Senior Khmer Rouge defectors have warned that demands for leaders to be tried could shatter the country's 'fragile peace'.
Officials in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin said hasty attempts to bring Pol Pot's top officials such as Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary to justice could spark instability and even renewed hostilities.
'If they were to be tried unjustly, then I think there would be trouble again,' veteran Ieng Sary adviser Long Narin told the South China Morning Post.
'It could only be done successfully after years of investigation and with extreme caution.' The former top Khmer Rouge diplomat added that Ieng Sary would only take part in a tribunal that also covered American and Vietnamese atrocities before and after Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1978, during which 1.7 million Cambodians died from overwork, starvation and execution.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for such a sweeping examination - a vision many foreign observers and diplomats see as 'unthinkable'.
Long Narin's views were echoed by the former head of Khmer Rouge radio, Kong Dourng, and Ieng Sary's son Ieng Vuth, now Pailin Deputy Governor, who both said peace and stability were more important in the short-term.
'We are still very poor . . . once we have food, then we can talk about justice,' Ieng Vuth warned, claiming the gem and timber-rich Pailin was suffering from neighbouring Thailand's economic woes.