Ex-Khmer Rouge officials charged
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
PHNOM PENH, Nov 12 (Agencies): Ieng Sary, who served as foreign minister in Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime, and his wife were formally charged with crimes against humanity by the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, the court said Tuesday. Ieng Sary was charged additionally with war crimes, the tribunal said in a statement.
He and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as the regime's social affairs minister, said they needed time to prepare their defense and asked that their pretrial detention hearing be delayed until Wednesday. They would be held in police custody until then, the statement said.
The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge are widely blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders
has faced trial yet, though four people have been arrested by the tribunal.
The arrests Monday came almost three decades after the Khmer Rouge fell from power, with many fearing the aging suspects might die before they ever see a courtroom. Trials are expected to begin next year.
The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
Ieng Sary and his wife were members of the inner circle of the communist ruling group, French-educated like its charismatic leader, the late Pol Pot.
He and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served as the regime's social affairs minister, said they needed time to prepare their defense and asked that their pretrial detention hearing be delayed until Wednesday. They would be held in police custody until then, the statement said.
The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge are widely blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders
has faced trial yet, though four people have been arrested by the tribunal.
The arrests Monday came almost three decades after the Khmer Rouge fell from power, with many fearing the aging suspects might die before they ever see a courtroom. Trials are expected to begin next year.
The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
Ieng Sary and his wife were members of the inner circle of the communist ruling group, French-educated like its charismatic leader, the late Pol Pot.