Court to start genocide trial of top Khmer Rouge leaders

Cambodia's U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge court was July 30 set to begin a second trial of two former regime leaders on charges including genocide of Vietnamese people and ethnic Muslims, forced marriages and rape.

The complex case of the regime's two most senior surviving leaders has been split into a series of smaller trials, initially focusing on the forced evacuation of people into rural labour camps and related crimes against humanity.

The first trial against "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, 88, and former head of state Khieu Samphan, 83, was completed late last year, with the verdict - and possible sentences - set to be delivered on August 7.

At the opening hearing of the second trial, which focuses on genocide and other crimes against humanity, judges will discuss issues such as reparations for victims. "The second trial is equally important as the first, and more victims and witnesses will have the opportunity to testify about their experiences and suffering during the Khmer Rouge regime, on a broader range of criminal allegations," court spokesman Lars Olsen told AFP.

The mass killings of an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 ethnic Cham Muslims and 20,000 Vietnamese form the basis of the genocide charges against Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.

Before these charges were filed, the treatment of the minority Muslim group and Vietnamese community was rarely discussed.

The pair also face a string of other charges for the deaths of up to two million people through starvation, overwork or execution during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.

Trial may last two years

Most of these deaths do not fall under the charge of genocide, which is defined by the United Nations as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in...