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U.N. Pulls Out Of Cambodia War Crimes Court VOA News 8 Feb 2002 20:02 UTC 
The United Nations has pulled out of preparations with the Cambodian government for war crimes trials of the country's former Khmer Rouge leaders. U.N. counsel Hans Corell told reporters (Friday) in New York that the world body is withdrawing because it cannot guarantee the objectivity, impartiality, and independence of the court. U.N. officials also said they refused a Cambodian request that the Asian country's government determine the rules governing U.N. assistance to the court. The announcement ends four-and-a-half years of negotiations between Cambodia and the world body over setting up a war crimes court with what the U.N. considers acceptable standards of justice. The Khmer Rouge are believed to have killed more than one-and-a-half-million people while they ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Most Khmer Rouge troops defected or surrendered and the militia's leaders were arrested after Cambodia's monarchy was restored in 1993. The proposed trial is a divisive issue in Cambodia, with some fearful it could reopen old wounds and plunge the country back into civil war.
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