From correspondents in Pailin, Cambodia
Agence France-Presse
THE most senior surviving Khmer Rouge leader, Nuon Chea, was being questioned today by police and officials from Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal, a source close to him says.
Police had earlier sealed off Nuon Chea's house in northwest Cambodia as the tribunal officials swept in, raising speculation that he could be arrested for crimes allegedly committed by the 1970s regime.
"They are interviewing him now," said the source, a long-time associate of Nuon Chea who had earlier said the 82-year-old's health was not good.
An ambulance was also seen arriving at his house.
Known as "Brother Number Two", Nuon Chea was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's most trusted lieutenant and allegedly a key architect of the regime's horrific execution policies which saw tens of thousands of people purged during its 1975-79 rule.
His rank in the communist hierarchy and alleged decision-making role would make him the most significant defendant to be tried by a tribunal established last year.
Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge.
The regime also abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.
Police had earlier sealed off Nuon Chea's house in northwest Cambodia as the tribunal officials swept in, raising speculation that he could be arrested for crimes allegedly committed by the 1970s regime.
"They are interviewing him now," said the source, a long-time associate of Nuon Chea who had earlier said the 82-year-old's health was not good.
An ambulance was also seen arriving at his house.
Known as "Brother Number Two", Nuon Chea was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's most trusted lieutenant and allegedly a key architect of the regime's horrific execution policies which saw tens of thousands of people purged during its 1975-79 rule.
His rank in the communist hierarchy and alleged decision-making role would make him the most significant defendant to be tried by a tribunal established last year.
Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge.
The regime also abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.
1 comment:
I believe that all his household family should be arrested because during that every single of his son, his daughters and his wife was all killers. They were all cold blood killers. They were bornt with animal like mentality. They should be arrested and if they will be convicted, they should be hanged by the seas for the sharks to eat them bit by bit. Areak Prey
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