Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Tribunal charges Khmer Rouge "First Lady" with genocide

Ieng Thirith, former minister of social affairs of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, sits in the dock at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh May 21, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Mon Dec 21, 2009
By Jared Ferrie

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A U.N.-backed Cambodian war crimes court on Monday charged a fourth top Khmer Rouge cadre with genocide, broadening the scope of a long-awaited trial of the ultra-communist "Killing Fields" regime's top ranks.
Ieng Thirith, 78, had already been accused of "murder, imprisonment and other inhumane acts" for her role as social affairs minister in a regime blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
The new charges relate to the slaughter of Cambodia's ethnic Vietnamese and Cham Muslim minorities during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge era. The tribunal on Monday also charged her with torture and religious persecution.
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