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.

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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 bomb