07/08/2014 10:54
Top Khmer Rouge leaders guilty of crimes against humanity
Two top Khmer Rouge leaders have been jailed for life after being convicted by Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal of crimes against humanity, the BBC reported.
Nuon Chea served as leader Pol Pot's deputy and Khieu Samphan was the Maoist regime's head of state.
They are the first top-level leaders to be held accountable for its crimes.
Up to two million people are thought to have died under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime - of starvation and overwork or executed as enemies of the state.
Judge Nil Nonn said the men were guilty of "extermination encompassing murder, political persecution, and other inhumane acts comprising forced transfer, enforced disappearances and attacks against human dignity.”
Lawyers for the pair said they would appeal against the ruling. "It is unjust for my client. He did not know or commit many of these crimes," Son Arun, a lawyer for Nuon Chea, told journalists.
They will remain in detention while this takes place.