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Khmer Rouge victim confronts regime leader in court
A survivor of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge publicly confronted the regime's "Brother Number Two" at a UN-backed genocide tribunal on Friday, marking the first time victims have faced a senior cadre in court.
A survivor of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge publicly confronted the regime's "Brother Number Two" at a UN-backed genocide tribunal on Friday, marking the first time victims have faced a senior cadre in court.
Theary Seng, whose parents were killed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule, stood before the tribunal to urge the judges not to free Nuon Chea before his trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 81-year-old is the senior-most Khmer Rouge cadre detained by the court over his alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities, in which up to two million people are believed to have died.
His lawyers have asked the court to release him of pending trial, saying he was wrongly interrogated without his attorneys after his arrest in September.
Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American who survived the regime's atrocities as a child and is now a lawyer, urged the court not to free him, saying that his regime had shown no mercy when she was jailed as a seven-year-old.
"My brother, who was younger than me, and I were put in prison under Nuon Chea's regime. We were not informed of our rights. There was no due process and we were arrested arbitrarily," she told the court.
"They treated us inhumanely -- for us, the graveyard was our playground," she said, standing behind a desk opposite Nuon Chea in the pre-trial chambers.
"Here Nuon Chea is afforded all the protection of the best legal principles and ideals (in) both domestic and international law. He has both national and international lawyers.
