March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, who is accused of committing crimes against humanity in Cambodia in the 1970s, must stay in detention while he awaits trial, a United Nations-backed genocide court ruled today.
A panel of judges in the capital, Phnom Penh, unanimously rejected his request for bail, tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said by telephone.
The court in December turned down a similar bail request by former regime prison chief Kang Kek Ieu. Today's ruling may influence whether three other leaders, aged between 75 and 82 and complaining of ill health, will remain in custody as they await trial on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The trials, which are due to begin this year, are central to the process of reconciliation in the Southeast Asian nation, where one in five people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. The movement, which forced the population out of cities to work on collective farms as it tried to establish an agrarian state, is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million people through starvation, disease or execution.
``The appeal is dismissed,'' Agence France-Presse cited Prak Kimsan, chief judge of the pre-trial chamber, as saying. He said there were ``well-founded'' reasons to suspect Nuon Chea, 81, committed the crimes of which he is accused, according to the report. Nuon Chea denies the charges.
War Crimes
Known as ``Brother Number 2,'' Nuon Chea is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, imprisonment, enslavement and persecution.
He served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and was second-in-command to leader Pol Pot.
Vietnamese forces ended the rule of the Khmer Rouge when they captured Phnom Penh in January 1979. Khmer Rouge fighters resisted in the west of the country until the final units surrendered to the Cambodian army 20 years later.
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, died in his jungle hideout in 1998. Ta Mok, the group's military chief, died in custody in July 2006.
Kang Kek Ieu, also known as Duch, 65, was charged in July for atrocities allegedly committed while he ran the regime's S- 21 jail. He was the first official to be charged by the court in Phnom Penh, which comprises international and Cambodian judges.
Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, 75, and Khieu Samphan, 76, the former head of state, are also in detention awaiting trial. They all deny charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Duch's trial is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, Jarvis said. The other four may be tried together next year, she said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at
ejohnson28@bloomberg.net
A panel of judges in the capital, Phnom Penh, unanimously rejected his request for bail, tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said by telephone.
The court in December turned down a similar bail request by former regime prison chief Kang Kek Ieu. Today's ruling may influence whether three other leaders, aged between 75 and 82 and complaining of ill health, will remain in custody as they await trial on charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The trials, which are due to begin this year, are central to the process of reconciliation in the Southeast Asian nation, where one in five people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. The movement, which forced the population out of cities to work on collective farms as it tried to establish an agrarian state, is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million people through starvation, disease or execution.
``The appeal is dismissed,'' Agence France-Presse cited Prak Kimsan, chief judge of the pre-trial chamber, as saying. He said there were ``well-founded'' reasons to suspect Nuon Chea, 81, committed the crimes of which he is accused, according to the report. Nuon Chea denies the charges.
War Crimes
Known as ``Brother Number 2,'' Nuon Chea is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, imprisonment, enslavement and persecution.
He served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and was second-in-command to leader Pol Pot.
Vietnamese forces ended the rule of the Khmer Rouge when they captured Phnom Penh in January 1979. Khmer Rouge fighters resisted in the west of the country until the final units surrendered to the Cambodian army 20 years later.
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, died in his jungle hideout in 1998. Ta Mok, the group's military chief, died in custody in July 2006.
Kang Kek Ieu, also known as Duch, 65, was charged in July for atrocities allegedly committed while he ran the regime's S- 21 jail. He was the first official to be charged by the court in Phnom Penh, which comprises international and Cambodian judges.
Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, 75, and Khieu Samphan, 76, the former head of state, are also in detention awaiting trial. They all deny charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Duch's trial is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, Jarvis said. The other four may be tried together next year, she said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at
ejohnson28@bloomberg.net
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