Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal to hold 1st courtroom hearing on detention appeal

Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal to hold 1st courtroom hearing on detention appeal

The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia 's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal was set to open its doors Tuesday for its first open courtroom appearance of a Khmer Rouge suspect, a milestone in the long delayed process of seeking accountability for the regime's brutal 1970s rule.

Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who headed the former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison in the capital, Phnom Penh , was scheduled to appear at a hearing to appeal his detention — a preliminary step that comes months before actual trials will begin.

The hearing comes just a day after former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan was arrested and charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Three other former colleagues of Duch have been arrested over the past few months. The tribunal is preparing for trials almost three decades after the regime fell from power, with many observers fearing the aging suspects might die before they ever see a courtroom.

The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Duch was charged in July with crimes against humanity. He was the first of five aging Khmer Rouge leaders to be detained ahead of trials that are supposed to start in 2008.

Peter Foster, a tribunal spokesman, said the Duch's hearing should help erase critics' doubts that the tribunal would never materialize. The U.N.-assisted tribunal was created last year after seven years of contentious negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia .

"It is easily considered a milestone. The spotlight will now be on Cambodia ," Foster said. "It's a big day."

More than 500 people were expected to attend Duch's hearing, where the defense team will argue that his previous detention of eight years without trial was unlawful. Before being transferred to the custody of the tribunal, Duch had been held in a Cambodian prison on war crime charges since his arrest on May 10, 1999.

In a detention order in July, the tribunal's investigating judges denied a request by Duch's attorneys to release him. The judges said they have no jurisdiction to determine the legality of Duch's previous detention.

They also argued that his current detention by the tribunal will ensure his appearance at trial and protect him from any violent revenge for the crimes he is accused of.

Last week, authorities arrested Ieng Sary, the Khmer Rouge's ex-foreign minister, and his wife Ieng Thirith, its social affairs minister.

Both were charged with crimes against humanity; Ieng Sary was also charged with war crimes.

Former Khmer Rouge ideologist Nuon Chea was detained in September on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Police arrested Khieu Samphan, 76, at a Phnom Penh hospital Monday where he had been undergoing treatment since last week after suffering a stroke.

Khieu Samphan later was "formally charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes" during his appearance before the co-investigating judges, said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.

Khieu Samphan's defense team will include French lawyer Jacques Verges, the tribunal's defense support section said in a statement. Verges' previous clients include Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal, Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.