LAWYERS for former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan have withdrawn their appeal against their client's pretrial detention, citing  ongoing delays of the UN-backed court's judicial proceedings.

Lawyers Sa Sovan and Jacques Verges, who appealed their client's detention after his arrest last November, said that they could not wait for the pretrial chamber to make a ruling.

"We have been waiting a year," Sa Sovan told the Post Sunday. "We cannot wait until the court starts; they have not yet set up a schedule."

The legal team, which gained attention for demanding 16,000 pages of court documents be translated into French in March, said that they would stand by their translation request.

Pretrial chamber slow

Court spokesman Reach Sambath confirmed the withdrawal of the bail request Sunday and said the pretrial chamber had agreed to it.

The tribunal recently confirmed that the first trial, that of S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, who is also known as Duch, would be delayed until next year.

Sa Sovan said that because the pretrial chamber had five judges, it is hard for them to make a decision. "We will now turn our request to the co-investigating judges," he said.