Former Khmer Rouge leader appears before UN genocide tribunal

CAMBODIA: Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea made his first appearance Monday before Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, but the hearing was quickly adjourned after his defense lawyer asked for a delay.

Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's former ideologist, has been detained since Sept. 19 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the group's brutal 1975-79 rule, which caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

His Cambodian lawyer asked the court to postpone the hearing so a foreign lawyer could join him in appealing for Nuon Chea to be released on bail, claiming the tribunal's investigating judges did not have sufficient grounds to detain him.

Prak Kimsan, head of the five-judge panel, gave the defense until Wednesday to explain how much time they needed. "The panel has decided to adjourn the hearing," he told the court.

Nuon Chea, 81, is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders expected to go on trial this year.

In a detention order last year, the judges charged him with involvement in crimes including "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts." The tribunal says detention is necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses, destroying evidence and escaping. They say Nuon Chea's own safety could also be at risk if he is released.

Nuon Chea has denied any guilt, saying he is not a "cruel" man. He has also called himself "a patriot and not a coward" trying to run away.

Son Arun, Nuon Chea's lawyer, said Sunday his client is asking for bail because he "feels an absence of freedom in his detention, where all he does is eat and sleep."

"It is not like when he used to live with his family," Son Arun said.

Phnom Penh, Monday, AP