Retrial ordered over backpacker murder

A former Khmer Rouge commander sentenced to life in prison in connection with the murder of Briton Mark Slater is to be retried next month, his lawyer said in Phnom Penh.

Chhouk Rin was convicted and sentenced last year of being in charge of Khmer Rouge guerrillas who kidnapped Slater, from Corby, and two other young Westerners in a train ambush in July 1994.

Scores of Cambodians were killed in the raid, and Slater, Australian David Wilson, and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet were later executed by their captors.

Chhouk Rin was sentenced to life imprisonment in September, last year.

Chhouk Rin's lawyer, Puth Theavy, said he petitioned for a new trial because the defence was denied extra time to produce more witnesses last year. The trial will begin on October 27.

"I'm confident that victory will be on my side this time," Chhouk Rin, 47, said, calling the earlier conviction "cow dung, buffalo dung."

Under Cambodian law, Chhouk Rin has remained free while his appeal was under consideration.

"I did not do anything I was accused of, so there's nothing for me to be afraid of either," he said.

Chhouk Rin was a mid-ranking Khmer Rouge commander at their former stronghold at Phnom Voar, or Vine Mountain, 62 miles southwest of Phnom Penh.

Khmer Rouge guerrillas belonging to his unit raided a train carrying the Western backpackers to Cambodia's southwestern coast. The guerrillas demanded £100,000 in ransom, then killed the backpackers after three months of fruitless negotiations with the government.

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