Let Cambodians help fund Khmer Rouge trial: opposition

Opposition politicians in Cambodia say ordinary citizens should be allowed to contribute money to ensure former leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement are brought to trial.

Khmer Rouge forces under the leadership of dictator Pol Pot killed an estimated 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979.

He died seven years ago, but six of his associates are still alive to face charges of crimes against humanity.

An international tribunal co-organized by Cambodia and the United Nations will cost about $66 million Cdn over three years, however.

• FROM OCT. 4, 2004: Cambodia approves Khmer Rouge trial

Donor nations have offered more than $50 million in the last three months, leaving Cambodia to come up with $16 million more.

The impoverished country's leaders have said they can afford to contribute only $1.25 million, however.

Now the Sam Rainsy Party says wealthy Cambodians living abroad and at home should have the chance to donate money so that the trial can begin.

"We believe the Khmer people would want to remove the last hurdle, and they ought to be encouraged and given an opportunity to do so," said spokesman Ung Bun Ang.

Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge from power in Cambodia in 1979.

Pol Pot's bloody regime was chronicled in the 1984 Roland Joff film The Killing Fields.