Khieu Samphan, a former Khmer Rouge leader expected to be a leading defendant in a UN-sponsored tribunal, has said there is "no more doubt left" that his regime committed genocide, in what may be the first-ever admission of the group's collective guilt.
His surprising acknowledgment in an interview could be a major development in the long, drawn-out effort to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge's brutal 1975 to 1979 rule.
Many victims were executed. Others died of starvation, disease and overwork in the Khmer Rouge's attempt to create an agrarian utopia.
"Everything has to go the trial's way now, and there's no other way," Khieu Samphan, one of the few surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, said by telephone from his home.
His comments indicate that the 72-year-old is now ready to give his version of the regime's bloody history before his likely prosecution for genocide and crimes against humanity.
But he insisted that he personally never ordered any killings.
"I have to prepare myself not to let the time pass away. But I also want the public to understand about me, too. I was not involved in any killings."
He said he realized he could no longer ignore the Khmer Rouge's history after he saw a documentary film, recently presented to him by Cambodian-French filmmaker Rithy Pan, about the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison.
"When I saw the film, it was hard for me to deny [the killings]. There's no more doubt left," said Khieu Samphan, who lives in Pailin, 285km northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.
Khieu Samphan, who was Cambodia's nominal head of state of during the regime, had until now refused to acknowledge in public comments and media interviews that his government committed genocide.
"I was surprised, because I never thought it [the regime] went to that extent in its policies. S-21 was in the middle of Phnom Penh. It was clearly a state institution. It was part of the regime," he said.
He said he'd reserved his judgment about the prison until he saw the film about two months ago.
As many as 16,000 people are believed to have passed through S-21's gates, but only 14 are thought to have survived. The prison is now called the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
None of the Khmer Rouge's surviving former leadership has faced justice for the atrocities. Many are infirm but -- like Khieu Samphan -- live and move freely in the country. Pol Pot, the regime's supreme leader, died in 1998.
After five years of negotiations, UN and Cambodian officials tentatively agreed earlier this month on steps to set up the tribunal.
But the court's creation has been delayed by a lack of funds and by political instability after Cambodia's inconclusive general elections left three parties jostling to create a coalition.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to launch an appeal in early February for contributions toward the tribunal's US$40 million operating budget.
Sok An, the Cambodian government's chief negotiator for setting up the court, has said its formalization will be "addressed immediately" once a new legislature is formed.
The other senior leader expected to face trial is Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologue, who also lives in Pailin. He and Khieu Samphan surrendered to the government in December 1998, just a few months before the capture of Ta Mok, the former Khmer Rouge army chief, which capped the final collapse of the movement.
Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Iev, the former chief of S-21 prison, are now in prison.
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