This trial has been more than three decades(幾十年) in the making(標記). Vietnamese-backed forces removed the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979. But for a long time there was no appetite(慾望,食慾)to bring the organisation's leaders to justice(司法).
International politics allowed the Khmer Rouge to hold Cambodia's seat at the United Nations in the 1980s. And in the 90s a series of amnesties(大赦) brought its members into positions in the government and military. So it took much wrangling(爭辯, 爭吵) to get the Khmer Rouge Tribunal off the ground(to start). It finally started work almost six years ago, and progress has been agonisingly(令人痛苦的) slow, with only one conviction(定罪) so far.
Crimes included the forced(被迫) evacuation(疏散) of towns and cities; turning their inhabitants(居民) into slave labourers(民工) in the rice fields; and the torture(酷刑) and murder of anyone considered an enemy of the revolution(革命).
The Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. But his right hand man Nuon Chea is on trial(受審) alongside(一起) Khieu Samphan, the former head of state(前國家元首), and the former foreign minister, Ieng Sary. If they talk Cambodians(柬埔寨) may get some explanations(解釋) at last, but if they stay silent(沈默) the madness(瘋狂) of the Khmer Rouge era may remain a mystery(迷) for ever.
Guy De Launey, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/11/111121_witn_khmer_rouge_trial.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/11/111121_witn_khmer_rouge_trial.shtml
