Khmer Rouge Ex-Head of State Has Stroke
By SOPHENG CHEANG
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 13, 2007; 8:56 AM
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state
whose arrest by a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has been widely anticipated,
suffered a stroke Tuesday, said his daughter and a neighbor.
Khieu Samphan's daughter in Phnom Penh, Khieu Rattana, said she learned
about her father's stroke in a call from her sister in Pailin, the former
Khmer Rouge guerrilla stronghold in northwestern Cambodia where her parents
live.
He was stricken just a day after two of his colleagues in the 1970s Khmer
Rouge regime were arrested by the tribunal.
Ieng Sary, the group's foreign minister, and his wife Ieng Thirith, the
social affairs minister, were both charged with crimes against humanity.
Ieng Sary was also charged with war crimes.
Khieu Rattana said family and local doctors were gathering at the house to
tend to their father, who is believed to be 76 years old.
A neighbor, who asked not to be named in order to maintain good relations
with the family, said Khieu Samphan spoke only with difficulty, making his
words hard to understand.
The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million
people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's
leaders has yet faced trial.
The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of
contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
The arrests of the Khmer Rouge suspects have come almost three decades after
the group fell from power, with many fearing the aging suspects might die
before they ever see a courtroom. Trials are expected to begin next year.
Four have been arrested so far, including Ieng Sary and his wife.
According to prosecutors' documents made available to The Associated Press,
the fifth suspect they are seeking to charge is Khieu Samphan.
Ieng Sary and his wife said they do not have the means to pay for their
legal fees, the tribunal's defense support section said in a statement
Tuesday, adding that they were seeking financial aid for their legal
defense. It also said they were in the process of assembling their defense
team.
Rupert Skilbeck, the head of the section, said the U.N. will pay legal fees
for all defendants until the end of this year. It is assessing the
defendants' financial situations to decide whether or not to continue
helping them.
Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith defected to the government in 1996 and have been
living in relative comfort since then. A tribunal document released this
week said he is 82 years old, and she is 75.
People familiar with their lifestyle say they are financially well-off. They
pointed to the villa the couple own in Phnom Penh, their Toyota Land Cruiser
and their ability to regularly travel by plane for medical treatment in
neighboring Thailand.
That they are able to live comfortably in terms of their spending, travel
and property makes their claims of destitution "laughable" and "ludicrous,"
said Theary Seng, director of the Cambodian nonprofit group Center for
Social Development.
"Why don't they sell their villa" to finance their legal fees, Youk Chhang,
director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, wondered out loud. His
group researches Khmer Rouge atrocities.
© 2007 The Associated Press
By SOPHENG CHEANG
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 13, 2007; 8:56 AM
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state
whose arrest by a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has been widely anticipated,
suffered a stroke Tuesday, said his daughter and a neighbor.
Khieu Samphan's daughter in Phnom Penh, Khieu Rattana, said she learned
about her father's stroke in a call from her sister in Pailin, the former
Khmer Rouge guerrilla stronghold in northwestern Cambodia where her parents
live.
He was stricken just a day after two of his colleagues in the 1970s Khmer
Rouge regime were arrested by the tribunal.
Ieng Sary, the group's foreign minister, and his wife Ieng Thirith, the
social affairs minister, were both charged with crimes against humanity.
Ieng Sary was also charged with war crimes.
Khieu Rattana said family and local doctors were gathering at the house to
tend to their father, who is believed to be 76 years old.
A neighbor, who asked not to be named in order to maintain good relations
with the family, said Khieu Samphan spoke only with difficulty, making his
words hard to understand.
The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million
people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's
leaders has yet faced trial.
The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of
contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.
The arrests of the Khmer Rouge suspects have come almost three decades after
the group fell from power, with many fearing the aging suspects might die
before they ever see a courtroom. Trials are expected to begin next year.
Four have been arrested so far, including Ieng Sary and his wife.
According to prosecutors' documents made available to The Associated Press,
the fifth suspect they are seeking to charge is Khieu Samphan.
Ieng Sary and his wife said they do not have the means to pay for their
legal fees, the tribunal's defense support section said in a statement
Tuesday, adding that they were seeking financial aid for their legal
defense. It also said they were in the process of assembling their defense
team.
Rupert Skilbeck, the head of the section, said the U.N. will pay legal fees
for all defendants until the end of this year. It is assessing the
defendants' financial situations to decide whether or not to continue
helping them.
Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith defected to the government in 1996 and have been
living in relative comfort since then. A tribunal document released this
week said he is 82 years old, and she is 75.
People familiar with their lifestyle say they are financially well-off. They
pointed to the villa the couple own in Phnom Penh, their Toyota Land Cruiser
and their ability to regularly travel by plane for medical treatment in
neighboring Thailand.
That they are able to live comfortably in terms of their spending, travel
and property makes their claims of destitution "laughable" and "ludicrous,"
said Theary Seng, director of the Cambodian nonprofit group Center for
Social Development.
"Why don't they sell their villa" to finance their legal fees, Youk Chhang,
director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, wondered out loud. His
group researches Khmer Rouge atrocities.
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