Former Khmer Rouge 'First Lady' seeks release from war crimes trial

Mon, 15 Feb 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Lawyers for Ieng Thirith, the former "First Lady" of the Khmer Rouge, called for her release from pre-trial detention at the international war crimes court Monday. Ieng Thirith, 78, appeared to struggle to recall the name of her husband and co-accused, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, when asked by the court.

"I seem to forget his name," said the former minister for social affairs, before turning to the court's security guards. "What is his name? Can you please help me?"

Her Cambodian lawyer told the court she should be released to house arrest because there was little evidence to link her to the alleged crimes. He claimed she was not a threat to witnesses, would not try to destroy evidence and was not a flight risk.

Lawyer Phouv Seang Phat also criticized court investigators for using what he described as "a default policy of detention," saying they failed to comply with international human rights standards.

"[Her continued detention] is unjustifiable and constitutes an infringement of her human rights and cannot be considered necessary," he said.

But the prosecution said Ieng Thirith remained a threat as shown by a previous outburst in court and 70 similar threatening tirades in the detention centre, where she is being held with her husband and three others.

During her court appearance in February 2009, Ieng Thirith denied the prosecution's allegation that she was aware of the killings at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, and claimed she had done nothing wrong.

"Don't accuse me of being a murderer or you will be cursed to the seventh circle of hell," the former Shakespeare scholar and professor of English shouted during that appearance.

Her lawyers ensured Monday that Ieng Thirith did not speak out of turn, even asking the court to muzzle the prosecution in its descriptions of her to avoid sparking a similar reaction.

"The prosecution's statements may provoke her to go against her own wish not to speak," one of her lawyers said in making the request that was rejected by the judges.

Prosecutors said the charge of genocide filed against her late last year constituted a strong reason to keep her in custody. They argued that she was a flight risk since she faces the possibility of life behind bars if convicted.

Ieng Thirith's request was the third heard by the court in as many days. Lawyers for Ieng Sary filed a similar request on February 11, as did the legal team for Khieu Samphan, the regime's former head of state. The tribunal is expected to rule on all three applications in the coming weeks.

Ieng Thirith, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and former "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as crimes under Cambodian law for their alleged involvement in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime.

A final decision on whether to prosecute or dismiss charges against the four is expected in September. Should the trial go ahead, as is expected, it is likely to begin early next year.

Around one-quarter of Cambodia's population is thought to have died from execution, disease, starvation and overwork during the Khmer Rouge's rule of the country from 1975-79. Its leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 on the Thai-Cambodian border.

'First Lady' threatened co-leaders

Ieng Thirith appealed for her release before she is tried for crimes against humanity and genocide for her role in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge government. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Feb 15, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH - THE Khmer Rouge 'First Lady' has threatened her fellow former regime leaders and prison guards at least 70 times while detained at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court, a prosecutor said on Monday.

The allegation was made as the former minister of social affairs, Ieng Thirith, 78, appealed for her release before she is tried for crimes against humanity and genocide for her role in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge government. She is one of five top regime figures detained at the court, which was set up to try leaders of the movement which killed up to two million people through starvation, overwork, torture and execution.

'She regularly and violently, on at least 70 occasions, threatened co-detainees at the detention facility and also threatened guards at the detention facility,' prosecutor Vincent de Wilde told judges. The prosecutor argued that if Ieng Thirith was released before her trial, expected to begin next year, she could 'instil fear in victims and potential witnesses'.

In her previous appeal last year, Ieng Thirith said in a tirade that those who called her a murderer 'will be cursed to the seventh level of hell", blaming atrocities on Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea and prison chief Duch. Nuon Chea and Duch are being held with Ieng Thirith in the jail at the court along with her husband, former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, and the regime's head of state, Khieu Samphan.

The bespectacled Ieng Thirith sat with her arms folded during most of Monday's hearing, delegating her lawyers to plead on her behalf. Her defence team said her outburst last year showed she was 'very vulnerable' and asked prosecutors 'not to make any inflammatory statements'.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998. Final arguments in the court's first trial, that of Duch, real name Kaing Guek Eav, ended in November and a verdict is expected after April this year.

Khmer Rouge "social minister" denies wrongdoing

PHNOM PENH, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Pol Pot's sister-in-law told Cambodia's Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" court on Tuesday she only worked with Chinese experts on humanitarian issues and had no hand in the deaths of the regime's estimated 1.7 million victims.

Ieng Thirith, 76, the ultra-Maoist movement's social minister, is charged with crimes against humanity but said she only oversaw teams rebuilding hospitals destroyed by the years of civil war that preceded the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975.

"I don't know why a good person like me has been accused of such crimes. I have suffered a great deal," she said during a bail hearing at the joint Cambodian-international court, which opened its first case last week against chief torturer Duch.

Duch's trial will resume on March 30, the court said on Tuesday, with at least 40 witnesses expected to testify against the former chief of Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, where an estimated 14,000 people were tortured and killed.

Five senior Khmer Rouge cadres have been charged with various crimes against humanity and could get life sentences if convicted by the court. Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, is the first to be tried by a panel of five Cambodian and international judges. His trial is expected to run until June.

No trial dates have been set for the others. They are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former President Khieu Samphan, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith. She is almost certain to lose her bail application.

"I have been wrongly accused. We worked very hard at the pharmaceutical factories. There were four factories and we had two Chinese experts helping us," she said.

Ieng Thirith blamed other senior cadres for the 1.7 million people who were executed or died of starvation, disease and overwork from 1975-79.

In particular, she said Nuon Chea -- Pol Pot's right-hand man -- ordered Duch to kill Cambodians who had graduated from universities and colleges in France, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Paul Tait)

KRT has not decided on Duch’s trial date yet

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The KR Tribunal did not yet fix the schedule to try Kaing Kev Iev aka Duch, the former Tuol Sleng (S-21) jail chief, when Khieu Samphan’s lawyers are still appealing for his bail option and a court date for this appeal is now set to 27 Feb. Up until 23 Feb, the KRT has yet to fix the date for Duch’s hearing, however, it has fixed Khieu Samphan’s hearing date on his bail appeal following 8 months of detention and this detention was extended to 12 months. Sar Sovat, Khieu Samphan’s lawyer, told the Koh Santepheap newspaper over the phone on 23 Feb, that the court decided to translate a number of documents, but not all of them, after Jacques Verges, Khieu Samphan’s lawyer, asked the court to translate all 16,000 pages of the court documents from Khmer to French. On 26 Feb, the court also indicated that it will hold a hearing about Ieng Thirith’s bail appeal, and on 27 Feb, the KRT will hold a hearing on Khieu Samphan’s bail appeal.

Khmer Rouge court to give bail decision for Pol Pot's sister-in-law

Sun, 06 Jul 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - The joint UN-Cambodian court set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders will announce its decision on whether to grant bail to the sister-in-law of the movement's late leader Pol Pot this week, it said in a press release Sunday. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia said it would hold a morning session on Wednesday to announce its decision on Ieng Thirith's appeal against pretrial detention heard on May 21.

She is charged with crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors allege her position in the movement and her marriage to Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary made it impossible for her not to be aware of the murder, torture, starvation and disease that claimed up to 2 million lives during their 1975-79 reign.

Thirith has denied the charges and appealed for pretrial release for health reasons.

Thirith, her husband, former head of state Khieu Samphan, chief ideologue Nuon Chea and director of the Toul Sleng torture centre Kaing Guek Eav, aka Duch, are currently in detention awaiting trial.

The first hearings are expected later this year. The movement's top leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

Khmer Rouge's top lady makes plea for freedom

At times appearing confused, 76-year-old Ieng Thirith faced the Extraordinary Chambers on Wednesday to to ask for bail. (Chor Sokunthea/Pool)

Thursday, 22 May 2008
Written by Cheang Sokha and Cat Barton
The Phnom Penh Post

Former Khmer Rouge minister Ieng Thirith, who was the regime's top-ranking female member, appeared publicly before Cambodia's genocide tribunal for the first time on May 21 as she appealed against her pre-trial detention at the UN-backed court.

Thirith, who served as social affairs minister during the regime's 1975-79 rule over Cambodia, is charged with crimes against humanity.

She is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders, including her husband Ieng Sary, who have been arrested by the court, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC.

The diminutive, bespectacled 76-year-old appeared confused at times, failing once to remember how many children she had and refusing to make a final statement following the nearly nine hour hearing, telling the court that she was "unwell."

"I have high blood pressure and when I get angry it rises rapidly," said Thirith, who was seized by authorities from her Phnom Penh home in November.

Her lawyers argued that Thirith should not be judged by the alleged crimes of her husband, who served as the regime foreign minister and has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Thirith's relationship with Sary should "not be used to criminalize the charged party," said her foreign lawyer, British QC Diane Ellis.

The court must "consider position of charged person separately from that of the other four accused," Ellis said.

Thirith's Cambodian lawyer, Phat Pouv Seang, has earlier said that his client's deteriorating mental health should be grounds enough for her release, telling the Post that he had Thai-language medical documents proving that she was not fit to stand trial.

Both Thirith and her husband traveled frequently to Thailand for medical treatment before their arrest amid rumors that the pair had amassed vast wealth from deals made during the chaotic last days of the Khmer Rouge in the 1990s.

But her lawyers denied suggestions that Thirith and her husband had sacked away large amounts of money, telling the court that she did not own property in Cuba, and that her home in the capital belonged to a daughter.

Many Cambodians attending the hearing dismissed the defense's claims that Thirith should be treated differently from other regime leaders.

"I will not be happy if the court releases Thirith or other KR leaders ... because during their time in power they treated Cambodian people very badly like animals," said 60 year-old Sam Soeun, who traveled to the capital from Preah Vihear province.

"I came here in the hopes that the court will find justice for me and for all the other victims," he said.

Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed as the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge exiled the country's population into vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia in what was to become one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis told the Post that the hearing had gone smoothly, despite repeated closed sessions that kept the participants in court into the evening.

"There was a lot to get through and remember we had five civil parties for this case," Jarvis said, explaining that the long hours "did not signal anything."

A decision on the appeal is expected in the coming weeks.

Former Khmer Rouge Minister Appeals for Release

By VOA Khmer, Washington
Video Editor: Manilene Ek
30 May 2008

A former Khmer Rouge government minister, facing charges of crimes against humanity before Cambodia's UN-assisted genocide tribunal, appealed for release from pre-trial detention in Phnom Penh on Wednesday May 21, 2008.

Ieng Thirith, who was the Khmer Rouge social affairs minister, is among five suspects facing trial for their alleged roles in the regime's brutality.

The Cambodian lawyer for the 76-year-old Ieng Thirith has cited a lack of evidence for detaining her and said she suffers from chronic illnesses, "both mental and physical," that require constant medical treatment.

The suspect is the wife of Ieng Sary, who was the regime's deputy prime minister and foreign minister. He is also detained on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Ieng Thirith is also the sister-in-law of Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

In a detention order issued in November, the tribunal's investigating judges said Ieng Thirith was to be tried for supporting Khmer Rouge policies and practices that were "characterised by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts".

She rejected the charges against her as "100 percent false," according to the detention order.

Ieng Thirith, who was among the first generation of female Cambodian intellectuals, studied English literature in Paris and worked as a professor after returning to Cambodia in 1957. Three years later she founded a private English school in the capital, Phnom Penh.

She followed her husband into the jungle to flee government repression in 1965. Their communist movement later became a guerrilla force that toppled the pro-American government in 1975, turning the country into a vast slave-labour camp in which anyone deemed bourgeois was executed or imprisoned.

The husband and wife, who are held in separate cells, have been allowed to occasionally see each other in the presence of detention guards.

Information for this report was provided by APTN.

Bail decision suspended in Khmer Rouge female leader case

May 21, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - The court hearing a bail appeal against a former female Khmer Rouge leader adjourned to a date to be set for its decision, a court official said Wednesday.

Court media liaison officer Reach Sambath said the hearing involving former Democratic Kampuchea Social Affairs minister Ieng Thirith, would give a verdict at a date yet to be set.

The day-long hearing heard three prosecution lawyers for victims argue that Thirith, 76, should not be released so close to national elections scheduled for July because it could cause public disorder.

The defence argued that Thirith had a mental illness which was being made worse while she was jailed awaiting charges of human rights abuses.

Thirith's sister, Khieu Ponnary, was married to the movement's leader Pol Pot but the marriage reportedly broke down over Ponnary's mental health problems. Ponnary died of natural causes in 2003.

Former Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot died at home in 1998.

Five former leaders face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes at the joint UN-Cambodian tribunal to prosecute leaders of the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, under which up to 2-million Cambodians died.

Court spokesman Reach Sambath said the decision whether to grant bail had been suspended until a date yet to be set.

KRouge minister appears in Cambodia's genocide tribunal

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A former Khmer Rouge government minister, known as the "first lady," appeared for the first time Wednesday before Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Ieng Thirith, the former social affairs minister, was arrested last November along with her husband, Ieng Sary, the ex-foreign minister in the murderous regime that unleashed widespread horror in Cambodia.

Her lawyers are expected to appeal for her release, arguing that the 76-year-old is mentally ill. Court officials, however, have said doctors have deemed Ieng Thirith fit to stand trial.

She has rejected the charges against her as "100 percent false," claiming she was helping to repair hospitals and produce medicines during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

The court has said its suspects she is a flight risk and her detention is necessary to protect her against possible revenge attacks from Khmer Rouge victims, along with concerns about pressure on witnesses.

The intelligent daughter of a well-off judge studied literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, where she met her future husband in a ballroom in 1951.

After returning to Cambodia, the pair, along with Pol Pot and his wife Khieu Ponnary -- Ieng Thirith's older sister -- became the ideological centre of the nascent communist movement that decades later would sweep through Cambodia.

Up to two million people died from overwork, starvation, torture or execution under the Khmer Rouge as it sought to create an agrarian utopia. The joint Cambodia-UN tribunal was established in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling to try former Khmer Rouge senior officials for genocide and crimes against humanity. The trials of five surviving leaders detained by the court are expected to begin later this year.

Khmer Rouge head Pol Pot died in 1998.

Ieng Thirith's bail appeal hearing

Ieng Thirith, a former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister, front right, stands up with the others during a hearing Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thirith, facing charges of crimes against humanity before Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal, appealed for release from pretrial detention Wednesday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Ieng Thirith, former minister of social affairs of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, is helped by a police officer at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh May 21, 2008. Thirith, the wife of former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, made her first public appearance at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Ieng Thirith, former minister of social affairs of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, is helped by a police officer at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh May 21, 2008 . Thirith, the wife of former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, made her first public appearance at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Ieng Thirith, a former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister, sits with her arms folded in the dock during a hearing Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thirith, facing charges of crimes against humanity before Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal, appealed for release from pretrial detention Wednesday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Cambodians stand line to attend the hearing for Ieng Thirith, former minister of social affairs of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh May 21, 2008 . Thirith, the wife of former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, made her first public appearance at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Cambodians stand in line to attend the hearing for Ieng Thirith, former minister of social affairs of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh May 21, 2008 . Thirith, the wife of former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, made her first public appearance at the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Former Khmer Rouge government minister appeals her detention by Cambodian tribunal

Ieng Thirith, a former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister, looks on during a hearing Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thirith, facing charges of crimes against humanity before Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal, appealed for release from pretrial detention Wednesday. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

2008-05-21

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - A former Khmer Rouge government minister facing charges of crimes against humanity before Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal appealed for release from pretrial detention Wednesday .

Ieng Thirith, who was the Khmer Rouge social affairs minister, is among five suspects facing trial for their alleged roles in the regime's brutality. Her hearing was scheduled to last one day.

The tribunal seeks justice for atrocities committed by the ultra-communist group when it ruled Cambodia in 1975-79. Its radical policies caused the deaths of about 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

The Cambodian lawyer for the 76-year-old Ieng Thirith has cited a lack of evidence for detaining her and said she suffers from chronic illnesses, «both mental and physical,» that require constant medical treatment.

The suspect is the wife of Ieng Sary, who was the regime's deputy prime minister and foreign minister. He is also detained on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Ieng Thirith is also the sister-in-law of Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

In a detention order issued in November, the tribunal's investigating judges said Ieng Thirith is to be tried for supporting Khmer Rouge policies and practices that were «characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts.

She rejected the charges against her as «100 percent false,» according to the detention order.

She has denied responsibility for any criminal acts and said she worked at all times for the benefit of the people, according to an appeal filed in January by her lawyer, Phat Pouv Seang.

Ieng Thirith, who was among the first generation of female Cambodian intellectuals, studied English literature in Paris and worked as a professor after returning to Cambodia in 1957. Three years later, she founded a private English school in the capital, Phnom Penh.

She followed her husband into the jungle to flee government repression in 1965. Their communist movement later became a guerrilla force that toppled the pro-American government in 1975, turning the country in a vast slave-labor camp, anyone deemed bourgeois executed or imprisoned.

The husband and wife, who are held in separate cells, have been allowed to occasionally see each other in the presence of the detention guards, tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said Tuesday.

Former Khmer Rouge government minister to appeal her detention by Cambodian tribunal

2008-05-20

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - A former Khmer Rouge government minister facing charges of crimes against humanity will appeal for release from detention during a U.N.-assisted tribunal, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The tribunal, seeks justice for atrocities committed by the ultra-communist group when it ruled Cambodia in 1975-79.

Ieng Thirith, who was the Khmer Rouge social affairs minister, is among five suspects facing trial for their alleged roles in the regime's brutality. Its radical policies caused the deaths of about 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Reach Sambath, a tribunal spokesman, said the 75-year-old Ieng Thirith will appeal at a hearing Wednesday for release from a detention facility during the proceedings.

The lawyer cited lack of evidence for detaining Ieng Thirith and said she «suffers from a number of debilitating and chronic conditions, both mental and physical» that require constant medical treatment.

The suspect is the wife of Ieng Sary, who was the regime's deputy prime minister and foreign minister and is also detained on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Ieng Thirith is also the sister-in-law of to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

In a detention orders issued in November, the tribunal's investigating judges said Ieng Thirith is being tried for supporting Khmer Rouge policies and practices that were «characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts.

She has rejected the charges against her as «100 percent false,» according to the detention order.

She has denied responsibility for any criminal acts and said she worked at all times for the benefit of the people, according to an appeal filed in January by her lawyer, Phat Pouv Seang.

Ieng Thirith, who was among the first generation of female Cambodian intellectuals, studied English literature in Paris and worked as a professor after returning to Cambodia in 1957. Three years later she founded a private English school in the capital, Phnom Penh.

She followed her husband into the jungle to flee government repression in 1965. Their communist movement later became a guerrilla force that toppled the pro-American government in 1975, putting Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge into power and turning the country in a vast slave labor camp.

Date Set for Ieng Thirith Detention Appeal

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
12 May 2008

Jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Thirith, wife of Ieng Sary and former social affairs minister, will have her detention appeal heard before tribunal judges May 21, officials said.

Ieng Tirith 76, is charged with crimes against humanity. She was arrested Nov. 12, 2007, with Ieng Sary, in Phnom Penh.

Tribunal officials said a live camera feed will be in place for her May 21 hearing, which will determine whether she is kept in tribunal detention ahead of trial.

She has denied any wrongdoing as a minister of the regime, claiming she worked to help people and promising not to leave the country, destroy evidence or threaten witnesses if she is released on bail.