Investigating judges for the Khmer Rouge tribunal have submitted their final order in the case of five detained regime leaders, signaling a close to the investigation.
Prosecutors now have 45 days to issue their own recommendations as the second trial for the UN-backed court moves forward.
“It basically means that now the investigating judges have finished all the investigation in Case No. 002,” tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said Tuesday. “The prosecutors will make their recommendations to the judges as to whether or not to indict any or some of the charged persons.”
All five of the detained leaders—Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Duch—were under investigation for crimes including genocide. A trial is expected in March 2011.
Latt Ky, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc, called the closing a “positive step” toward the trial.