Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- A United Nations-backed genocide court in Cambodia said it will rule next week whether a Khmer Rouge prison chief should stay in detention while he awaits trial, a test-case for the tribunal probing regime atrocities.
Kang Kek Ieu, who allegedly ran the Khmer Rouge's S-21 jail where thousands of prisoners were tortured and murdered, is the first regime official to challenge his detention.
The Dec. 3 ruling by a panel of judges in the capital, Phnom Penh, may influence whether four other regime leaders, aged between 75 and 82 and some 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 next 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.
Kang Kek Ieu, also known as Duch, 65, was charged in July with crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors at the UN-backed tribunal, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, allege that ``countless abuses'' were carried out against prisoners under Duch's authority.
Torture Allegations
``The allegations include keeping of some prisoners in pits which would fill with rain causing them to drown, and torture inflicted upon prisoners by them being beaten, suspended from ropes and stabbed, having their fingernails punctured or removed and being bled to death,'' according to a court document published earlier this month.
Duch's lawyers argued at the two-day appeal hearing which began Nov. 20 that he should be released on bail because he has already spent eight years in government custody in breach of international standards of justice.
The former teacher's defense team said he wasn't a senior regime member and was among more than 2,000 people who ran jails for the Khmer Rouge.
The court's Pre-Trial Chamber will announce its decision on whether to release Duch on bail at a public session on Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. Phnom Penh time, tribunal spokesman Peter Foster said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.
Duch was the first Khmer Rouge official to be charged by the court, which comprises international and Cambodian judges.
Pol Pot
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, died in his jungle hideout in 1998, 19 years after the movement was ousted by Vietnamese forces. Ta Mok, the group's military chief, died in custody in July 2006.
Nuon Chea, 81, Pol Pot's second-in-command, is awaiting trial following his arrest in September. Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82, his wife, Ieng Thirith, 75, who was social affairs minister, and former head of state, Khieu Samphan, 76, were detained and charged earlier this month. They all deny the charges and may also appeal their detention.
Khieu Samphan argued in court earlier this month that he suffers from hypertension and has no intention of trying to escape if freed on bail.
Ieng Thirith told the court she suffers from ``chronic physical and mental illness,'' while her husband noted he is ``old and sick.'' Nuon Chea told the court that ``he does not intend to tarnish the honor of his country by fleeing'' if he is released on bail.
Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh in January 1979, ending the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Fighters resisted in the west of the country until the final units surrendered to the Cambodian army 20 years later.
The tribunal process is costing $56.3 million, with the UN providing $43 million and Cambodia's government $13.3 million.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.
Kang Kek Ieu, who allegedly ran the Khmer Rouge's S-21 jail where thousands of prisoners were tortured and murdered, is the first regime official to challenge his detention.
The Dec. 3 ruling by a panel of judges in the capital, Phnom Penh, may influence whether four other regime leaders, aged between 75 and 82 and some 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 next 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.
Kang Kek Ieu, also known as Duch, 65, was charged in July with crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors at the UN-backed tribunal, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, allege that ``countless abuses'' were carried out against prisoners under Duch's authority.
Torture Allegations
``The allegations include keeping of some prisoners in pits which would fill with rain causing them to drown, and torture inflicted upon prisoners by them being beaten, suspended from ropes and stabbed, having their fingernails punctured or removed and being bled to death,'' according to a court document published earlier this month.
Duch's lawyers argued at the two-day appeal hearing which began Nov. 20 that he should be released on bail because he has already spent eight years in government custody in breach of international standards of justice.
The former teacher's defense team said he wasn't a senior regime member and was among more than 2,000 people who ran jails for the Khmer Rouge.
The court's Pre-Trial Chamber will announce its decision on whether to release Duch on bail at a public session on Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. Phnom Penh time, tribunal spokesman Peter Foster said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.
Duch was the first Khmer Rouge official to be charged by the court, which comprises international and Cambodian judges.
Pol Pot
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, died in his jungle hideout in 1998, 19 years after the movement was ousted by Vietnamese forces. Ta Mok, the group's military chief, died in custody in July 2006.
Nuon Chea, 81, Pol Pot's second-in-command, is awaiting trial following his arrest in September. Former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82, his wife, Ieng Thirith, 75, who was social affairs minister, and former head of state, Khieu Samphan, 76, were detained and charged earlier this month. They all deny the charges and may also appeal their detention.
Khieu Samphan argued in court earlier this month that he suffers from hypertension and has no intention of trying to escape if freed on bail.
Ieng Thirith told the court she suffers from ``chronic physical and mental illness,'' while her husband noted he is ``old and sick.'' Nuon Chea told the court that ``he does not intend to tarnish the honor of his country by fleeing'' if he is released on bail.
Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh in January 1979, ending the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Fighters resisted in the west of the country until the final units surrendered to the Cambodian army 20 years later.
The tribunal process is costing $56.3 million, with the UN providing $43 million and Cambodia's government $13.3 million.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.
