Khmer Rouge Leaders Charged By Tribunal: Profiles

Khmer Rouge Leaders Charged by Tribunal: Profiles (Update1)
By Ed Johnson
Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Five former leaders of the Khmer Rouge face trial by a United Nations-backed genocide tribunal for crimes committed when the movement ruled Cambodia in the 1970s. The communist movement is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people through starvation, disease or execution as it tried to set up an agrarian state. The trials, which are due to begin next year, are central to a process of reconciliation in the Southeast Asian nation where one in five of the population died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
Nuon Chea, 81:
Known as ``Brother Number 2,'' Nuon Chea is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, imprisonment, enslavement and persecution. He served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and was second-in-command to leader Pol Pot. Prosecutors allege he controlled the Khmer Rouge's internal security apparatus and directed, implemented and enforced its policy of forced labor.
The former Buddhist monk, who was born July 7, 1926, said when he was charged in September that he would be ashamed to have committed such crimes. He said he was in the regime's legislative branch and ``never adopted any law allowing citizens to be killed.'' The father-of-three told prosecutors that about 40 members of his own family died during the Khmer Rouge's rule. He lived close to the border with Thailand following his surrender to the government in 1998.
Ieng Sary, 82:
The movement's foreign minister was arrested with his wife, Ieng Thirith, in November and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors say he directed, encouraged, enforced and supported the regime's policies of murder, political persecution, extermination and forcible transfer of the population. He disputes the charges and said after his arrest he would like to ``know the truth about a dark period in our history.''
Ieng Sary, who was born Oct. 24, 1925, was sentenced to death in 1979 while still on the run in northern Cambodia. He was pardoned by King Norodom Sihanouk after defecting to the Cambodian government with the forces under his command in 1996.
Khieu Samphan, 76:
The former head of state, born July 27, 1931, was arrested in November and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege that he ``facilitated and legitimated'' the regime's crimes by conducting political training and denying the atrocities in speeches to international forums. Khieu Samphan, who was educated in Paris, told the court he was regarded as a ``patriotic intellectual'' and he was never a ``revolutionary leader'' of the regime. He lived freely in the town of Pailin on the border with Thailand after his surrender to the Cambodian government in 1998.
Ieng Thirith, 75:
The Khmer Rouge's social action minister was arrested in November and charged with crimes against humanity. The tribunal alleges she supported the regime's widespread and systematic attacks on Cambodia's civilian population.
Ieng Thirith, who was born March 10, 1932, said following her arrest the charges are ``100 percent false.'' She told the court she helped Cambodia's population during the regime's rule, by organizing repairs to damaged hospitals and ensuring the supply of medicines.
Kang Kek Ieu, 65:
The former prisons chief known as Duch was charged in July with crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege he ran the regime's S-21 prison between 1975 and 1979 where abuses, including torture and mass executions, were carried out under his authority. Prisoners were suspended from ropes and stabbed, had their fingernails removed or were kept in pits that filled with rainwater until they drowned. Duch's lawyers argue he wasn't a senior leader of the regime, and was among more than 2,000 people who ran jails.
Born Nov. 17, 1942, Duch was a teacher before joining the Khmer Rouge. He has been in custody since 1999 and, according to his defense team, is ready to reveal crimes committed by the movement. He is appealing his detention.
Footnote:
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, known as ``Brother Number 1,'' was born into a prosperous land-owning family in 1925. He won a scholarship in 1949 to study in Paris, where he joined the Communist Party.
Pol Pot, who was born Saloth Sar, died of heart failure in April 1998, 19 years after the Khmer Rouge was ousted by Vietnamese forces. He was being held under house arrest in a jungle hut on the Thai border by former followers, who had tried him for treason months earlier. At the time of his death, Khmer Rouge guerrillas were defecting in their thousands to the Cambodian government.
Ta Mok, the group's military chief, nicknamed ``The Butcher,'' died in a military hospital in July 2006, aged 80. He had been in detention since his capture by government forces in 1999, pending trial on charges of crimes against humanity. After the regime's overthrow in 1979, he headed its forces in northern Cambodia.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: November 28, 2007 19:32 EST