KRouge defence removes documents from website

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Lawyers for a former Khmer Rouge leader removed documents from their website Thursday after officials at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court warned the material was confidential.

Investigating judges told the defence team of former foreign minister Ieng Sary (pictured) on Tuesday it would "face sanctions" unless all documents relating to judicial investigations were taken down from its website within 48 hours.

Ieng Sary, 83, is one of five leaders from the late 1970s regime charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, but details of the investigation ahead of his trial are kept confidential.

Defence lawyers posted a statement on the website saying they regretted having to remove an appeal for a psychiatric evaluation of Ieng Sary as well as two filings about potential conflicts in his investigation.

"The Ieng Sary defence will not shy away from making a small but important contribution to public and transparent judicial proceedings at the (Khmer Rouge court): something which has not to date been the case," the statement said.

"Nor will we give in to attempts, deliberate or inadvertent, to limit our right to speak out publicly to protect our client's interests," it added.

The statement signed by lawyers Ang Udom and Michael Karnavas also said the defence team would file a response to the order's "flawed legal reasoning".

An earlier letter by the defence team on the site said none of the documents posted online should be considered confidential.

It went on to allege that judges suppress filings "which may be embarrassing or which call into question the legitimacy and judiciousness of acts and decisions".

Ieng Sary has been rushed to hospital nine times since he was detained by the court in November 2007, and last week had an appeal for release from the Khmer Rouge court delayed after he said he was too ill to appear in court.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the 1975-1979 regime emptied Cambodia's cities in its drive to create a communist utopia.

The long-awaited first Khmer Rouge trial started last month when the regime's notorious prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, went before the court.