Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister asks for release

Ieng Sary in 1996.
(Photo: AFP)

The Khmer Rouge's former Foreign Minister asked Thursday to be released from detention ahead of his trial on grounds that he is old and sick. The government has been accused of interfering in the tribunal.

Ieng Sary, who is 83 years old, says that life in the detention centre is making him ill and violates his rights. He is being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court.

"Justice delayed, justice denied," says Helen Jarvis, chief of public affairs at the tribunal.

She told RFI that Cambodians have waited an inordinate amount of time for the trial of the Khmer Rouge regime, which was toppled 34 years ago.

Ieng Sary has been sent to the hospital nine times since he was detained by the court in November 2007.

"Mr. Ieng Sary is an old and sick man. He needs constant medical attention," his lawyer Ang Udom told the court.

But the trial could collapse as it is threatened by corruption and financial problems, said his American defence lawyer Michael Karnavas. No date has been set yet for his trial and three other Khmer Rouge leaders.

The Khmer Rouge's prison chief Kaing Guek Eav was in court Tuesday.
Judges in February delayed Ieng Sary's hearing after he said he was too ill to make an appearance.

A decision on whether to release him is expected in the next few months.