By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal trying top leaders of the Khmer Rouge announced Thursday that one of the four defendants, a sister-in-law of the regime’s leader Pol Pot, is unfit to stand trial and should be unconditionally released because she suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
The defendant, Ieng Thirith, was minister for social affairs for the Khmer Rouge, which was responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. Opening statements are still scheduled for Monday in the cases of the other three defendants.
It was not immediately clear whether the tribunal’s announcement would be challenged by prosecutors.
Ieng Thirith is charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, homicide and other crimes for what the indictment said was her role in “planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges.”
“Although the trial chamber acknowledges the gravity of the crimes for which the accused is charged,” the court said in a statement, she “lacks capacity to understand proceedings against her or to meaningfully participate in her own defense.”
The other three defendants include her husband, Ieng Sary, the regime’s foreign minister; Nuon Chea, the party’s chief ideologue, and Khieu Samphan, the head of state. Pol Pot died in 1998 without being brought to trial.
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