Rob Hamill to be heard at Khmer Rouge trial

New Zealander Rob Hamill is to be heard at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal trial of the man who ran the Cambodian Prison where his brother was killed in 1978.

The tribunal allows civil parties to be represented in court, with 40 people granted that status.

Their lawyers can ask questions on their behalf of witnesses and of Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, who ran Tuol Sleng or S21 prison where an estimated 17,000 were tortured then executed.

Mr Hamill, an Olympic rower in 1996, is expected to appear at the tribunal.

His brother Kerry Hamill ended up at S-21 when the yacht he and friends were sailing strayed into Cambodian waters in August 1978. One crewman, Canadian Stuart Glass, was shot dead while Mr Hamill and Briton John Dewhirst were taken for interrogation before being killed.

Rob Hamill told NZPA yesterday that it was good that Duch admitted in court yesterday that what he did was wrong, although he did claim he was acting under orders.

The trial is the first of senior leaders in the Khmer Rouge regime under which 1.7 million Cambodians died to be heard before the UN-backed dual international Cambodian Court.

Duch faces charges including crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of the Cambodian penal code, including premeditated murder.

Maggie Tait travelled to Cambodia with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

- NZPA