Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said today a genocide trial of former leaders of the Khmer Rouge was inevitable, but that only senior figures in the regime would be targeted and others had nothing to fear.
The Khmer Rouge trial is to prevent future crimes against humanity and genocide, Mr Hun Sen said. "We must try the Khmer Rouge. We can't avoid it."
Speaking in northwest Cambodia, Mr Hun Sen said he expected trials of about 10 former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975-79 and has been blamed for 1.7 million deaths through execution, torture, starvation and overwork.
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk last week ratified legislation paving the way for the trials, which are expected to begin by the end of the year.
Mr Hun Sen told a group of former Khmer Rouge soldiers that they were not the target of the planned tribunal.
"They will not accuse you, don't worry. They will only accuse the top leaders. I would say 10 people or so," he said.
But under an agreement struck last year between the United Nations and Cambodia, the UN still needs to approve the legislation before trials can begin.
Mr Hun Sen said today he hoped agreement could be quickly reached with the UN.
The planned tribunal is a divisive issue in Cambodia, where decades of civil war ended only in 1998 with the defection of the last Khmer Rouge guerrillas.
No member of the communist Khmer Rouge has yet been tried for atrocities committed by the regime.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, but many of his inner circle are living in quiet retirement in their former military strongholds on the Thai border. They surrendered to the government in the 1990s after being offered an amnesty in return for laying down their arms.
But Mr Hun Sen said the government had never promised that former Khmer Rouge leaders would be spared trial.
Under the deal struck with the UN last year, tribunals would be held in Cambodia with both local and UN-appointed judges. Some within the world body have criticised that compromise for relying too heavily on Cambodia's ill-trained and politically-aligned judiciary.