As this article goes to press, Cambodia and the UN are engaged in another round of exchange. On June 27, 2001, the United Nations issued a press release stating that the current draft tribunal law "has to be in conformity with a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between the United Nations and the Government of Cambodia." To the extent that Cambodia has not yet signed this Memorandum of Understanding, there are still several steps remaining before a trial can be convened.

Ever since there was any reason to hope that genocide perpetrators in Cambodia might stand trial, questions about the legal instruments that would be applied in their cases have been a hot topic. Could Cambodia’s domestic laws handle the magnitude of the crimes in question? Could the body of international criminal law, still in its infancy, be used to prosecute cases in Cambodian courts? What sorts of evidence would be admissible? How would the tribunal deal with the amnesty granted in 1996 to Ieng Sary, Pol Pot’s Foreign Minister, by King Norodom Sihanouk? What would be the effect of Cambodia’s notoriously corrupt judiciary on a genocide tribunal, and vice versa?

The draft law to set up the tribunal consists of forty-eight articles, and is largely based on Cambodian civil code. Article One states, "The purpose of this law is to bring to trial senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of Cambodian penal law, international humanitarian law and custom, and international conventions recognized by Cambodia, that were committed during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979." In addition to international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and breaches of the Geneva Convention, other crimes that were part of Cambodia’s criminal code circa 1956 may be prosecuted by this tribunal, including homicide, torture, and religious persecution.

The composition of the court reflects careful compromises struck between the Cambodian government and the United Nations, neither of which wanted to cede too much authority to the other. The Cambodian tribunal will involve a combination of Cambodian and U.N. appointed prosecutors and judges who will indict defendants together, and reach consensus on individual verdicts. The trial court will include five professional judges: three Cambodians and two foreigners. The appeals court will be composed of seven judges: four Cambodians and three foreigners. The Supreme Court will have nine judges: five Cambodians and four foreigners. This formula was designed to ensure that there be a a majority of Cambodian jurists, and that judgments be fair and impartial.