The most senior surviving leader of Cambodia's infamous Khmer Rouge regime, accused of genocidal policies that led to the deaths of 1.7 million of his countrymen, declared his innocence yesterday as he prepared to face trial. | "Those were other bloody-handed henchpersons, yer Judgeship!" |
"I was president of the National Assembly and had nothing to do with the operation of the government," he said. "Sometimes I didn't know what they were doing because I was in the assembly. I will go to the court and don't care if people believe me or not." He was the chief ideologue for the communist Khmer Rouge when it held power in the late 1970s. Its ideology was largely responsible for the genocide. The prosecutors said the acts allegedly carried out by the five unnamed Khmer Rouge leaders "constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, homicide, torture and religious persecution".
Nuon Chea said: "I had no intention to kill my people. The tribunal should not rely solely on the law but on intention."
| "My heart, pure! My love for the children, unbounded! You could look it up!" |
"There are two kinds of war, one to protect your country, one where you invade another country," said Nuon Chea, in apparent reference to battles with Vietnam. "I was trying to protect my country."
He said there were more police than usual outside his house since Wednesday's announcement of the legal moves and he had to be careful what he said. "It happened 30 years ago and it's very difficult to remember. Some of them [tribunal members] never experienced that. They weren't there, how could they know what was going on?"
Marcel Lemonde, of France, one of the tribunal's co-investigating judges, declined to discuss when the suspects' names would be made public and when they might be arrested, though he indicated it could be soon.
Ros Saroeun, a 53-year-old taxi driver, reflecting the opinions of many Cambodians, said: "I am delighted they will be brought to trial. They caused the death of more than 30 of my relatives."
The late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 and his former military chief, Ta Mok, died in 2006. In addition to Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and former head of state Khieu Samphan live freely in Cambodia but are in declining health. Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's S-21 torture centre, is the only former senior official in government custody. His lawyer said he had been told his client was soon to be transferred from a military prison to the detention facility at the tribunal's headquarters, an indirect confirmation that he was one of the five suspects named by prosecutors. He said Duch "welcomed the news and wished for his trial to take place as quickly as possible".
The maximum penalty for crimes falling within the tribunal's jurisdiction is life imprisonment.
Cambodia sought UN help in 1997 to set up a tribunal, but it took years of talks before the agreement to hold trials.