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PHNOM PENH: Jailed Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, who was arrested
earlier this week, has disputed charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity filed against him, court documents filed Friday
revealed.
“Nuon Chea disputed the crimes
with which he is charged, indicating that he would be ashamed to
have committed such crimes,” said a detention order from the
UN-backed genocide tribunal, which is holding the most senior
surviving regime leader.
Nuon Chea has also said he was
never in a position to order any of the deaths that occurred under
the Khmer Rouge, and has chosen a Cambodian lawyer to defend him,
despite saying earlier that he would defend himself.
The 82-year-old, who emerged as
the regime’s chief ideologue and is accused of orchestrating its
sweeping execution policies, was charged Wednesday with war crimes
and crimes again humanity after authorities seized him from his home
in northwest
Cambodia.
Up to two million people died
during the communist Khmer Rouge’s 1975-79 rule, and Nuon Chea
claimed to have lost 40 family members during that period.
Nuon Chea, who faces life in
prison if convicted, told court judges shortly after his arrest:
“We did not have any direct contact with the bases and we were not
aware of what was happening there,” according to the documents.
He said “all real power was in
the hands of the Military Committee, of which he was not a
member,” adding that “he was a member of the legislative power
and that he never adopted any law allowing citizens to be killed.”
Nuon Chea also argued that he
should not be detained, saying he had lived within meters of the
Thai border since his surrender to the government in 1998 and that
“he does not intend to tarnish the honor of his country by
fleeing.”
A tribunal to try the regime’s
top leaders got underway last year. Five suspects, including Nuon
Chea and former regime prison chief Duch, are under investigation,
with public trials expected in 2008.
--AFP
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