Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge war crimes court brought down its final verdict, upholding charges of genocide and life in prison against the regime’s only living leader.
Khieu Samphan, head of state for the communist regime, led a genocide that targeted ethnic-minority Vietnamese, murdering almost a quarter of the Cambodian population in the 1970s. He had appealed his conviction, with his legal team stating the court was using legal criteria that were not in place about 40 years ago.
CAMBODIA TRIBUNAL CONVICTS KHMER ROUGE LEADERS
However, the court ruled on Thursday that there was “no merit” in his claims.
Chief Judge Kong Sim stated in a ruling that the court would also uphold the 2018 conviction for multiple crimes against humanity, including torture, enslavement, and murder. However, the court will drop specific murder and persecution charges.
Samphan’s fellow leaders have all died, with only some receiving sentences prior to their deaths. Regime chief Pol Pot died in 1998 before the court was established. He was considered “Brother Number One.”
Second-in-command Nuon Chea died in 2019 but was sentenced to life in prison for genocide, forced marriages, and rape. Kaing Guek Eav, head of the S-21 torture interrogation center where close to 18,000 people were killed, was convicted by the court but died years after his sentence.
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The Khmer Rouge court, backed by the United Nations, consisted of both Cambodian and international judges. This conviction is the last ruling of the court after it spent decades investigating the actions of senior leaders of the regime.
Over 2 million people were killed through starvation, enslavement, torture, and mass executions during the Khmer Rouge’s 1959-1979 rule.
