-defense minister, said while Gen. Sam Bith can testify, the ministry has yet to locate him. He is the former superior of Nuon Paet, a Khmer Rouge commander who goes on trial Monday.

''All my colleagues are searching for him,'' Sirirath said. ''Hopefully, he will be found before the trial.''

The backpackers -- Briton Mark Slater, Australian David Wilson and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet -- were abducted on July 26, 1994, when Nuon Paet's soldiers attacked a train they were on from Phnom Penh to the seaside town of Sihanoukville.

The guerrillas demanded $150,000 in exchange for the hostages, held at Nuon Paet's mountaintop base. After three months of talks with the government, the Khmer Rouge killed the men, all in their late 20s.

Sam Bith, who defected in 1997 and received a general's rank in the Cambodian army, had been summoned for questioning by the municipal court, but Cambodian law requires the approval of his superiors before forcing him to act as a witness.

After Nuon Paet's arrest in August, the Phnom Penh Post newspaper printed Khmer Rouge radio communications intercepted by the Cambodian army that place Sam Bith as the middleman between Nuon Paet and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

Nuon Paet, who will plead innocent, has accused Sam Bith of ordering the executions.

The Khmer Rouge finally collapsed as a guerrilla force last year, 20 years after their genocidal revolutionary regime was toppled by an invading Vietnamese army. Pol Pot died in April 1998.

An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians perished under the Khmer Rouge's rule between 1975 and 1979. 

Yvonne Ridley and Bruce Cheesman in Bangkok

A British woman was last night flying to Cambodia to confront a commander in the notorious Khmer Rouge guerrilla army who is to stand trial tomorrow accused of murdering her son.

Dorothy Slater decided to travel to Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, to attend the trial after receiving a letter from the accused, Nuon Paet, 53, in which he blamed others for the kidnapping and brutal murder of her son Mark and two other tourists five years ago.

Paet's words, in broken English, failed to move Mrs Slater. "I feel very bitter towards him and the contents of his letter did not make me feel sorry for him at all," she said as she prepared to leave the family home in Corby, Northamptonshire.

"It is very important for me to confront the man accused of killing my son. It was the last place Mark was alive. I need to go there as part of the healing process."

Linda Wylie, Mark's sister, added: "My mother never got the chance to say goodbye to Mark. When he was brought home she was advised against seeing his body. She's just never been allowed to grieve in the way other people do."

Mark Slater, Frenchman Jean-Michael Braquet and Australian David Wilson were seized when the train they were travelling on as backpackers was ambushed by Paet's men near Phnom Penh on July 26, 1994.

The rebels attacked the train with grenade launchers and shot at least 13 passengers dead before marching more than 200 captives away. The Cambodians who had been seized were later released, but the three Westerners were taken to a mountain stronghold in Kampot province south of Phnom Penh, where they were put to work building dykes.

Villagers in the area say the trio were seen crying and refused to eat in protest at their capture.

For two months, the captives were tortured and terrorised by their Khmer Rouge captors before being tied up, shot and bundled into shallow graves.

The last time Mark Slater was seen alive was on a video recording in which he made a desperate appeal for help. He said: "I am very weak from stress and bombings - it is as if they were bombing to kill us. The government should pay the ransom directly to the Khmer Rouge. There is no way for us out of here unless the ransom is met."

Some of the evidence expected to be put forward at the trial will suggest that complicated wranglings between embassies, the Cambodian government and the Khmer Rouge resulted in the backpackers' deaths.

Paet is denying the charges but, despite the not guilty plea, the trial is not expected to last more than a few hours. The judge trying the first Khmer Rouge commander to be brought to court for 10 years has already told his clerk that he expects to be home for lunch.

"There should be a verdict around noon on the opening day - I doubt if the hearing will last more than two hours," said the clerk. "Sentencing should be carried out at the end of the month."

The Cambodian court system is based upon the French judicial model in which the judge acts as the interrogator, in contrast to the adversarial legal process which exists in Britain and the United States.

This first taste of Cambodian-style justice for an international audience will set the stage for the trial - expected later this year - of the notorious one-legged Khmer military chief, Ta Mok.

There is little enthusiasm among the government of Hun Sen for a war crimes tribunal to try other top guerrilla leaders such as Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, members of the clique surrounding the Khmer leader Pol Pot responsible for the 'killing fields' of the 1970s.

An estimated 1.7 million people died under the Khmer Rouge from torture, execution, overwork, starvation or disease.

Officials at the tiny courthouse seemed more concerned about the logistics of Monday's hearing rather than ensuring a fair trial. "I have only 60 seats, yet there are hundreds of journalists, diplomats and United Nations observers who want to attend," said the building supervisor.

Security is tight, with the government not taking any chance that Khmer Rouge fanatics could try to shoot Paet to ensure that he does not implicate other senior leaders.

When Dorothy Slater arrives at the court tomorrow morning she will be the only relative of the three backpacker victims not to be legally represented, for lack of funds.

Britain's Ambassador in Cambodia, George Edgar, will attend the trial.

Diplomats in Cambodia say Paet will be a made a scapegoat, allowing those who gave the order to kill to remain free.

"I understand leading figures in the Khmer Rouge who could also be held responsible are now serving in the government forces. This is wrong, and Paet does name them in his letter," said Mrs Wylie.

"However I don't believe he is being used as a scapegoat. Paet was a very powerful man, he's certainly no boy soldier."

By Ker Munthit

PHNOM PENH (AP) -- A former Khmer Rouge commander was convicted and sentenced to life in prison today for ordering the 1994 killing of three kidnapped Western tourists.

The trial of Nuon Paet was considered a test case for Cambodia's court system. Foreign experts have questioned whether it can properly try Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity connected to their genocidal 1975-79 rule.

In a surprise move, prosecutors at the start of today's proceedings also accused two former Khmer Rouge guerrilla leaders now loyal to the Cambodian government in the killings of the three tourists.

The charges relate to a Khmer Rouge operation that took place long after the group was forced out of power and had launched a guerrilla war against the government.

The tourists -- Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, Briton Mark Slater and Australian David Wilson -- were kidnapped from a train and held at Nuon Paet's mountaintop base. The government negotiated for three months with the guerrillas, at one point agreeing to pay $150,000 in ransom.

But the deal broke down. When government troops overran the mountain in October 1994, the bludgeoned bodies of the three backpackers were found in a shallow grave.

Nuon Paet, who maintained his innocence throughout the one-day trial, listened to the verdict in silence. As he was being taken in handcuffs to a waiting police vehicle, he shouted to reporters: ''Unjust!''

Dorothy Slater, Mark Slater's mother, said: ''I'm happy. It was worth the trip.''

However, Jean-Claude Braquet, father of Jean-Michel Braquet, called the trial a farce. ''It isn't today that they will offer the real truth,'' he had said earlier.

Braquet and Wilson's family believe Nuon Paet is a scapegoat for the killings. Wilson's family boycotted the proceedings.

As Nuon Paet's trial began, the chief prosecutor surprised the packed courtroom by introducing charges against two of the man's former superiors in the Khmer Rouge: Sam Bith, who left the guerrilla movement in 1997 and is now a general in the Cambodian army, and Col. Chhouk Rin, who also defected to the government.

Chief prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said he had received clearance from Prime Minister Hun Sen's office to charge them. He said they would be tried separately from Nuon Paet. It was unclear if they would be taken into custody.

The two were present as witnesses, and in their testimony they denied any role in the tourists' killing.

Nuon Paet was found guilty on all charges: illegal detention, terrorist activities, being an accomplice to murder, forming an armed group for the purpose of robbery and destruction of public property.

He blamed Sam Bith, Chhouk Rin and a third rebel commander, Vit Von, for the killings. Vit Von was killed several years ago in an apparent internal Khmer Rouge dispute.

Nuon Paet was ordered to pay about $30,000 in compensation to three families of Cambodians killed or injured in the train attack and $5,500 in damages to the railroad company.

He was also ordered to pay an unspecified amount to the Wilson family, who have demanded $50,000 for David Wilson's death -- his share of the ransom money. The Wilsons' lawyer has said the family would give the money to a Cambodian charity.

By Chhay Sophal

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Khmer Rouge commander was handed a life sentence Monday for the 1994 murders of three young Western tourists, becoming the first officer from the notorious leftist group ever to be jailed.

Nuon Paet, 52, was convicted after a one-day trial of premeditated murder and five other charges in connection with a July 26, 1994, attack on a train and the kidnap and subsequent murder of the three backpackers from Britain, Australia and France.

The trial was seen as a test case for Cambodia's much criticised judicial system as it prepares to bring two top leaders of the 1970s ''killing fields'' regime to trial, possibly later this year.

''The court sentences Nuon Paet...to life in prison,'' presiding judge Buninh Bunnary announced.

A grim-faced Nuon Paet, who had earlier pleaded innocent, rejected the verdict: ''It's not justice,'' he told reporters as he was led away by police moments after sentencing.

Nuon Paet was accused of ordering the killing of David Wilson, from Melbourne, Australia, Jean-Michel Braquet, from Nice, France, and Briton Mark Slater from Corby in Northamptonshire.

Khmer Rouge fighters under Nuon Paet kidnapped the backpack tourists, all in their twenties, during a raid on a train they were taking to the seaside on July 26, 1994. Ten Cambodians were killed and three wounded in the train ambush.

The foreign trio were marched to a nearby rebel base on Vine Mountain, 150 km (90 miles) south of Phnom Penh and were killed some two months later after negotiations for their release failed and government forces launched an assault on Nuon Paet's base.

Government critics and some members of the victims' families had earlier said that justice would not be served if only Nuon Paet and none of his old comrades, also implicated in the raid on the train and the killings, were prosecuted.

But in a surprise move, prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said the government had authorized prosecution of two former rebel commanders, who are now serving army officers. Both men appeared in court Monday to give evidence against Nuon Paet.

Sam Bith, who was made a two-star general after he surrendered in 1997, and Chhouk Rin, a colonel, both denied responsibility for the killings. 

''Concerning Chhouk Rin and Sam Bith, the prosecutor will charge them at another time and will bring them to court for trial,'' Yeth Chakrya told the court. Other lower-ranking former rebels might also be charged, he said.

Chhouk Rin looked shocked when the announcement was made.

The government has to give authority for civil servants to be prosecuted in Cambodia. A lawyer representing the family of one of the victims welcomed the move.

''It's encouraging. We didn't want to have a show trial against General Paet. We wanted a fair trial and there are other accomplices,'' William Wodrow, representing the Wilson family, told reporters.

''We are very pleased to see action taking place,'' British ambassador George Edgar told reporters after the verdict.

The judge also ordered damages of about $35,000 -- $13,500 for the Wilson family, the same amount for the widow of one of the railway workers killed in the ambush and $8,000 to cover other costs, including damage to the train.

By Puy Kea

PHNOM PENH, June 7 (Kyodo) -- The trial of a former Khmer Rouge commander accused of ordering the murders of three foreign backpackers in southern Cambodia in 1994 got under way Monday.

Nuon Paet, 52, was a Khmer Rouge commander in Cambodia's southern province of Kampot about 150 kilometers south of the capital.

He has been charged for allegedly ordering the killings of the three tourists -- David Wilson from Australia, Jean-Michel Braquet from France, and Mark Slater from Britain. All were in their 20s.

The three were captured during an ambush of a train bound for Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh on July 26, 1994. Thirteen Cambodians were killed in the attack.

After failing to get a ransom of gold bars worth 150,000 dollars, Nuon Paet allegedly ordered his soldiers to kill the hostages three months later. 

Nuon Paet is the first Khmer Rouge officer tried by a Cambodian court since the country's Constitution was drawn up in 1993. Sources at the Phnom Penh court said the trial would be completed within the day.

The trial is seen as a test case for Cambodia's judicial system which is preparing a more crucial court process against two top leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime. The Khmer Rouge are blamed for causing the deaths of more than 1 million Cambodians during the ''killing fields'' period of the late 1970s.

Nuon Paet was arrested last August. He has been held in custody in Phnom Penh since then.

He faces six charges, including the murder of the three western backpackers and the 13 Cambodians in the train attack.

The remains of the three backpackers were found in shallow graves in a mine-strewn forest in late October 1994, when government soldiers overran Nuon Paet's base on Vine Mountain in Kampot.

The trial Monday was attended by diplomats of France, Australia and Britain as well as family members and lawyers of the three victims.

The French, Australian and British governments have long been pressing Cambodian authorities to bring Nuon Paet to justice.

PHNOM PENH (June 7) XINHUA - Cambodia's ex-Khmer Rouge commander Nuon  Paet was sentenced to life imprisonment Monday for kidnapping and murdering three Western tourists five years ago.

The long-awaited public trial of the ex-Khmer Rouge commander lasted nearly 10 hours at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

It is the heaviest sentence in Cambodia which does not have the death penalty.

Nuon Paet faced five charges relating to the kidnapping and the subsequent murder of Briton Mark Slater, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Australian David Wilson.

The three men were abducted from a train traveling to Sihanoukville during an ambush by Khmer Rouge troops in July 1994 that also killed more than 10 Cambodians.

Several witnesses including two high-ranking officers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin, were present at the trial.

Relatives and representatives of the three victims as well as some diplomats and U.N. observers were present at the trial.

Nuon Paet, who was arrested last August, was the first senior Khmer Rouge commander to stand public trial and be sentenced.

During the trial, Nuon Paet always protested his innocence and argued that his former commanders Sam Bet and Chhouk Rin were responsible for the three men's death.

He said the train ambush was directed by Chhouk Rin and the murders were ordered by Sam Bet while the actual killing was carried out by Veth Vorn, who has already died.

According to the final judgment of the court, the Council of Ministers has agreed to file suits against Sam Bet and Chhouk Rin, but the trial will be carried out later.

The court also ruled that those victims' families would be given compensation ranging from 7 million riel (1,842 U.S. dollars) to 50 million riel (13,158 dollars).

When asked about his reaction to the judgment, Nuon Paet said, "It is not fair and just."

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- In a surprise move, prosecutors today accused two former Khmer Rouge guerrilla leaders now loyal to the Cambodian government in the 1994 killing of three Western tourists.

The new accusations were made at the start of the trial of Nuon Paet, another former commander in the radical communist movement, who has been charged with ordering the slaying of the three tourists.

The trial is considered a test case for Cambodia's court system. Foreign experts have questioned whether it can properly try Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity connected to their genocidal 1975-79 rule.

The lawyer for the family of one of the victims, Australian David Wilson, praised the new accusations as a sign the government was willing to go after Khmer Rouge members now allied to it.

"There are other accomplices beside (Nuon Paet)," William Wodrow said. "We are very pleased that they have been identified."

The charges relate to a Khmer Rouge operation that took place long after the group was forced out of power and launched a guerrilla war against the government.

The tourists -- Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, Briton Mark Slater and Wilson -- were kidnapped from a train and held at Nuon Paet's mountaintop base. The government negotiated for three months with the guerrillas, at one point agreeing to pay $150,000 in ransom.

But the deal broke down. When government troops overran the mountain in October 1994, the bludgeoned bodies of the three backpackers were found in a shallow grave.

As Nuon Paet's trial began, the chief prosecutor surprised the packed courtroom by introducing charges against two of his former superiors in the Khmer Rouge: Sam Bith, who left the guerrilla movement in 1997 and is now a general in the Cambodian army, and Col. Chhouk Rin, who also defected to the government.

Chief prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said he had received clearance from Prime Minister Hun Sen's office to charge them. He said they would be tried separately from Nuon Paet. It was unclear if they would be taken into custody. 

The two were present in the courtroom as witnesses and in their testimony they denied any role in the tourists' killing.

Nuon Paet is charged with illegal detention, terrorist activities, being an accomplice to murder, forming an armed group for the purpose of robbery and destruction of public property.

"I did not commit all those acts," he said when asked his plea. He blamed Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin for the killings.

Jean-Claude Braquet, father of Jean-Michel, called the trial a farce. "It isn't today that they will offer the real truth," he said.

Braquet and Wilson's family believe Nuon Paet is a scapegoat for the killings. 

PHNOM PENH, June 7 (AFP) - On July 26, 1994, three western backpackers took an ill-fated train ride from Phnom Penh to southern Cambodia's undiscovered golden beaches. But the risks were high.

The stunning rolling countryside through which the slow diesel locomotive wound its way was infested with Khmer Rouge rebels and opportunistic bandits keen on whatever pickings a train could offer, and the train's guards were little match for a well planned attack.

Ambushed, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, Briton Mark Slater, 26 and 29-year-old Australian David Wilson were plucked by the shadowy Khmer Rouge from obscurity and freedom to captivity and the world's headlines.

A ransom of 150,000 US dollars was demanded, but the payment was botched and some of the ransom reportedly went missing. Then the Khmer Rouge demanded an end to French, British and Australian military assistance to Cambodia as a new condition.

The kidnapping case became international news and a point-scoring exercise between the government and the notorious rebel movement.

The government responded with an artillery barrage of rebel commander Nuon Paet's Phnom Vour base, where the hostages were believed to be held. A videotaped plea by the three captives failed to secure a resumption of talks.

Under bombardment and encircled by government forces, Chhouk Rin defected to government ranks, helping Phnom Penh forces to capture Nuon Paet's base.

Nuon Paet fled, and in October the bodies of the three hostages were dug up from shallow graves in a landmine-strewn forest close to his base.

The 53 year-old commander was Monday judged guilty as the rebel responsible for the kidnap and subsequent killing, but key questions remain unanswered and continue to dog the anguished victims' relatives.

"This has destroyed my life," said Jean-Claude Braquet, Jean-Michel's father. "This is an affair that should never have happened."

Braquet has blasted the government for allegedly botching the ransom payment and claimed Phnom Penh cynically exploited the kidnappings for political points on the international stage.

Now facing charges are Nuon Paet's then-superior Sam Bith -- now a two-star general in the Cambodian army -- and Chhouk Rin, also promoted within government ranks as a reward for his well-timed switch of loyalty.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's policy of "national reconciliation" faces a test. The government is eager to satisfy foreign friends calling [for more prosecutions], but is equally determined not to unravel the close links it has built with former senior Khmer Rouge rebels whose defections helped to destroy the genocidal movement.

With a precedent set of even loyal defectors facing the prospect of trial, scores of former rebels could be unnerved that the value of their immunity deals may not be all that was initially promised. 

Combined News Services

Phnom Penh -- A former Khmer Rouge commander was convicted and sentenced to life in prison yesterday for ordering the 1994 killing of three kidnaped western tourists.

The trial of Nuon Paet was considered a test case for Cambodia's court system. Foreign experts have questioned whether it can properly try Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity connected to their genocidal 1975-79 rule.

In a surprise move, prosecutors accused two former Khmer Rouge guerrilla leaders now loyal to the Cambodian government in the killings of the three tourists.

The charges relate to a Khmer Rouge operation launched long after the group was forced out of power and was waging a guerrilla war against the government.

Khmer Rouge fighters under Nuon Paet kidnaped the backpacking tourists - Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, Briton Mark Slater and Australian David Wilson, all in their 20s - during a raid on a train they were taking to the seaside July 26, 1994. Ten Cambodians were killed and three wounded in the train ambush.

The foreign trio was marched to a nearby rebel base on Vine Mountain, 90 miles south of Phnom Penh. The government negotiated for three months with the guerrillas, at one point agreeing to pay $150,000 in ransom. But the deal broke down. When government troops overran the mountain in October, 1994, the bludgeoned bodies of the three backpackers were found in a shallow grave.

Government critics and some members of the victims' families had said justice would not be served if only Nuon Paet and none of his old comrades, also implicated in the raid on the train and the killings, was prosecuted.

As the trial began, the chief prosecutor surprised the packed courtroom by introducing charges against two of Nuon Paet's former superiors in the Khmer Rouge: Sam Bith, who left the guerrilla movement in 1997 and is now a general in the Cambodian army, and Col. Chhouk Rin, who also defected to the government.

Both men appeared in court yesterday to give evidence against Nuon Paet. They denied any role in the travelers' killings.

Nuon Paet listened to the verdict in silence. As he was being taken in handcuffs to a waiting police vehicle, he shouted to reporters: "Unjust!"

Dorothy Slater, Mark Slater's mother, said: "I'm happy. It was worth the trip."

Jean-Claude Braquet, father of Jean Michel Braquet, called the trial a farce. Wilson's family boycotted the trial.

Nuon Paet was found guilty on all charges. He blamed Sam Bith, Chhouk Rin and a third rebel commander, Vit Von, for the killings. Vit Von was killed several years ago in an apparent internal Khmer Rouge dispute.

Nuon Paet was ordered to pay damages, including an unspecified amount to the Wilson family, who have demanded $50,000 for David Wilson's death, his share of the ransom money. The Wilsons' lawyer has said the family would give the money to a Cambodian charity.

PHNOM PENH, June 8 (Kyodo) -- Former Khmer Rouge commander Nuon Paet, sentenced to life in prison Monday for killing three foreign backpackers, will appeal to a higher court, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Nuon Paet, 52, was convicted by a Phnom Penh civil court.

''It is not justice,'' Nuon Paet told reporters Monday.

In the one-day trial, Nuon Paet said he was innocent and accused his deputy, who is already dead, as being responsible for the murders.

Nuon Paet was convicted of ordering the killing of the three tourists -- David Wilson from Australia, Jean-Michel Braquet from France, and Mark Slater from Britain. All were in their 20s.

The three were captured during an ambush on a train bound for Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh on July 26, 1994. Thirteen Cambodians died in the attack and the foreign trio was held for a ransom of 150,000 dollars in gold bars.

When the ransom was not paid three months later, the court ruled Nuon Paet guilty of ordering his soldiers to murder the hostages.

''I think Nuon Paet is appealing because the maximum punishment in Cambodia is life imprisonment, which means his guilt could be discounted or the court decision will remain the same at either the Appeals Court or Supreme Court,'' an Appeals Court officer said.

But the sentence, if the appeals are ultimately rejected, cannot be worse. 

Nuon Paet's lawyer Dy Borima said they were given two months to appeal the Monday decision.

[end] 

PHNOM PENH (AFP) -- A Cambodian court sentenced Nuon Paet, a former Khmer Rouge commander, to life imprisonment Monday for the 1994 kidnapping and murder of three Western backpackers.

Judge Buninh Bunnary also said Mr. Nuon Paet, 53, was liable to pay damages to the families of the three men.

The judge said Mr. Noun Paet was "the man with the power whose orders were implemented" and was therefore "guilty of committing premeditated murder."

While he faced no charges related to the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule of Cambodia in the late 1970s, the handling of the Noun Paet case is widely seen as a test of the country's legal system.

Cambodia is also preparing to try the captured Khmer Rouge military chief Ta Mok and the movement's chief executioner, Kang Kek Ieu, known as Duch. The two face charges for their roles in the killing of more than a million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.

Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, of France; Mark Slater, 26, of Britain, and David Wilson, 29, of Australia were taken from a train on July 26, 1994, and killed after negotiations to secure their release broke down.

The judge concluded that Mr. Nuon Paet had detained them and when the negotiations failed, "He ordered his soldiers to tie the hands of the foreigners, march them from his house and kill them."

As he was led handcuffed from the courtroom, Mr. Nuon Paet called the verdict "an injustice." He is the most senior rebel figure to have stood trial in Cambodia since the genocidal Khmer Rouge was overthrown in 1979.

However, senior legal sources said that two other former senior rebels, who testified at the trial as witnesses and who now hold senior government posts - Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin - will also be charged for their role in the killings.

Government sources said the pair were demoted from their ranks earlier Monday and "could be arrested at any time."

Before the verdict, the French victim's father, Jean-Claude Braquet, assailed the court and demanded that more rebels be put on trial. He was restrained by court officials.

Under questioning by the chief prosecutor, Yeth Chakrya, Mr. Nuon Paet confirmed that he had served as a senior Khmer Rouge officer but strongly denied any involvement in seizing the three backpackers from the train.

"I didn't know about the train ambush until three days later," he testified in the cramped and humid courtroom.

"I was in charge of politics and strengthening the population base while Vith Vorn was in charge of the military."

"My group never kidnapped people, and the hostages were under the responsibility of Vith Vorn," he added. He said his superior, Mr. Sam Bith, had overall command.

Mr. Nuon Paet said he was "deeply sorry" for the deaths of the hostages, claiming that the Khmer Rouge's "upper level" gave the execution order.

Mr. Vith Vorn was killed in mysterious circumstances soon after the tourists' bodies were dug from shallow graves in a forest strewn with land mines close to Mr. Nuon Paet's base in October 1994.

Mr. Sam Bith, dressed in his pristine two-star general's uniform, gained as a reward for defecting to the government, testified that he was the chief Khmer Rouge commander for southwestern Cambodia until August 1994.

But, he said, "I don't know when or why the foreigners were killed and I had given orders the hostages be fed and released."

Mr. Chhouk Rin also denied involvement in the kidnapping. "Vith Vorn gave the orders," he alleged.

Videotaped testimony from a rebel defector recounted that the hostages were taken from Mr. Nuon Paet's house and then shot.

By Kay Johnson

Phnom Penh -- Nuon Paet's trial, 20 years after the Khmer Rouge was toppled from power, has significance for future hearings, possibly this year, of much more senior figures in the genocidal movement.

A Human Rights Watch monitor said yesterday's trial was less of a rubber-stamp exercise than usual in Cambodia as there was some semblance of debate and cross-examination of witnesses.

The representative of the US-based group took that as a possible indication that the Government - stinging from criticism that its legal system is subservient to powerful administration figures - is trying to go by the book in preparation for the special tribunal that will try senior Khmer Rouge figures.

"It's different from what we usually see in Cambodia, to some extent," he said.

As significant as Nuon Paet's conviction will be who is - or is not - charged next as his co-conspirators, say advocates of a full genocide tribunal.

The Government took the unusual step of removing the immunity of Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin, two other Khmer Rouge commanders who defected to the government side.

If, as the prosecutor said yesterday, Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin are both put on trial for the abduction and murder of the three foreigners, it would be a significant step.

Most observers had assumed that the pair would escape charges, as have several other guerillas who defected and then became allies of Prime Minister Hun Sen's Government.

Putting them on trial would dispel fears that defectors - such as the 1975-79 regime's "killing fields" head, Khieu Samphan, its ideology chief Nuon Chea, and foreign minister Ieng Sary - will not face a genocide tribunal and that only a few Khmer Rouge leaders, like captured military chief Ta Mok, will face judgment.

Paet: he declared his innocence from the dock

By Caroline Gluck

PHNOM PENH -- A former Khmer Rouge commander, Nuon Paet, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, after being found guilty of six charges relating to the kidnapping and killing of three Western backpackers, including one Briton, nearly five years ago.

The three foreigners, Mark Slater, 28, from Corby, in Northamptonshire, Australian David Wilson, 29, and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, were killed two months after being abducted from a train travelling to the southern Cambodian coast.

Paet, 52, had denied the charges and shouted to journalists: "It's not justice."

"I'm pleased with the verdict, more than pleased with the verdict," said Slater's mother, Dorothy, who travelled to Cambodia to attend the trial.

There was more drama, too, when Jean-Claude Braquet, the father of the French victim, was almost forcibly ejected from the courtroom by police after several emotional outbursts. M Braquet vented his frustration over the handling of the case, calling for a wider investigation to be launched. After the verdict was announced, he said: "I'm surprised by the heavy-handedness of the sentence. The whole affair lasted three long months but only one person has been found guilty - I have some difficulty believing that."

Paet had told the court that two other Khmer Rouge commanders had ordered the train ambush and later the killings, while he had been negotiating for the hostages' release.

The trial is an important test case for Cambodia's judicial system, which is widely seen as weak.

Phnom Penh (DPA) -- The Khmer Rouge commander convicted for the kidnap and murder of three Western tourists said yesterday he was willing to spend a few years in jail but wants his life sentence reduced and his commanding officer arrested.

"Yesterday's trial was unjust to me," Nuon Paet said in a telephone interview from Phnom Penh's T3 prison.

"If it is just two or three years in jail, it would be acceptable.

"Life in prison is not acceptable".

On Monday, Nuon Paet, 52, became the most senior Khmer Rouge leader to be convicted.

He was sentenced to life on six charges relating to a train ambush in southern Kampot province that led to the kidnapping and execution of British, Australian and French backpackers.

Nuon Paet said he was taking the blame that belonged to Sam Bith, the former regional commander he called the "mastermind" of the 1994 ambush.  

By Ker Munthit

PHNOM PENH (AP -- A prosecutor said yesterday that another 10 former Khmer Rouge guerillas might be charged over the murders of Australian David Wilson and two other Western backpackers taken hostage and killed in 1994.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Nuon Paet, the former Khmer Rouge commander sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday for ordering the murders, said he planned to appeal.

Prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said he was working on bringing charges against 10 more ex-Khmer Rouge for the murders of Wilson plus Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Briton Mark Slater.

"Whoever carried out these offences must be punished," Yeth Chakrya said.

The backpackers were abducted after guerillas attacked their train in 1994, killing 10 Cambodians. They were held hostage for three months at Nuon Paet's mountaintop base, but negotiations for their release failed and they were killed.

Two of Nuon Paet's former Khmer Rouge superiors, Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin, who later defected to the government and now hold senior posts in the Cambodian army, were called to testify against him on Monday.

In a surprise move, Yeth Chakriya announced that the Government had given him permission to bring charges against them for the killings as well. Formal charges have not yet been laid, but Yeth Chakriya said they were being prepared. He indicated that the case would need to progress further judicially before the men could be taken into custody.

Yeth Chakriya said he was also trying to draft charges against eight more guerillas involved in the tourists' death, but so far had only partial names and identities to work with.

Nuon Paet's lawyer, Dy Borima, visited his client in Phnom Penh's dilapidated T-3 prison yesterday and told him not to lose hope.

"I am going to appeal for a retrial because my defendant received such an unjust ruling," Dy Borima said.

The lawyer focused on part of the evidence that human-rights advocates have also found troubling – the strongest statement that Nuon Paet was guilty came in a four-year-old videotape of witnesses who were questioned by police in the same room, one by one, rather than separately as the criminal code demands.

None of them appeared in court on Monday and no cross-examination was possible.

The trial was closely watched for signs of how Cambodia might organise a tribunal for top Khmer Rouge officials responsible for the genocidal rule in the late 1970s that cost the lives of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians.

Two important figures are currently in custody, but others are living freely under deals worked out with the government in exchange for ending a long civil war. 

By Post Staff

Another ten people will face trial for the murder of three western tourists killed by the Khmer Rouge in 1994 - the same case for which Nuon Paet was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment this week.

Prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said he had enough evidence to charge General Sam Bith, Colonel Chhouk Rin, both of whom are serving RCAF officers.

He said that the two men would face the same six charges as Nuon Paet.

"The offenders have to be tried.

"The case of Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin I am starting to do in accordance with the procedure, after receiving the green light from the government," he said.

Chakrya said that he received the go ahead to proceed with charges against the two men on June 4 - three days before the start of the Nuon Paet trial.

In addition to the two former KR commanders eight of Nuon Paet's subordinates are also to face charges.

Chakrya said that the men known as - Mao, Svay, Phat, Tem An, Chan Sareth, Tuy, Menn, and Pheap - would be charged once he had confirmed their identities through their dates of birth and family names.

Diplomats from the countries involved who have put heavy pressure on the government to make arrests in the case welcomed the news that more people would be charged.

"We have said all along that we expect all those who may be implicated in the deaths ... should be investigated thoroughly and brought to justice if a case exists," said Australian Ambassador Malcolm Leader.

"What's happening now certainly seems to be going down that route; we are happy about that. We have consistently over the last five years made representations to Cambodian authorities about this matter, and we'll continue to do that."

Sam Bith, a witness at the Nuon Paet trial, said before testifying: "If the court finds I'm involved with the case, I don't mind, I will respect the law." He told the Post Jun 8 that he had not received any notification that he was under investigation.

Prosecutor Chakrya said Bith and Rin should face the same charges Paet did - accomplice to murder, kidnapping, robbery, terrorism, and destruction of state property.

When spoken to three days after the trial, SamBith was surprised to hear that he would be charged saying he regarded the matter as over.
"I think that the case is already finished. Why is there another charge?" he said

"The killer of the foreigners has already been tried.

"I was not involved with the case. Why do they still lay a charge?

"I think that the Nuon Paet case is enough because the national reconciliation is the most important."

There is a small chance that Bith might avoid being charged or convicted.

A Foreign ministry source said that Hun Sen was keen to avoid having Sam Bith imprisoned because he saw him as an ally. In contrast he was very keen to see Chhouk Rin convicted because he was more independent and could possibly turn against him.

This was borne out at the last election when the Khmer Rouge defectors that he leads voted for the Sam Rainsy Party instead of the CPP.

Since that time relations between the Kampot based defectors and the Government have been frosty.

Politics have not been a recent addition to the case of the three foreigners. Since their deaths five years ago there have been accusations by all sides in the Cambodian Government as well as in the victims' home countries that their deaths owed as much to politics as to the Khmer Rouge.

One security analyst said the embassies did not deserve the criticism that they received for the initial handling of the case.

He said they made one fundamental mistake, which was to approach the then First Prime Minister Prince Ranariddh for assistance instead of Hun Sen, who wielded the military power.

He said once it looked like Funcinpec could secure the release of the three men by negotiations, the CPP military surrounded Phnom Vour and cut off any escape route for the KR based there.

He said the three were killed only after their captors had been backed into a corner and were under attack.

Meanwhile at a more basic level, Paet's 12-hour trial may have provided some closure for grieving families but left many questions unanswered.

Several witnesses testified they "heard" that Paet gave the order to kill Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, Briton Mark Slater, and Australian David Wilson. Bith claimed he had nothing to do with the deaths, and didn't know who gave the order to kill them.

Chhouk Rin said: "I never saw Nuon Paet kill these men, but I don't know why he killed them."

Paet alleged that Bith ordered military chief Vith Vorn to kill the three foreigners. He also claimed that Bith later had Vorn killed.

"In general it was a good trial, but I think there wasn't enough evidence about the investigation ... now the court must investigate more about the death of Vith Vorn," said Cambodian Bar Association president Ang Eng Thong.

Judge Buninh Bunnary, faced with the daunting task of sorting through the conflicting and often second-hand testimony, asked many questions.

"She seemed to be genuinely searching for some answers, especially the code name on the radio messages [allegedly between Paet and KR leader Pol Pot]," said Human Rights Watch representative Sara Colm, who attended the trial.

However, many observers noted that the judge's verdict included a lot of information that was never presented as evidence, raising worries that the verdict, if not the proceedings, was scripted ahead of time.

"The problem for me was the disconnect between what went on in eight hours of testimony and what I understand was in the verdict," Colm said.

She added: "At the end of the day, we still don't really know what happened in Phnom Vour."

What did happen in Phnom Vour after the July 26, 1994 kidnapping has remained unclear. The KR began negotiations with the Cambodian government for the lives of the hostages, and in September the government began shelling the mountain.

The actual date of the hostages' deaths has never been known; various versions of the story were that they died in the shelling or that they were killed during negotiations.

The murdered Frenchman's father, Jean-Claude Braquet, called the trial "a farce" and accused the Cambodian and French governments of complicity in covering up the full story.

He also insisted repeatedly that others, including Chhouk Rin and Sam Bith, should also be on trial.

The judge seemed sympathetic towards the enraged Braquet, who repeatedly stood or shouted in anger, including during Rin's testimony. At one point military police surrounded him and almost dragged him out of the court, but he calmed down.

"Please understand that we empathize with your suffering, but you must speak to the court through your representative," Bunnary told him.

Braquet finally got an opportunity to speak, and approached the judge shouting, "My son is dead!"

In a riveting moment, he handed a photograph of the three hostages inside Paet's hut to Paet. "Look, this is your hut!" he said, countering Paet's claim he had not kept the hostages in his own hut.

In contrast, the Briton's mother, Dorothy Slater, sat calmly and stoically through most of the proceedings, declining to speak when given the opportunity by the judge.

Only once did she betray her grief - when the court played a gruesome videotape of the exhumed bodies of the hostages, showing bullet wounds and signs of torture. Slater cried quietly for a few moments but quickly regained her composure.

"I'm happy," she said at the end of the trial. "It was worth the trip."

Two survivors of Cambodian victims, Meng Srey and Mem Sophen, also said they were happy with the verdict. They testified in court that the train attack killed their husbands, and were awarded 50 million riel each in compensation.

The Wilson family, represented by a lawyer, William Wodrow, asked for $50,000 in compensation, which was granted. Wodrow said the money would be given to Cambodian charities.

"We've achieved more than we expected ... it's a good result." Earlier in the trial he had railed about Chhouk Rin's attitude, complaining: "He was smirking and treating [the trial] lightly, without any seriousness at all."

Wodrow added: "The family will be delighted that Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin will be tried as well."

Nuon Paet's lawyer, Dy Borima - who gave an impassioned closing statement on behalf of his client, noting among other things that Paet's pre-trial detention exceeded the legal limit - said he would appeal.

"The Municipal Court was unjust to my client ... Nuon Paet did not commit murder," he said. "I am interested in a two-star general, but the court did not make an accusation against him." He would not name the general in question.

While the families, embassy officials and lawyers of the victims welcomed the guilty verdict, many expressed hope that Sam Bith and the others would be tried.

By Chris Fontaine

Associated Press Writer

PHNOM PENH (AP) - Two former Khmer Rouge guerrillas have been formally charged in connection with the 1994 abduction and slaying of three Western backpackers, a state prosecutor said Monday.

Two weeks after former guerrilla Nuon Paet was handed a life sentence for ordering the tourists' killing, his superior, Sam Bith, and a subordinate, Chhouk Rin, were arraigned in Phnom Penh Municipal Court for their alleged roles in the slaying.

As the Khmer Rouge crumbled in recent years, both men defected to the Cambodian government and were rewarded with senior army ranks. They were called as witnesses in Nuon Paet's trial when, to their surprise, they were informed that charges were being prepared against them.

"The two men have been charged already,'' chief prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said Monday. "The charges are the same as Nuon Paet's.''

It was unclear whether either man had been taken into custody.

Nuon Paet was found guilty on June 7 of illegal detention, terrorist activities, being an accomplice to murder, organized crime, forming an armed group for the purpose of robbery and the destruction of public property.

The court found him guilty on all counts, gave him the maximum sentence and ordered him to pay damages to families of the victims.

Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, all in their mid-20s, were abducted on July 26, 1994, when a band of Khmer Rouge guerrillas ambushed a train they were taking to the seaside town of Sihanoukville.

Led by Nuon Paet, the guerrillas demanded $150,000 in gold in ransom. After months of unsuccessful negotiations, the Cambodian government overran Nuon Paet's mountaintop base and found the tourists' bodies in a shallow grave.

Chhouk Rin, now a colonel in the Cambodian army, once admitted to leading the train attack, in which about a dozen Cambodians also were killed. Sam Bith, who holds a general's rank, was the regional commander of Khmer Rouge forces at the time.

Both men now deny any involvement in the killing. Nuon Paet implicated them both.

Yeth Chakriya announced at the trial that the Cabinet had cleared the two ex-Khmer Rouge for prosecution. Members of the police, military or government are shielded from prosecution unless their superior gives prior approval.

Human rights activists applauded the decision to try the two as a sign that Khmer Rouge defectors will not be immune from prosecution when a tribunal is formed to judge top leaders for the death of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during their 1975-79 rule.

No trial date has been set for Chhouk Rin and Sam Bith, but it must be held within six months.

PHNOM PENH, June 21 (Reuters) - Two more former Khmer Rouge guerrilla officers have been charged in connection with the 1994 kidnapping and murder of three Western tourists, a court official said on Monday.

Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin have been charged on several counts including kidnapping and murder, said Phnom Penh municipal court prosecutor Yet Chakrya.

Another Khmer Rouge commander, Nuon Paet, was jailed for life earlier this month after being found guilty on six charges, including kidnapping and the subsequent killing of the three backpack tourists from Australia, Britain and France.

"Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin have been charged...the same as Nuon Paet,'' Yet Chakriya told reporters.

At his trial Nuon Paet asserted his innocence and said Sam Bith, then a Khmer Rouge regional commander, had ordered the execution of the trio some two months after they were seized during a Khmer Rogue raid on the train they were travelling on.

Investigators said at the time that Chhouk Rin led the attack on the train in which at least 10 Cambodian were killed.

Another judicial official said the court would conduct an investigation and if the charges filed against the two were found to be justified warrants for their arrest would be issued.

Sam Bith surrendered in late 1997 and was made a two-star general and appointed an adviser to the Ministry of Defence under the government policy of welcoming Khmer Rouge defectors.

Chhouk Rin was made a colonel after he surrendered, not long after the 1994 kidnapping and murder of the three foreigners.

Both men are serving army officers and in Cambodia the government must authorise the prosecution of any civil servants. Yet Chakrya said the government green light for the charges was given earlier this month.

Both of them appeared at Nuon Paet's trial to give evidence against their former comrade. They denied any responsibility for the attack on the train and the murder of David Wilson, from Melbourne, Australia, Jean-Michel Braquet, from Nice, France, and Briton Mark Slater from Corby in Northamptonshire.

Two other members of the group infamous for its 1970s "killing fields'' rule, under which an estimated 1.7 million people died of disease, execution and overwork, are also facing charges.

Khmer Rouge military chief Ta Mok was captured in March and charged under a 1994 law banning the group.

A top Khmer Rouge security official and the director of the group's infamous Tuol Sleng interrogation centre, Kang Khek Ieu, better known by his revolutionary name "Duch,'' was arrested in May and charged with murder and torture.

Last month the government asked the United Nations to help draft legislation which would enable foreign judges and prosecutors to take part in the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders to ensure international standards of justice are met.

The United Nations has yet to respond to the request for help, which Prime Minister Hun Sen repeated in a letter to the world body last week.

Other Khmer Rouge masterminds including the group's former deputy, Nuon Chea, political leader Khieu Samphan and foreign minister, Ieng Sary, are living freely in the west of the country after surrendering.

By Joe Cochrane

Phnom Penh -- A Cambodian court had charged two more former Khmer Rouge commanders over the 1994 abduction and execution of Australian backpacker David Wilson and his two companions, a court prosecutor said yesterday.

The Phnom Penh municipal court, which on June 7 sentenced rebel commander Nuon Paet to life in prison, has charged fellow Khmer Rouge chiefs Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin.

Both men are high-ranking officers in the Cambodian army, having defected to the Government in 1996 [sic].

Court prosecutor Yeth Chakrya said: "I charged Sam Bith and Chhouk Rin on June 17. The charges against them are the same as those against Nuon Paet: murder, kidnapping, commanding an armed group, theft of State and private property, and destruction of State property."

Khmer Rouge guerillas, under Nuon Paet's overall command, abducted Wilson, 29, Briton Mark Slater, 26, and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, during an ambush on a train in July 1994 in Kampot, southern Cambodia.

The three were executed two months later – allegedly on Nuon Paet's orders – after ransom negotiations broke down.

The case drew widespread attention, especially in Australia, where some accused the Cambodians of mishandling the negotiations.

Nuon Paet's defence attorney said during the trial that his client did not order the ambush or executions and was being used as a scapegoat to appease the Australian, French and British governments.

Wilson's family has hired an attorney and is pursuing a civil suit against Nuon Paet, who is appealing his life sentence.

The convicted rebel commander has denied responsibility for the ambush and executions, and fingered Chhouk Rin and Sam Bith, who had been his immediate superior.

"Sam Bith was one of the most powerful commanders in the country," he said a day after his conviction. "I was just the person under Sam Bith."

Prosecutors have said Chhouk Rin, a lower-level regiment commander, admitted leading the raid on the train, in which the three Westerners were taken hostage and at least 13 Cambodian passengers killed.

Sam Bith, who commanded the entire south-west region for the Khmer Rouge, is suspected of involvement in the ambush and executions.

Chhouk Rin and Sam Bith testified at Nuon Paet's trial, denying responsibility for the murders, while implicating him. Neither man had been arrested as of last night.