File of former Khmer Rouge President Khieu Samphan ahead of his final statement in court

Record ID: 896447

  • Title: File of former Khmer Rouge President Khieu Samphan ahead of his final statement in court
  • Date: 20th June 2017
  • Summary: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (FILE - DECEMBER 29, 1998) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF KHIEU SAMPHAN ARRIVING TO MEET PRINCE NORODOM RANARIDDH PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (FILE - DECEMBER 29, 1998) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) 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 KHIEU SAMPHAN SAYING (English): "YES, SORRY, VERY SORRY" At a news conference after arriving in Phnom Penh, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea issued a public apology for the first time since the 1970s reign of terror. He, along with Nuon Chea, later returned to Pailin after it became clear the government might not protect them from trial. In 2007, they were arrested and charged by a U.N.-backed tribunal for crimes against humanity. They would appear numerous times in front of the court over the next few years. The court, operated jointly by Cambodia and the United Nations, was set up in 2005 with the aim of trying "those most responsible" for the bloodshed.
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2017 09:13
  • Keywords: Khieu Samphan Cambodia Pol Pot genocide court United Nations Khmer Rouge trial verdict U.N. crimes against humanity
  • Location: UNKNOWN LOCATION / PAILIN / PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • City: UNKNOWN LOCATION / PAILIN / PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA0056M7ZTQD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:On Friday (June 23), former Khmer Rouge President Khieu Samphan is set to make his closing statement at the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia in the second trial against him on charges of crimes against humanity, genocide, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
    About 1.8 million people were killed during the 1975-1979 rule of Pol Pot's ultra-communist Khmer Rouge, from torture, execution, disease and starvation after harvests failed.
    Most of the victims of the Khmer Rouge died of starvation, torture, exhaustion or disease in labour camps or were bludgeoned to death during mass executions. Pol Pot, "Brother Number One," died in 1998.
    Khieu Samphan, now 85, was at the apex of power within the regime. The French-educated guerilla leader has expressed regret over the years since the regime's fall, but has maintained that he was only a figurehead and knew nothing about the atrocities committed.
    In August, 2014, he and Pol Pot's right hand man Nuon Chea were sentenced to life in jail by the same tribunal in the first trial for crimes against humanity, murder, persecution on political grounds and other inhumane acts over the forced evacuation of the capital, Phnom Penh, after the fall of the city in 1975.
    The appeals court upheld their sentences in November last year after the defendants appealed.
    The second trial, which commenced on October 17, 2014, was held to hear additional charges including genocide against the Cham ethnic minority and the Vietnamese, forced marriages and rape, internal purges, among others.
    The tribunal, which officially started in 2006 that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, has been plagued by infighting, political interference, resignations and funding shortages since it was set up.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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