PHNOM PENH -- A Cambodian appeals court sentenced former Khmer Rouge commander Chhouk Rin, charged with the 1994 murder of over a dozen Cambodians and three Western backpackers, to life in prison on Friday, officials said.

The appeals court reversed the Phnom Penh municipal court's July 2000 acquittal of the ex-commander, who was absent from trial, and found Chhouk Rin guilty of terrorism and kidnapping, court officials said. "Today I am very happy with the decision made by the appeal court," said Jean-Claude Braquet, the father of one of the slain backpackers, outside the courtroom. "The judiciary system in Cambodia is fair enough."

Court officials said Chhouk Rin would not be immediately arrested and had 75 days to appeal the verdict.

Chhouk Rin said he was staying in southern Kampot Province, where the hostages' train was ambushed, and would file a complaint with the Supreme Court and petition King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the embassies of the three Westerners. "I can not accept this verdict," Chhouk Rin told Deutsche Presse-- agentur DPA by telephone. "I don't understand why I was charged with terrorism. What does terrorism mean? I am not Bin Laden."

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court acquitted Chhouk Rin in July 2000, citing his defection under a 1994 amnesty, which offered Khmer Rouge rebels six months to join government forces in an effort to put an end to nearly three decades of civil war.

"I came to defect during the six month period," Chhouk Rin said.

"What will happen to the other Khmer Rouge soldiers who defected during that time?" The Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict on Wednesday for former Khmer Rouge commander Nuon Paet, who was also found guilty of kidnapping, illegally imprisoning and murdering the hostages, officials said.

The appeals were made under intense pressure from the governments of the three Western hostages -- Australian David Wilson, 29, Briton Mark Slater, 28 and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27.

"We want justice for the Wilson family and will continue to push for it," said Australian Ambassador Louise Hand, outside the courtroom after the trial, in reference to the future trial of Sam Bith.

Sam Bith, regional commander for Khmer Rouge operations in Kampot, where the backpacker's Sihanoukville-bound train was ambushed, was arrested in May and is in a Phnom Penh prison awaiting trial.

The three suspects were held most responsible for the murders, but each suspect has blamed someone else for the killings and has claimed Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998, ordered the executions.