A former teacher accused of carrying out the murderous policies of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge finally faced trial today, as prosecutors opened their first case against the hard-core communists who turned the country into a killing field three decades ago.

A gaunt former schoolteacher who once ran a notorious torture centre for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge made his first public courtroom appearance today, evoking curiosity and anger as he stood before judges of a UN-assisted genocide tribunal.

A FRENCH lawyer advising the family of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States over the September 11 attacks, yesterday said they hoped to persuade him to retract his guilty plea.