PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 27 (UPI) -- A U.N.-backed tribunal opened a trial Monday in Cambodia for four aging leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime on genocide and other charges.
The trial in Phnom Penh comes more than 30 years after the fall of the brutal government responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians from 1975 to 1979.
The accused, three men and one woman, all of them frail and advanced in years, are accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, homicide and other offenses, The New York Times reported.
It took five years and millions of dollars to bring their cases to trial.
The defendants are Khieu Samphan, 79, the former Khmer Rouge head of state; Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, 84; Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 85; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, 79, who was minister of social affairs, the report said.
All four have pleaded innocent.
The trial would "be a cathartic moment for all Cambodians," said Ou Virak with the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the Times reported.
"While the crimes of the Khmer Rouge were committed over a quarter of a century ago, they remain ingrained in Cambodia's collective psyche."
The trial may last years, which could bear upon the age and health of the defendants.
One Khmer Rouge leader who was tried and convicted is Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, accused of running the main prison and torture house. He is serving a 19-year prison sentence.
Other high-ranking members of Khmer Rouge including leader Pol Pot, all died before they could be brought to trial.
