Ex-Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Detained

Khmer Rouge dissident leader Ieng Sary gestures during a press
conference at Division 450, Phnom Malai, northwestern Cambodia, in this
Sept. 9, 1996 file photo. Police entered the home of the former foreign
minister of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, Ieng Sary, early Monday, Nov.
12, 2007 in an apparent move to arrest him for trial before Cambodia's
U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, witnesses said. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Ex-Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Detained
By KER MUNTHIT - 15 minutes ago

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Police detained the former foreign minister of
the Khmer Rouge regime and took him by convoy to Cambodia's U.N.-assisted
genocide tribunal Monday for prosecution.

Police entered Ieng Sary's home at dawn, and later put him into a car that
was part of a 10-vehicle convoy headed to tribunal offices. An Associated
Press reporter saw Ieng Sary arriving at tribunal offices later in the
morning.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith,
had been brought to court according to a warrant issued by the tribunal, but
he gave no details of the charges they faced.

Ieng Sary's arrest had been widely anticipated as one of five unnamed
suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors. Two have already been taken
into custody.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information.
AP's earlier story is below.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Police entered the home of the former foreign
minister of the communist Khmer Rouge regime early Monday in an apparent
move to arrest him for trial before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide
tribunal.

Police cordoned off the street outside Ieng Sary's Phnom Penh home at about
5:30 a.m. Police officers and tribunal officials moved into the house at
about 6 a.m., the earliest permissible time for arrests under tribunal
rules.

Police forced reporters away from the entrance to the house, and the
tribunal's public affairs chief, Helen Jarvis, declined to comment on the
development. An Associated Press reporter saw at least one tribunal official
who had taken part in the arrest of a previous suspect in September
accompanying the police party.

Ieng Sary's arrest has been widely anticipated as one of five unnamed
suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors. Two have already been taken
into custody.

The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who held power in
1975-79, are widely believed to have resulted in the deaths of some 1.7
million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the
group's leaders have faced trial.

Ieng Sary, 77, was not available for comment. But like other surviving Khmer
Rouge leaders, he has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes.

The tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious
negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.

Critics have warned that the aging suspects could die before ever seeing a
courtroom.

Ieng Sary served as a deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister in
the Khmer Rouge regime. His wife, who served as minister of social affairs,
is seen as another likely target of the prosecutors.

Ieng Sary, "promoted, instigated, facilitated, encouraged and/or condoned
the perpetration of the crimes" when the Khmer Rouge held power, according
to a July 18 filing by the prosecutors to the tribunal's judges, a copy of
which was obtained by The Associated Press.

It said there was evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in crimes included
planning, directing and coordinating the Khmer Rouge "policies of forcible
transfer, forced labor and unlawful killings."

"I have done nothing wrong," Ieng Sary told The Associated Press in October
in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was visiting for a medical checkup.

"I am a gentle person. I believe in good deeds. I even made good deeds to
save several people's lives (during the regime). But let them (the tribunal)
find what the truth is," he said.

The alleged crimes of his wife, Ieng Thirith, who is believed to be 75,
included her participation in "planning, direction, coordination and
ordering of widespread purges ... and unlawful killing or murder of staff
members from within the Ministry of Social Affairs," the prosecutors' filing
said.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and his former military chief, Ta
Mok, died in 2006 in government custody.

Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav, also known
as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge S-21 torture center, were detained
earlier this year on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.