(dpa) -
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday called for Cambodia's courts to
deliver a verdict on the mass killings in the 1970s by the country's Khmer
Rouge government, whose leader Pol Pot died 10 years ago.
Pol Pot led communist troops to topple the US-backed government in Phnom Penh in April, 1975, and launched a country-wide sweep to wipe pout the middle class
and intellectuals, resulting in more than 2 million deaths from forced labour
and extermination.
He died 10 years ago this week. But Cambodia's efforts to bring the
handful of Khmer Rouge survivors to justice have dragged on despite
international assistance to establish a tribunal to prosecute those responsible
for the genocide.
Ban called for closure on the Khmer Rouge cases, which he
called "one of history's darkest chapters."
"The UN and the Royal government of Cambodia remain actively engaged in
efforts to hold the Khmer Rouge senior leaders and those most responsible
accountable for their horrible crimes," Ban said in a statement.
"With the support of the international community, it is my hope that the
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia will soon deliver long-overdue
justice for the people of Cambodia," he said.