Former Khmer Rouge leaders on trial

The United Nations war crimes tribunal on Friday commenced the second phase of the trial of two ailing former senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea, also known as Khmer Rouge, charges of genocide.

Nuon Chea, 88, known as "Brother Number 2", the chief ideologue of the former Communist Party of Kampuchea, and Khieu Samphan, 83, Democratic Kampuchea's former head of state, were among the few surviving leaders of the government that was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, overwork, torture, execution, and massacre from 1975 to 1979.

The two defendants appeared in the courtroom during the hearing.

"The defendants are accused of genocide of Muslim Cham and Vietnamese ethnic minorities, forced marriages and rape, treatment of Buddhists, and internal purges during the regime from 1975 to 1979," the tribunal's president Nil Nonn said.

The UN-backed tribunal split the cases into two trials for fear that Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea could die before any proceedings against them could be completed.

In addition to genocide against minorities, the second trial will address for the first time accusations of rape and forced marriages.

It will show that Cambodians at the cooperatives and work sites were "enslaved and subjected to inhumane conditions that led to countless deaths from starvation, overwork and disease", Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang told the court, as the two accused sat silently.

During the hearing, the co-prosecutors will be afforded an opportunity to make a brief opening statement and the accused persons and their lawyers may respond briefly, before the first witness will be called to testify on Oct 27.

According to the tribunal's schedule, the duration of the initial segment of the evidentiary proceedings in the second phase is from Oct 17 until Dec 18. The chamber will sit three days each week.

It is the second case for the two defendants, who have already received life sentences from the tribunal for alleged crimes against humanity related to the forced movement of the population from Phnom Penh in April 1975 and the alleged execution of Khmer Republic soldiers. They have appealed against the guilty verdicts.

Launched in 2006, the UN-backed tribunal is seeking justice for the victims of the Democratic Kampuchea government from 1975 to 1979.

Xinhua - AP

(China Daily 10/18/2014 page11)