Khmer Rouge tribunal too broke to pay Cambodian staff

Cambodian and foreign journalists listen to former Khmer Rouge leader 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea speaking during a live feed video at ongoing Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunals. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images)

Courts set up to punish horrific war crimes won't pay staff until April

Patrick Winn

Global Post

January 30, 2012

It's bad enough that the trial against Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge cabal has been delayed so long that many of its aggressors -- and victims -- are now senile.

Now it appears that the special courts aren't paying Cambodian staff. According to the Phnom Penh Post, some employees won't be paid until April.

The courts, set up to prosecute the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, are scraping by with unpaid help.

According to the AP, this doesn't apply to international staff paid by the United Nations. But about 300 employees paid by Cambodia -- some of which haven't been paid since October -- are affected as "donor funds" from outside countries have wilted away, according to a tribunal spokesman.

The tribunal has completed only one trial and has many more to go.

These trials, which seek to punish those responsible for 1.7 million deaths, have already suffered from meddling from Cambodia's ruling party and the passage of time. Now this. And it still remains unclear if the Cambodian staff will even be paid by April, the Phnom Penh Post reports.