Ahead of a visit by top Cambodian leaders to the UN, a government task force met Friday to start discussions on a draft law on the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Minister of Cabinet Sok An said the session had made substantial progress, approving eight articles of the 47-article document, and that the draft was likely to go before the National Assembly for a vote within a month.
The task force, made up of members of the Assembly’s legislative committee, made minor changes to wording. They also added a provision that only top leaders and low-ranking leaders empowered to act autonomously—such as the chief of Tuol Sleng torture center—would be arrested.
The article retains a provision giving the UN the final say on naming Khmer Rouge suspects.
The draft law was completed in recent months after Cambodia and the UN finally struck a deal on how to try those responsible for the deaths of more than one million people between 1975 and 1979.
Sok An has urged lawmakers to pass the draft without making substantial changes. He and Prime Minister Hun Sen fly to New York Monday to attend a UN general assembly meeting from September 6-9.
