The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Tuesday rejected demands to pursue a politically-sensitive new Khmer Rouge case that has divided the court.

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The investigating judges said the prosecution failed to follow procedure when filing a request for unnamed suspects to be interviewed for their alleged crimes as members of the brutal 1975-79 regime to be prosecuted.

In a written statement, the judges said international co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley's request was invalid because he hadn't done the necessary paperwork to file the requests without the backing of his national counterpart.

Cayley and his Cambodian colleague Chea Leang are openly at odds over how to proceed with the case, with Leang saying the suspects, thought to be two ex-Khmer Rouge commanders, are outside the court's jurisdiction.

Cayley can appeal the judges' decision not to pursue an investigation but the announcement appears to signal their willingness to close the tribunal's controversial third case, prompting fears the court is caving to government pressure.

"The judges are using questionable legal technicalities to try to avoid the very important substantive issues raised by Cayley," said Anne Heindel, a legal adviser at the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge atrocities.

"It's the continuation of their attempts to kill case three."

In its landmark first trial, the tribunal sentenced former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, to 30 years in jail in July for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people.

That case is now under appeal, while a second trial involving four of the regime's most senior surviving leaders is due to start later this month.

The court is still investigating a fourth case against three more suspects, believed to be mid-level cadres. But it too is shrouded in secrecy and faces stiff government opposition.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly voiced his objection to further trials, saying they could plunge the country into civil war, and observers widely expect the third and fourth cases to be dropped.

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Marxist Khmer Rouge regime emptied cities in the late 1970s in a bid to create an agrarian utopia, executing and killing through starvation and overwork up to two million.

Source: AFP

Lead photo - ECCC on flickr.com - all further use subject to this CC licence