Cambodia’s genocide tribunal on Friday rejected an appeal by the Khmer Rouge’s former foreign minister for his release from pretrial detention on charges of crimes against humanity and war atrocities.
Judge Prak Kim San rejected Ieng Sary’s appeal out of concern he could flee if released.
Peter Foster, a spokesman for the UN-assisted tribunal, said the judge’s ruling was also based on concerns that Ieng Sary could intimidate potential witnesses.
The tribunal is seeking to establish accountability for an estimated 1.7 million deaths and other atrocities under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime.
Ieng Sary, 82, is one of five former senior members of the ultra-communist regime detained by the tribunal.
His wife, Ieng Thirith, the former social affairs minister, is also detained on charges of crimes against humanity.
During a hearing in July, defense attorneys argued that Ieng Sary should be released because of ill health and the possibility that a prosecution would constitute double jeopardy — being judged twice for the same crime.
Ieng Sary was condemned to death by a tribunal under a communist government installed by Vietnamese troops after they toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. That tribunal was a show trial with no real defense.
Former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk pardoned Ieng Sary in 1996 as a reward for leading thousands of his fellow guerrillas to join the government, a move that foreshadowed the Khmer Rouge’s final collapse in 1999 and brought an end to the country’s civil war.
The pardon once threatened to derail negotiations between the Cambodia and the UN on establishing the tribunal.
After years of difficult talks, the two sides agreed on a tribunal pact in 2003 which contains a clause preventing the government from seeking “amnesty or pardon for any persons who may be investigated for or convicted of crimes” during Khmer Rouge rule.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition