Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary looks on during a hearing Monday, June 30, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ieng Sary appeared before Cambodia's genocide tribunal Monday to press for his release from pretrial detention. (AP Photo/Prin Samnang, POOL)
Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, center, is helped by security guards as he stands up in the dock while judges come into the courtroom for a hearing Monday, June 30, 2008, at the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ieng Sary appeared before Cambodia's genocide tribunal Monday to press for his release from pretrial detention. (AP Photo/Prin Samnang, POOL)By KER MUNTHIT
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Lawyers for the former foreign minister of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge argued Monday that he should be freed from pre-trial detention by the country's genocide tribunal because of ill health.
The United Nations-assisted court has charged Ieng Sary, 82, with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The hearing on his appeal was adjourned early at the request of the defendant, who said he did not feel well enough to continue. It was set to continue Tuesday.
Ieng Sary is one of five defendants being held by the tribunal, which plans to hold its first trial later this year. His wife, 76-year-old Ieng Thirith, who served as the Khmer Rouge's social affairs minister, is among those being held on charges of crimes against humanity.
The tribunal, jointly run by Cambodian and international personnel, is attempting to establish accountability for atrocities committed by the communist group when it ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
The group's radical policies resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
Dressed in a light-blue, long-sleeved shirt, the 82-year-old Ieng Sary was visibly infirm. Guards had to help him sit and stand up in his first courtroom appearance since his arrest last year.
Ieng Sary's defense team demanded that he be placed under either house arrest or protective hospitalization and undergo proper psychiatric examination to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
Ieng Sary's "weak physical and mental capacity" makes him unable to fully assist his lawyers, Michael Karnavas, an American lawyer from Alaska, told the court.
"That's one of our primary issues here — the ability to follow proceedings. We cannot go forward on this very critical issue" relating to Ieng Sary's right to a fair trial, Karnavas said.
"A more robust individual could exercise all of his rights whereas someone who is not as robust, be it physical or mental, will have less," he said.
In their detention order in November, the new tribunal's investigating judges said Ieng Sary is being prosecuted for supporting Khmer Rouge policies that were "characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts such as forcible transfers of the population, enslavement and forced labor."
Ieng Sary has dismissed the charges as "unacceptable" and demanded evidence to support them, according to court documents.
Ieng Sary and his wife belonged to the inner circle of the Khmer Rouge and were in-laws of the movement's late leader.
When the hearing resumes Tuesday, the court will also consider whether its proceedings constitute double jeopardy, said Judge Prak Kimsan.
In many legal systems — including French law, upon which Cambodian law is based — you cannot prosecute a person a second time for a crime for which a judgment of guilt or innocence has already been rendered.
Ieng Sary was condemned to death in absentia by a communist government tribunal that was installed by Vietnamese troops after they toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The tribunal lacked credibility because it was conducted as a classic Soviet-style show trial, with no real effort to present a defense.
In 1996, Ieng Sary received a royal pardon from the sentence from former King Norodom Sihanouk as a reward for breaking away from the Khmer Rouge and leading his followers to join the government. The mutiny foreshadowed the group's three years later in 1999.
The pardon has not yet been tested in court.
It was mentioned on the agenda for Ieng Sary's appeal, but the question of double jeopardy was raised for the first time Monday by Karnavas. Whether the issue has any standing under the tribunal's rules and whether there is any merit has not yet been determined.
In addition to Ieng Sary and his wife, the three other suspects in custody awaiting trial are Khieu Samphan, the former head of state, Nuon Chea, the former chief ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav — also known as Duch — who headed the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture center.
The tribunal has said it plans to start Duch's trial in September.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Lawyers for the former foreign minister of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge argued Monday that he should be freed from pre-trial detention by the country's genocide tribunal because of ill health.
The United Nations-assisted court has charged Ieng Sary, 82, with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The hearing on his appeal was adjourned early at the request of the defendant, who said he did not feel well enough to continue. It was set to continue Tuesday.
Ieng Sary is one of five defendants being held by the tribunal, which plans to hold its first trial later this year. His wife, 76-year-old Ieng Thirith, who served as the Khmer Rouge's social affairs minister, is among those being held on charges of crimes against humanity.
The tribunal, jointly run by Cambodian and international personnel, is attempting to establish accountability for atrocities committed by the communist group when it ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
The group's radical policies resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.
Dressed in a light-blue, long-sleeved shirt, the 82-year-old Ieng Sary was visibly infirm. Guards had to help him sit and stand up in his first courtroom appearance since his arrest last year.
Ieng Sary's defense team demanded that he be placed under either house arrest or protective hospitalization and undergo proper psychiatric examination to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
Ieng Sary's "weak physical and mental capacity" makes him unable to fully assist his lawyers, Michael Karnavas, an American lawyer from Alaska, told the court.
"That's one of our primary issues here — the ability to follow proceedings. We cannot go forward on this very critical issue" relating to Ieng Sary's right to a fair trial, Karnavas said.
"A more robust individual could exercise all of his rights whereas someone who is not as robust, be it physical or mental, will have less," he said.
In their detention order in November, the new tribunal's investigating judges said Ieng Sary is being prosecuted for supporting Khmer Rouge policies that were "characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts such as forcible transfers of the population, enslavement and forced labor."
Ieng Sary has dismissed the charges as "unacceptable" and demanded evidence to support them, according to court documents.
Ieng Sary and his wife belonged to the inner circle of the Khmer Rouge and were in-laws of the movement's late leader.
When the hearing resumes Tuesday, the court will also consider whether its proceedings constitute double jeopardy, said Judge Prak Kimsan.
In many legal systems — including French law, upon which Cambodian law is based — you cannot prosecute a person a second time for a crime for which a judgment of guilt or innocence has already been rendered.
Ieng Sary was condemned to death in absentia by a communist government tribunal that was installed by Vietnamese troops after they toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The tribunal lacked credibility because it was conducted as a classic Soviet-style show trial, with no real effort to present a defense.
In 1996, Ieng Sary received a royal pardon from the sentence from former King Norodom Sihanouk as a reward for breaking away from the Khmer Rouge and leading his followers to join the government. The mutiny foreshadowed the group's three years later in 1999.
The pardon has not yet been tested in court.
It was mentioned on the agenda for Ieng Sary's appeal, but the question of double jeopardy was raised for the first time Monday by Karnavas. Whether the issue has any standing under the tribunal's rules and whether there is any merit has not yet been determined.
In addition to Ieng Sary and his wife, the three other suspects in custody awaiting trial are Khieu Samphan, the former head of state, Nuon Chea, the former chief ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav — also known as Duch — who headed the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture center.
The tribunal has said it plans to start Duch's trial in September.
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