Former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary, right, and his wife Ieng Thirith, left, arrive at a polling station in Pailin in this July 26, 1998 file photo. Police entered the home of Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, early Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, in an apparent move to arrest him for trial before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Police entered the home of the former foreign minister of the communist Khmer Rouge regime early Monday in an apparent move to arrest him for trial before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal.
Police cordoned off the street outside Ieng Sary's Phnom Penh home at about 5:30 a.m. Police officers and tribunal officials moved into the house at about 6 a.m., the earliest permissible time for arrests under tribunal rules.
Police forced reporters away from the entrance to the house, and the tribunal's public affairs chief, Helen Jarvis, declined to comment on the development. An Associated Press reporter saw at least one tribunal official who had taken part in the arrest of a previous suspect in September accompanying the police party.
Ieng Sary's arrest has been widely anticipated as one of five unnamed suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors. Two have already been taken into custody.
The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who held power in 1975-79, are widely believed to have resulted in the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders have faced trial.
Ieng Sary, 77, was not available for comment. But like other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, he has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes.
The tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
Critics have warned that the aging suspects could die before ever seeing a courtroom.
Ieng Sary served as a deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister in the Khmer Rouge regime. His wife, who served as minister of social affairs, is seen as another likely target of the prosecutors.
Ieng Sary, "promoted, instigated, facilitated, encouraged and/or condoned the perpetration of the crimes" when the Khmer Rouge held power, according to a July 18 filing by the prosecutors to the tribunal's judges, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
It said there was evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in crimes included planning, directing and coordinating the Khmer Rouge "policies of forcible transfer, forced labor and unlawful killings."
"I have done nothing wrong," Ieng Sary told The Associated Press in October in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was visiting for a medical checkup.
"I am a gentle person. I believe in good deeds. I even made good deeds to save several people's lives (during the regime). But let them (the tribunal) find what the truth is," he said.
The alleged crimes of his wife, Ieng Thirith, who is believed to be 75, included her participation in "planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges ... and unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the Ministry of Social Affairs," the prosecutors' filing said.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and his former military chief, Ta Mok, died in 2006 in government custody.
Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge S-21 torture center, were detained earlier this year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Police cordoned off the street outside Ieng Sary's Phnom Penh home at about 5:30 a.m. Police officers and tribunal officials moved into the house at about 6 a.m., the earliest permissible time for arrests under tribunal rules.
Police forced reporters away from the entrance to the house, and the tribunal's public affairs chief, Helen Jarvis, declined to comment on the development. An Associated Press reporter saw at least one tribunal official who had taken part in the arrest of a previous suspect in September accompanying the police party.
Ieng Sary's arrest has been widely anticipated as one of five unnamed suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors. Two have already been taken into custody.
The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who held power in 1975-79, are widely believed to have resulted in the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders have faced trial.
Ieng Sary, 77, was not available for comment. But like other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, he has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes.
The tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
Critics have warned that the aging suspects could die before ever seeing a courtroom.
Ieng Sary served as a deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister in the Khmer Rouge regime. His wife, who served as minister of social affairs, is seen as another likely target of the prosecutors.
Ieng Sary, "promoted, instigated, facilitated, encouraged and/or condoned the perpetration of the crimes" when the Khmer Rouge held power, according to a July 18 filing by the prosecutors to the tribunal's judges, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
It said there was evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in crimes included planning, directing and coordinating the Khmer Rouge "policies of forcible transfer, forced labor and unlawful killings."
"I have done nothing wrong," Ieng Sary told The Associated Press in October in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was visiting for a medical checkup.
"I am a gentle person. I believe in good deeds. I even made good deeds to save several people's lives (during the regime). But let them (the tribunal) find what the truth is," he said.
The alleged crimes of his wife, Ieng Thirith, who is believed to be 75, included her participation in "planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges ... and unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the Ministry of Social Affairs," the prosecutors' filing said.
Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and his former military chief, Ta Mok, died in 2006 in government custody.
Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge S-21 torture center, were detained earlier this year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
7 comments:
Why not Sihaknuk and Monique,it is not fair!
No, I don't agree! You are not the Tribunal. Let the tribunal do its work!
Nuon Chea or Camarade Rat Samoeun said ECCC should arrest these camarade too:
Camarade Hor Nam Hong, Keat Chhon, Soc Anh, Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, Chea Sim Hor Nam Hong and much more, are the members of Khmer Vietminh (Ah Kbal yuon Khluon Khmer) or Ah khmer-Yuon formed 1951 and 1954 that's the real Hanoi servants.
They Must be summoned by the KRT and they will be arrested as Duch, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith.
Otherwise, KRT conducting unfair trail or bias of political partism.
Because, They are all Khmer Rouge, to be fair.(si kuy teav tieng oss khnea ouy 2-3 neak chenh loy mdech kert?)
Ta Mok, quietly told some people before he died, saying Soc Anh is yuon srok Kirivong since vietminh control the area in 1968. Whom now Hun Sen's Master mind.
ECCC Must be summoned and ARREST
Sihanouk and Monica as soon as posible. Because, they are the King and Qeen of Khmer Rouge and Vietcong.
YES, SIHANOUK AND MONIQUE NEED TO BE TRIALED ALSO. THEY'RE BOTH PLAYING A PART OF THE KILLING.
Okay, but only if you are willing to send us $30 big "M" fist.
Let the king walk along the street; so the people just hit him with their sandle. No need the court for his criminal and Yuon slave.
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