Lawyers claim jail could kill former KRouge minister

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The former Khmer Rouge foreign minister is so ill that staying in jail could kill him, his lawyers said Thursday as they appealed for his release from detention by Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court.

Ieng Sary, 82, is one of five top regime cadres detained in connection with the Khmer Rouge's bloody rule over Cambodia from 1975-79, when up to two million people died from starvation, overwork or executions.

The joint Cambodia-UN tribunal was established two years ago, after nearly a decade of haggling, to bring to justice those responsible for one of the 20th century's worst atrocities.

Like most of the defendants, Ieng Sary appears frail. He has been hospitalised several times for a heart condition since he and his wife Thirith were...