By Suy Se
Agence France-Presse
PHNOM PENH -- Cambodian police and officials from a UN-backed genocide court arrived on Monday at the house of Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary, ahead of his possible arrest, authorities said.
"We had to close the road," said an Interior Ministry police officer, who also threatened to confiscate the cameras of nearby journalists.
Shortly before 6:00 a.m. a convoy of about 10 vehicles, including Khmer Rouge tribunal staff cars, drew up outside Ieng Sary's villa in the capital Phnom Penh, where he has lived since defecting to the government in the mid-1990s.
Large numbers of military police sealed off roads leading to the property, while tribunal officials were seen entering Ieng Sary's house, which he shares with his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as Khmer Rouge social affairs minister.
Ieng Sary, a French-educated communist who emerged as the public face of the secretive Khmer Rouge as the regime's foreign minister, is likely one of five former top cadre under investigation for crimes committed under the regime.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, during the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, schools and currency, and exiled millions to vast farms in its bid to create an agrarian utopia.
Regime leader Pol Pot died in 1998. His deputy Nuon Chea and Duch, who oversaw the notorious Tuol Sleng torture centre, have already been detained by the tribunal to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court got under way last year after a decade of negotiations between the UN and Cambodian government.
Trials are expected in 2008 amid concern that some of the defendants could die before ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.
Ieng Sary, 78, suffers from a variety of ailments, including heart trouble, and has frequently traveled to Bangkok for medical treatment.
Despite receiving a royal pardon for a 1979 genocide conviction after his surrender to the government in 1996, legal experts say Ieng Sary could still be tried on other charges.
During the Khmer Rouge's rule, Ieng Sary convinced many educated Cambodians who had fled the country to return.
They were then caught up in the wholesale purge and slaughter of intellectuals, many of them diplomats taken from Ieng Sary's foreign ministry with his knowledge.
Ieng Sary was the only former top regime cadre to continue playing an open political role after his defection, founding the Democratic National Unity Movement, or DNUM, a political organization with a minor following in former rebel areas.
He also reportedly amassed a fortune, living in his spacious Phnom Penh home while also owning other properties throughout the capital.
"We had to close the road," said an Interior Ministry police officer, who also threatened to confiscate the cameras of nearby journalists.
Shortly before 6:00 a.m. a convoy of about 10 vehicles, including Khmer Rouge tribunal staff cars, drew up outside Ieng Sary's villa in the capital Phnom Penh, where he has lived since defecting to the government in the mid-1990s.
Large numbers of military police sealed off roads leading to the property, while tribunal officials were seen entering Ieng Sary's house, which he shares with his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as Khmer Rouge social affairs minister.
Ieng Sary, a French-educated communist who emerged as the public face of the secretive Khmer Rouge as the regime's foreign minister, is likely one of five former top cadre under investigation for crimes committed under the regime.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, during the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, schools and currency, and exiled millions to vast farms in its bid to create an agrarian utopia.
Regime leader Pol Pot died in 1998. His deputy Nuon Chea and Duch, who oversaw the notorious Tuol Sleng torture centre, have already been detained by the tribunal to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court got under way last year after a decade of negotiations between the UN and Cambodian government.
Trials are expected in 2008 amid concern that some of the defendants could die before ever seeing the inside of a courtroom.
Ieng Sary, 78, suffers from a variety of ailments, including heart trouble, and has frequently traveled to Bangkok for medical treatment.
Despite receiving a royal pardon for a 1979 genocide conviction after his surrender to the government in 1996, legal experts say Ieng Sary could still be tried on other charges.
During the Khmer Rouge's rule, Ieng Sary convinced many educated Cambodians who had fled the country to return.
They were then caught up in the wholesale purge and slaughter of intellectuals, many of them diplomats taken from Ieng Sary's foreign ministry with his knowledge.
Ieng Sary was the only former top regime cadre to continue playing an open political role after his defection, founding the Democratic National Unity Movement, or DNUM, a political organization with a minor following in former rebel areas.
He also reportedly amassed a fortune, living in his spacious Phnom Penh home while also owning other properties throughout the capital.
7 comments:
Why not Sihaknuk and Monique?
Arrest Sihanouk and clique now.He will run to Beijing any day.
Chhim
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.
Satouk! All needs to go and could not agree more.
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.
Svp, ordre d'issue pour arrêter le président de la FUNC&GRUNC et FONCTIONNEL et leur patron.
Good, keep the trial moving. If we got good evidences against him, let's get started before we run out of fund, or before the guy Ieng Sary croaks on us.
Post a Comment