Monday, 11 February 2008

Khmer Rouge leader fit to face Cambodia's genocide tribunal

ABC, Radio Australia
10/02/2008

Detained Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary, one of five top cadres facing Cambodia's genocide tribunal, has returned to custody after being hospitalised for about a week.

The 82-year-old former Khmer Rouge foreign minister was sent to hospital on Monday after he began urinating blood, but was back in custody on Saturday. said .

Reach Sambath, spokesman for the UN-backed tribunal, says Ieng Sary "is now in good health".

Ieng Sary has suffered from deteriorating health since his arrest last November, together with his wife Ieng Thirith.

The pair were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in the Khmer Rouge's brutal 1975-79 rule.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed by the Khmer Rouge, which dismantled modern Cambodian society in its effort to forge a radical agrarian utopia during its ultra-communist rule.

No comments: