- Title: File of former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea ahead of appeal verdict
- Date: 22nd November 2016
- Summary: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (FILE - DECEMBER 29, 1998) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** NUON CHEA (FIRST MAN IN LINE, WEARING DOTTED BLACK AND WHITE JACKET) AND KHIEU SAMPHAN ARRIVING FOR A NEWS CONFERENCE KHIEU SAMPHAN (CENTRE) AND NUON CHEA (RIGHT) SEATED NUON CHEA LOOKING ON At a news conference after arriving in Phnom Penh, Nuon Chea sits beside Khieu Samphan as he issues an apology. In English, Khieu Samphan tells reporters "yes, sorry, very sorry." It was the first public apology by Khmer Rouge officials since the 1970s reign of terror. PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (FILE - DECEMBER 28, 1998) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUM MUSEUM SIGN HALL LEADING TO FORMER PRISON CELLS
- Embargoed: 7th December 2016 04:19
- Keywords: Cambodia Nuon Chea trial United Nations court verdict Khmer Rouge genocide crimes against humanity Pol Pot ECCC
- Location: PAILIN AND PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
- City: PAILIN AND PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
- Country: Cambodia
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA00359IZCJP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
A U.N.-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh on Wednesday (November 23) is due to hand down the verdict on an appeal by one of Cambodia's surviving former Khmer Rouge cadres who was found guilty of crimes against humanity two years ago.
In August, 2014, Nuon Chea and former President Khieu Samphan of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime were sentenced to life in jail by the same tribunal.
Of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, Nuon Chea is believed to be the one most responsible for the deaths of the Cambodian regime's estimated 2.2 million victims.
He is often known as "Brother Number Two", or Khmer Rouge Chief Pol Pot's right-hand man.
Nuon Chea was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge's name for Cambodia, in 1960, a position that put him in charge of party and state security.
This included Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 interrogation and torture centre set up at the capital's Tuol Sleng high school.
On Jan 5, 1979, two days before the Vietnamese army overran Phnom Penh, Nuon Chea ordered S-21 chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Brother Duch, who has also been charged with crimes against humanity, to kill all remaining prisoners.
Despite Duch's compliance, seven people are known to have survived. Along with Duch, they have been key witnesses at Nuon Chea's trial.
Duch was also given a life sentence for his role in torturing and executing 14,000 people at the prison.
Born around 1923, Nuon Chea grew up in the northwestern province of Battambang. His family is thought to have had Chinese ancestry.
Like many Khmer Rouge leaders, he used a number of aliases throughout his life, including Long Rith, Nuon, Second Brother and Grand Uncle.
Unlike many of Pol Pot's inner circle, Nuon Chea did not study in Paris. Instead, he read law at Bangkok's prestigious Thammasat University, where he became a member of the Thai Communist Party.
After cutting a deal with the Cambodian government in December 1998, Nuon Chea lived in a small wooden house in forests along the Thai border until his 2007 arrest. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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