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Today, as I leave Cambodia, a verdict is expected in the trial of five former Khmer Rouge cadres accused of the 1996 kidnapping and killing of British mine-remover Christopher Howes and his Cambodian interpreter Houn Hourth.

I truly hope the ruling will bring to an end one of Cambodia's most anticipated legal proceedings, which was preceded with a decade-long investigation that only resulted in a series of arrests last year.

UPDATES: Four ex-members of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge have been jailed for their part in the murder of Christopher Howes and his Cambodian interpreter Houn Hourth.

Three were jailed for 20 years and a fourth for 10 years, while a fifth man was acquitted by the Phnom Penh court. [ See BBC Report ]

In 1996, Howes was in Cambodia leading a team of miner-removers with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) -- a British-based Non-profit-making Non-political Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) -- when they were seized by the Khmer Rouge near Siem Reap. He was given the chance to leave in exchange for a ransom. But Howes chose to secure his team's freedom and stayed on. Howes and Houn Hourth were later driven to the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng.

According to testimony from the trial heard on October 3, Howes was shot in the chest while eating fruit. Whereas, in the case of Houn Hourth, few details of his killing have emerged.

Khmer Rogue Tribunal

However, this is just a small tip of the iceberg of the atrocities perpetrated by Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia and wrecked havoc from 1975 through 1979, soon after the 5-year civil war. During the Khmer Rogue's reign of terror, at least 200,000 people were believed to have been executed through genocide.

More deaths resulted from Khmer Rouge's policies, and deaths related to disease, torture and starvation were estimated to reach the range of 1.4 to 2.2 million -- for a small country with a population of around 7 million. That's why today Cambodia is characterised by a generation of relative youths, who are akin to phoenix that rose for fires.

Sadly too, despite the defeat in the hands of the new Vietnam-aided regime, during the period of The People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989), cadres of Khmer Rogue were still striking a reign of terror post-1979. It was a return to further destruction. Gun-smoke did not cease until the Vietnamese departed in 1989, and with the help of the United Nations, the Kingdom of Cambodia was restored, and it has since been a slow and long journey towards economic rehabilitation, and the rebuilding of a nationhood.

Killers of the Killing Fileds... At the entrance of the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.

The Khmer Rouge tyrants are kept at the backhouse of ECCC, barricaded... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

Of the Khmer Rogue tyrants, Ta Mok and Pol Pot are now dead. Their cahoots, Kaing Guek Eav aka Duch, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sar and Khieu Samphan -- all ageing towards the last phase of their lives, have been caught and place under provisional detention at the backhouse of ECCC, located along National Road 4, Chaom Chau Commune, Dangkao District, Phnom Penh.

It needs strong emphasis to highlight that it costs hundreds of millions of US dollars to conduct the tribunal though justice must be done, and must be seen to be done. Scroll through the list of donor-countries, and you see the names of Japan, France, Japan occupying the Top Three of the register. On the other hand, the US donated zilt except for a small contribution from Microsoft.

The public gallery, backdropped against the bullet-proof trial chamber purpose-built for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal procedings... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

The Trial proper is scheduled for early 2009. For now, the process involved the October 17 pre-trial reading of decision of appeal by Ieng Sary against provisional detention. It will be followed by the December 5 pre-trial reading of decision of appeal by Co-Prosecutors against Closing Order on Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch.

Tribute to Dith Pran

Though my main aim of visiting Cambodia was not because of the Killing Fields -- it was for something else related to the wellbeing of Malaysia -- I did spend time taking some pictures of the relics of a period of genocide.

In a way a tormenting tribute to journalist Dith Pran, I haven't the heart to visit the actual killing fields of Choeung Ek, some 14.5 kilometers from Phnom Penh.

It suffices that I visited only the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum for a smaller scale of trauma, and the pre-trial settings of the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), or simply the Khmer Rogue Tribunal.

Here are some of the shots using a 50mm lens on a full-frame digital body.

The Toul Sleng Genocide Museum is a tourist attraction, entrance fee US$2 per person

The courtyard of tombs

Remnants of the torture chambers... LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

The following are shots of the various picture galleries showcasing those perished under genocide, 1975-1979.

LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

If you'd like to higher-resolution pictures, they are in my travelogue photo-site. More pictures would be added there.