Dame Silvia under fire from Khmer Rouge leaders

Dame Silvia Cartwright. Photo / NZPA

Lawyers for two Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide in Cambodia have demanded that former New Zealand Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright be stood down as a trial judge.

They accuse Dame Silvia - New Zealand's first woman High Court judge before she was appointed to Government House - of having secret meetings with prosecution staff over the past year, a Phnom Penh news site reported.

But Nil Nonn, president of the special international court, has rejected the lawyers' request, saying the issue will be addressed "in due course''.