17 February 2011
By Thijs Bouwknegt
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
The Cambodia genocide tribunal on Wednesday ruled that three ageing former Khmer Rouge leaders must remain in custody ahead of their trial, which is expected to start later this year.
Judges at the Khmer Rouge court – dubbed the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) – rejected requests by defence lawyers to release the former head of state, Khieu Samphan; the movement’s chief ideologue Nuon Chea, known as Brother Number Two; and the former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.
The ruling comes after the three appeared at a public hearing on 31 January asking to be released. Their lawyers had argued that their clients, who were arrested in 2007, should be freed since they had already been held for longer than permitted by the UN-backed court in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
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