Filed complaints bolster Cambodian trials

08/04/2008 23:04:44

More than 1,000 survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime have filed complaints with the country's genocide tribunal.

The United Nations-backed court says it marks greater public participation in the prosecution of those who organised the killing fields.

It says as well as giving victims an active role in the proceedings, the complaints provide key evidence for investigators trying to unravel the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive regimes.

Five former Khmer Rouge leaders have been detained by the tribunal.

Up to two million people - or a third of Cambodia's population - were killed by the regime between 1975 and 1979.

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