The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Monday set June 27 as the start date for a highly-anticipated trial of four top former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide and other crimes in the 1970s.

The defendants are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, his wife and ex-social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, and former head of state Khieu Samphan.

The four face charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and related crimes under Cambodian law over the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and execution during the movement's 1975-79 rule.

The genocide charges relate specifically to the deaths of Vietnamese people and ethnic Cham Muslims under the totalitarian regime.

"The initial hearing will commence on Monday 27 June" and will focus on technical issues and discuss witness and experts lists, the court said in a document posted on its website.

The accused, who have been held in a purpose-built detention centre since their arrests in 2007, are expected to attend the hearing, said the ECCC's spokesman Lars Olsen.

They are the most senior surviving members of the hardline communist movement.

Aging problems

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Marxist regime emptied Cambodia's cities and abolished money and schools in a bid to create an agrarian utopia, wiping out nearly a quarter of the country's population before they were ousted from the capital by Vietnamese forces.

Khmer Rouge survivor Bou Meng, who was tortured in the notorious S-21 detention centre in Phnom Penh, said he supported the trial but feared the accused would not be sufficiently punished.

"I'm glad to hear that the date is set for the last four people, but I'm just not too hopeful for a satisfying outcome," said the 70-year-old.

Aged between 79 and 85, the four suffer from varying ailments, fuelling concerns that not all of them might live to see a verdict that is not expected before 2013.

Their health problems are expected to add further difficulties to a case observers already say will be long and complex with all four denying the charges against them.

"Enemies of the People"

However, in the 2009 documentary "Enemies of the People", Nuon Chea - the movement's chief ideologue - admits the regime killed perceived traitors if they could not be "re-educated" or "corrected".

Their joint trial will be the court's second following the landmark conviction of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, who was sentenced to 30 years in jail last July. The case is now under appeal.

The chambers are still investigating whether to pursue two more cases against five other regime members, a move the government strongly opposes, stoking fears about the court's credibility and independence from political pressure.

The chambers' Cambodian and international co-prosecutors last week openly disagreed about whether to continue investigations into a third case, to the dismay of observers who feel it would be inadequate to punish just five regime members for the horrors suffered on the Cambodian people.

The Cambodian government has repeatedly voiced its objection to further trials, saying they could destabilise the country.

Source: AFP