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Cambodia

Khmer Rouge trial set for 27 June

Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes tribunal has set 27 June as the start of the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide and other crimes in the 1970s.

Reuters
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The four defendants are “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, the second-in-command under Pol Pot, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, his wife and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith and former head of state Khieu Samphan.

The charges against the defendants, who have been held since 2007 in a special detention centre, are war crimes, crimes against humanity and related crimes under Cambodian law. They also face charges of genocide of Vietnamese and Cham Muslims.

The alleged crimes took place under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime, which has been accused of causing about two million deaths.

Pol Pot, known as “Brother Number One”, was put under house arrest by a faction of his own movement in 1997 and died a year later without facing trial.

The defendants are aged between 79 and 85 and are refusing to cooperate with the court, meaning that some or all of them may not be alive to hear the verdict, which is not expected before 2013.

The tribunal sentenced Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, to 30 years in prison last July. Duch ran the Tuol Sleng detention centre in Phnom Penh.

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