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| Southeast Asia |
| 2 face genocide charges |
| 2009-12-17 |
| [Straits Times] CAMBODIA'S UN-backed war crimes court has for the first time issued genocide charges against two leaders of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Former Khmer Rouge number two Nuon Chea and foreign minister Ieng Sary were both charged over the hardline communist regime's slaughter of Vietnamese people and ethnic Cham Muslims during the 1970s, said tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen on Wednesday. 'This week both Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary have been brought before the investigating judges and informed they are being charged with genocide against the Cham Muslims and the Vietnamese,' he said. 'This is the first time that anyone has been charged with genocide' at the UN-backed tribunal. Estimates for the number of Chams who died under the Khmer Rouge range from 100,000 to 400,000. It is not known how many Vietnamese were killed, according to Mr Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia. |
| Posted by:Fred |