Phnom Penh  - As the trial of the Khmer Rouge's former chief torturer enters its most crucial stage Monday, court observers and victims of the genocidal regime have raised questions about the troubled UN-backed tribunal's role in Cambodia's search for justice and reconciliation.

More than three decades after the Khmer Rouge was toppled from power, former Tuol Sleng torture prison warden Kaign Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, is to appear for the first substantial hearing of his trial on charges of war crimes, torture and breeches of the Geneva Conventions.

The hearing is to run for at least 40 days and would be the first time witnesses, victims and Duch himself would be called on to testify.

Bou Meng, one of only three surviving Tuol Sleng prisoners, said he trusted the court to deliver justice but was disappointed by delays in beginning the trial - the tribunal's first. He also said internal disputes and allegations of corruption at the court had jeopardized its credibility but added that he believes the international community would ensure Duch's trial is conducted successfully.

"I know the court has its troubles, but there are big countries, big democracies, behind this court, so I think the court will survive and its verdict will be true and accurate," he said.

"This trial isn't just about what happened in the past. It's also about the future and making sure that genocide never happens again," he said.

Duch, 66, is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders facing trial for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people - including an estimated 17,000 at Tuol Sleng - through execution, starvation and overwork during the ultra-Maoist group's 1975-1979 reign.

That brutal era led to decades of instability and civil war in the South-East Asian country - the scars of which are still visible in Cambodia's virtual one-party state, its dilapidated infrastructure, deep social divisions, and its impoverished and predominantly rural population.

Duch, a former mathematics teacher and born-again Christian, is the only detainee to have admitted guilt for his crimes and has been detained since 1999.

The comfortable conditions he enjoys at the court's detention facility have angered Bou Meng.

"I am extremely envious of Duch and the treatment he receives," he said. "I don't understand why the court treats him so well. He gets to sit in air conditioning in the court's prison and is fed every day."

"I am older than him, and I suffered because of him, but he is treated much better than me," Bou Meng said. "This makes me very angry."

The start of Duch's trial in February was celebrated as a success for the tribunal, which has been riddled by controversy since it was established in 2006 after a decade of negotiations between the Cambodian government and the United Nations.

UN funding for the Cambodian side of the hybrid court was suspended in July after allegations that staff members had been forced to pay kickbacks to their superiors.

The United Nations said funding would remain frozen until the government satisfactorily investigated the allegations, forcing the Cambodian side to rely on tentative funding from individual donor nations, including Japan, Australia, France and the United States.

That funding dried up in February, and until Japan donated 200,000 US dollars this month, the court's domestic staff was forced to work without salaries.

The US business magazine Forbes included Cambodia in a list of the world's top 10 most-corrupt countries, citing the yet-uninvestigated allegations.

"Funding for a 13-year effort to prosecute acts of genocide in a special United Nations court has run out before trials could begin," the report said.

According to Youk Channg, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a genocide research and archival organization, the court's credibility has also been damaged by its "failure to reach out to Cambodians."

People do not need to understand the complex legal procedures of the court - that's the lawyers' job," Youk Channg said. "But they do need to understand the basics, like who is on trial and what is happening at the tribunal."

"The court has a public affairs department, and so far, it has been successful in telling the world about what is happening at the tribunal, but it has not been successful in making the Cambodian people aware," he said. "It needs a new strategy to ensure this occurs."

Youk Channg last week wrote a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen requesting that March 30 be made an annual public holiday.

"It is important that the people understand what is happening at the court and its historical significance, and I think the best way to do this is to dedicate a national holiday to memory and justice," he said. (dpa)