Thursday, September 27, 2007

Lawyer: High Blood Pressure Halts Nuon Chea Questioning

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
26 September 2007


High blood pressure, exhaustion and dizziness forced Khmer Rouge tribunal investigating judges to stop questioning Nuon Chea Wednesday, his lawyer told VOA Khmer.

Son Arun said the judges halted a court interview after a morning of questioning, when Nuon Chea became dizzy.

His blood pressure was checked and found dangerously high, Son Arun said.

"They dared not to continue questioning him," Son Arun said of co-investigating judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde. "So they let him rest."

Nuon Chea's answers from the session would be stricken from the record, "because my client could not speak properly," Son Arun said.

Nuon Chea had not slept well the night before questioning, and he was frustrated by the repetition of queries from the judges, Son Arun said.

When judges questioned him over the hierarchy of the Khmer Rouge, he could hear almost nothing, Son Arun told Agence France-Presse Wednesday, adding that the judges accused his client of being uncooperative.

After questions about the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, Nuon Chea had difficulty answering, so Son Arun advised him to stop, the lawyer said.

"I told him not to answer if he could not answer," Son Arun said.

Seng Theary, executive director of Center for Social Development, welcomed the pursuit of the case, but said she wanted to know the details of health care given to Nuon Chea, to avoid suspicion he was being drugged.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big brother Number II, be a courageous warrior like you have always pretended in the past: come on and be a man 'cause after all, there is nothing for you to loose at your sunset age.

Good night!

Anonymous said...

I don't think Noun Chea could be lived longer.comment by Prohok khmer.

Anonymous said...

Don't we all know that older people are just like baby? Everything is weak and fragile. Trying to get tough on them, their hearts would just stop and they would just drop dead. His ending is so near that we don't think, he'll live no more than two months to a year at the most.

Give him sometimes to think everything over, ask him to write what he knows and remember might be a better idea and therefore, the court would be able to draw a lot more out of this old in trouble and near finish man.

Tough vocal and tone that will be asking by the proscecuter will only be a major treat to his already weakening heart. We really think that Mr. Noun Chea will be more likely to die of a heart attack instantly in a very near future.

Somehow, there is a major lost somewhere that we could have been able to solve earlier when he was young and strong, but.....at least he can still talk and there is no Alzheimer decease anywhere near him or is it?

Anonymous said...

True, but don't under-estimate people of his caliber. Even at his age, he (Nuon Chea) could still potentially throws us all off the track with lines of bullshits, just like most good politicians could do.