Cambodia genocide defendant freed due to illness

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ? Cambodia's war crimes tribunal set free a former leader of the Khmer Rouge on Sunday, upholding a decision that has outraged survivors seeking an explanation to the mass killings committed more than 30 years ago.

Eighty-year-old Ieng Thirith, who has been declared mentally unfit for trial, was driven out of the U.N.-backed tribunal's compound by family members.

The Sorbonne-educated Shakespeare scholar served as social affairs minister during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign, which left an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians dead.

The tribunal initially announced its decision to free her on Thursday, saying medical experts had determined there was "no prospect" for her to be tried due to a degenerative mental illness that was probably Alzheimer's disease.

Prosecutors then delayed her release by filing an appeal demanding that conditions be set to restrict her freedom.

On Sunday, the tribunal's supreme court said it had accepted the appeal, which is expected to be heard later this month. In the meantime, it said three provisional conditions would be imposed on her movement.

In a statement Sunday, the tribunal said Ieng Thirith must inform the court of her address, must turn in her passport and cannot leave the country, and must report to the court whenever it summons her.

Ieng Thirith was the regime's highest-ranking woman and also a sister-in-law of the Khmer Rouge's top leader, Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

She is accused of involvement in the "planning, direction, coordination and ordering of widespread purges," and was charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, homicide and torture.

Her husband, 86-year-old Ieng Sary, the regime's former foreign minister, is one of three other senior leaders currently on trial. Also on trial are 85-year-old Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist and No. 2 leader behind Pol Pot, and 80-year-old Khieu Samphan, a former head of state.

The long-delayed tribunal started in 2006 ? nearly three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge ? following years of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations. The lengthy delays have been costly and raised fears that the frail surviving Khmer Rouge leaders could die before their verdicts come.

Survivors of the Khmer Rouge have called Ieng Thirith's release shocking and unjust. They say they have waited more than 30 years for justice and find it hard to feel compassion for Ieng Thirith's suffering.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cambodia-genocide-defendant-freed-due-illness-071641231.html

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