Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea looks out from his Pailin, Cambodia, border home in this July 26, 2003 file photo. Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's second in command from 1975 to 1979, is scheduled to appear Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, at a hearing at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh. Chea, along with several other top Khmer Rouge leaders, is in a U.N. detention center in Phnom Penh awaiting trial on crimes against humanity. More than 1.7 million Cambodians were killed, starved or worked to death while the Khmer Rouge was in power. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)Ex-Khmer Rouge Leader Ready for Hearing
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea will ask to be released on bail when he makes his first appearance before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on Monday, his lawyer said.
Nuon Chea, a Khmer Rouge ideologist and a top leader of the murderous movement, is scheduled to appear before the tribunal's pre-trial chamber.
The tribunal has detained Nuon Chea since last year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the Khmer Rouge atrocities that led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people when the communist movement held power in Cambodia in 1975-79.
The 81-year-old is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders pending trial, which is expected to start later this year.
Son Arun, Nuon Chea's lawyer, said his client would appeal his detention and ask that he be released on bail because he "feels an absence of freedom in his detention, where all he does is eat and sleep."
"It is not like when he used to live with his family," Son Arun said, adding his client was in normal health and ready to appear before the hearing.
The tribunal investigating judges have charged Nuon Chea with "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts."
The tribunal says the detention was necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses or destroying evidence. They say Nuon Chea's own safety could also be at risk if he was at large.
Nuon Chea, a Khmer Rouge ideologist and a top leader of the murderous movement, is scheduled to appear before the tribunal's pre-trial chamber.
The tribunal has detained Nuon Chea since last year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the Khmer Rouge atrocities that led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people when the communist movement held power in Cambodia in 1975-79.
The 81-year-old is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders pending trial, which is expected to start later this year.
Son Arun, Nuon Chea's lawyer, said his client would appeal his detention and ask that he be released on bail because he "feels an absence of freedom in his detention, where all he does is eat and sleep."
"It is not like when he used to live with his family," Son Arun said, adding his client was in normal health and ready to appear before the hearing.
The tribunal investigating judges have charged Nuon Chea with "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts."
The tribunal says the detention was necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses or destroying evidence. They say Nuon Chea's own safety could also be at risk if he was at large.
6 comments:
At this moment, most Khmer nationalists are either dead, in jail, in trial, or don't dare to step into Cambodia. Given that Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Khiev Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith are bad, but at least they are nationalists too, they used to bravely fight with Vietnam to defend Camdodia. And that's why they must be in court. Only the " MADE IN VIETNAM" are in position of making the rules. Please don't ever forget that or everything you do favors your ennemies.
Dear anonymous 3:29 AM.
Good to hear that they are nationalist [your statement], however, what was wrong with them is the extreme which left millions plus people death from overworked, starvations, sickness and killing - a legacy of bitter memories every survivors of their regime would love to forget but just cannot do so.
Dear brother 4:48,
I have been in full term jail under the Khmer Rouge and have been more or less the same level of suffering as all Khmers have been through. But I am just trying to find a way not to play the Vietnemese game. I believe that as long as the Khmer Rouge court doesn't benefit Vietnam policy and its pupet actual Phnom Penh Government, they have ways to block the court from functioning. Vietnamese plan was in promoting hatred between Khmers, and only the 7th of January sprit can save Khmers from suffering. The Khmer Rouge voke up too late that they have been playing Vienamese game for too long. They must be in court, I agree. Justice must be served. ButI just want our compatriots to be awared of the VN game plan. Always think of the outcome of the court. The only good thigng I hope is that those Khmer Rouge will have a chance to reveal all the truth in their ruling time which somehow (may be)is still super confidential.
Dear John:
Blah, blah, blah!
Both of you are losers, and deserved to be executed for leaving your country. Both of you are notorious traitors, and should not be allowed to make an entry into the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Wow 9:55, your comments "deserve to be executed for leaving your country" reveals you to be a Khmer Rouge wanna-be huh? SEVERE penalities meted out for not doing what YOU think people should huh? Should their children be bashed up against a tree too? Loser.
The only good thigng I hope is that those Khmer Rouge will have a chance to reveal all the truth in their ruling time which somehow (may be)is still super confidential.
9:33 AM
They will have ample times to reveal all but the truth: their ideological and fundamental reason behind the revolution, the regime itself, the forceful evacuation of towns and cities, the purging of their own people [old people or revolution people and army] and new people Etc. Since the paramount leader and engineer of the regime itself [brother No 1] has long gone and cremated, doubtful that all these truths would be revealed by people behind bar at this very moment.
May be in worse case scenario they may confess that "When Nationalism went wrong, Paranoid set in, One person to blame - The Paramount Leader Brother No 1".
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