DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodia's war crimes tribunal ordered Thursday that proceedings against the former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister Ieng Thirith be halted and she be released from pre-trial detention.
The ruling effectively means that the movement's former First Lady, who has been found to be suffering from dementia, is now highly unlikely to stand trial. The decision to find her unfit was expected.
Ieng Thirith's trial was scheduled to commence Monday at the United Nations-backed court along with three other Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Court spokesman Lars Olsen said Ieng Thirith would be released from detention at the tribunal, where she has been held since 2007, 'as soon as practically possible' provided the prosecution does not appeal the ruling within 24 hours.
'The court has stayed proceedings against her, which means in theory if she regains fitness it could resume proceedings,' he said.
In August the tribunal heard medical evidence suggesting that Ieng Thirith was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. She was examined by a doctor and later by a team of psychiatrists.
In its statement ordering her unconditional release the tribunal said both sets of specialists 'had reached a consistent diagnosis of dementia most likely caused by Alzheimer's disease' and found Ieng Thirith would be unable to follow proceedings.
Alzheimer's is a progressively degenerative brain disease commonly associated with aging. It can lead to memory loss, confusion and mood swings.
Ieng Thirith's mental health has been a matter of speculation since her court outburst in early 2009 when she cursed those accusing her of crimes 'to the seventh circle of hell.'
Her sister, Khieu Ponnary, who was married to the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, suffered from schizophrenia and died in 2003.
The tribunal had charged the four surviving leaders of the ultra-Maoist movement with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They had all denied the charges.
The three remaining defendants have been ruled fit to stand trial. They are: Nuon Chea, known as Brother Number Two, and considered the movement's chief ideologue; former head of state Khieu Samphan; and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, who is married to Ieng Thirith.
The three are aged between 80 and 86, and suffer from various health problems.
In its first case the court last year sentenced the regime's security chief, Comrade Duch, to 30 years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Duch appealed his conviction in March. Earlier on Thursday the tribunal said it would deliver its ruling on Duch's appeal on February 3 next year.
The tribunal estimated that 1.7 million to 2.2 million people died in less than four years of rule by the Khmer Rouge, which emptied the cities as it advocated a rural, agrarian society. It said 800,000 of those deaths were violent with the rest attributed to overwork, starvation and illness.
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