- Title: File of former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea ahead of his final statement in court
- Date: 20th June 2017
- Summary: PAILIN, CAMBODIA (FILE - JULY 27, 2003) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** NUON CHEA PUTTING BALLOT PAPER IN BOX, HAVING FINGER DIPPED IN INK NUON CHEA SHOWING INKED FINGER NUON CHEA LEAVING NUON CHEA GETTING INTO CAR In July 2003, Nuon Chea was seen casting his vote in Cambodia's general elections, in the last Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin, near the border with Thailand.
- Embargoed: 4th July 2017 08:58
- Keywords: Cambodia Pol Pot genocide court United Nations Khmer Rouge trial verdict Nuon Chea ECCC crimes against humanity
- 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: LVA0056M7ZUIT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On Friday (June 23), Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge Chief Pol Pot's right-hand man, often known as "Brother Number Two" 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.
Nuon Chea, now 90, 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. He is believed to be the one most responsible for the deaths of the regime's victims.
In August, 2014, Nuon Chea and former President Khieu Samphan 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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