CAMBODIA: Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Leng Thirith appears in court, for a preliminary hearing on whether the elderly ex-leaders are fit to stand trial

Record ID: 534177

  • Title: CAMBODIA: Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Leng Thirith appears in court, for a preliminary hearing on whether the elderly ex-leaders are fit to stand trial
  • Date: 20th October 2011
  • Summary: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (OCTOBER 19, 2011) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GETTING OUT OF COURT ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Khmer) 58-YEAR-OLD CIVIL PARTY MEMBER, SUM RITHY, SAYING: "We are from the civil party and we will believe the court's decision. If they decide that Ieng Thirith cannot participate in the trial, then I agree with that judgement. " (SOUNDBITE) (Khmer) 40-YEAR-OLD VILLAGER FRO
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cambodia, Cambodia
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA89G1MAVMJ51JKMHTYHJE2PXCP
  • Story Text: The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts Of Cambodia (ECCC), a UN-backed court, held a preliminary hearing for former Khmer Rouge commander Ieng Thirith, on Wednesday (October 19).
    The hearing was to determine whether the elderly ex-leaders of the ultra-communist regime were fit to stand trial.
    The four most senior surviving members of Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime will be put on trial for war crimes in November 21, three decades after its "year zero" revolution marked one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
    The court appointed four new health experts to assess whether former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith will be fit enough.
    An expert, John Campbell, was appointed by the Trial Chamber to conduct a medical assessment on the defendants' fitness in the previous hearing on fitness to stand trial on August 29 to 31.
    One of the presiding judges, Silvia Cartwright, called on Campbell to explain the tests.
    "You explained the sort of interview that you conducted with Ieng Thirith on three occasions over two days. It would be helpful if you could explain the tests and the assessments that you undertook," she said.
    One of the experts who conducted the tests said Ieng Thirith received a medium level score.
    "The scores that Ieng Thirith has from the first time is 15 marks and 18 from the second time so she is in the medium level for her cognition and concentration," said health expert Huot Lina.
    Survivors and residents from Kompong Speu province who attended the hearing, said they had faith in the judiciary.
    "We are from the civil party and we will believe the court's decision. If they decide that Ieng Thirith cannot participate in the trial, then I agree with that judgement," said civil party member, Sum Rithy.
    The civil party system is designed to give lay people an official role in providing testimony, questioning suspects and recommending reparations.
    Others said they would only allow the former Khmer Rouge leaders to escape trial if they were really unwell.
    "I would forgive her if she was really sick and cannot stand trial, but if she pretended to be ill to escape from the trial, then I would get really angry," a viilager from Kompong Speu province, Lim Sareun, said.
    Almost a quarter of Cambodia's population were wiped out under the Khmer Rouge through torture, execution, starvation and exhaustion.
    The defendants, all now elderly and infirm, were among the inner circle of the late Pol Pot, the French-educated architect of the Khmer Rouge's ultra-Maoist "Killing Fields" revolution that killed an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians from 1975-1979.
    The tribunal is seeking justice for those who perished from execution, overwork or torture during the Pol Pot regime.
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