Sir, - The news that the former Khmer Rouge military leader Ta Mok, who played a major role in the reign of terror in the "killing fields" of Cambodia in the 1970s, is to face trial is to be welcomed, even though it seems that he is not to be tried for war crimes but on some recently introduced Cambodian law which bans the Khmer Rouge.
Is he to be charged with membership of an illegal organisation while allegations of genocide and other major war crimes go unanswered?
He, of course, is only one of many who participated in the regime thought responsible for the deaths of over 1.5 million people, but so far he is the only one to face any charge whatsoever.
It seems that the perpetrators of one of the most vicious and devastating criminal acts committed in any country are going to get away with it.
The international community cannot just stand idly by and let the Cambodian Government conduct this trial or any trials of Mr Ta Mok's former partners in crime in such a manner.
Nothing less than a properly constituted international war crimes tribunal for these evil men will even come close to doing justice to the memory of their hapless victims whose blood is indelibly marked on the history books of the 20th century. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Shea, GOAL, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.