Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary dead at 87

13_03_2013

Globalpost

Khmer Rouge foreign minister under dies in , cutting short war tribunal charges against him.

PHNOM PENH - Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary has died at the age of 87, representatives from the Extraordinary Chambers of the Court of confirmed on March 14 — cutting short legal efforts to prosecute Sary for war crimes committed during the time of the Cambodian .

ECCC spokesperson Lars Olsen confirmed that Sary passed away at 8:45 AM local time in Phnom Penh at th Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital.

Co-prosecutors in the case against Sary will establish a cause of death and release a report later, added Olsen.

The case against co-defendants and will be unaffected by the death of Sary, Olsen added.

Read more from GlobalPost: Cambodia: Khmer Rouge honcho not so senile after all

A major Khmer Rouge leader and the brother-in-law of Pol Pot, Sary represented one of the three co-defendants in Case 002, the second to be tried by the Extraordinary Chambers of the Court of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, an international court established to finally seek justice for the millions who died during the genocidal Communist regime.

Theary Seng, a withdrawn civil party and the president of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, said that she wasn't surprised by Sary's death.

"His death was incredible in the sense that he took with him information that we needed, that we as Cambodians needed," observed Seng on Thursday.

Sary had recently suffered from ill health and had often been absent from the court proceedings at the ECCC chambers outside of Phnom Penh, which has recently suffered from widely- publicized financial difficulties. The aging Sary's mental fitness to stand trial had recently been in doubt, although a professional geriatrician assessed his mental and physical status and deemed him fit to stand trial in November of 2012, according to the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor.

Sary's 80-year-old wife, , was dubbed mentally unfit to stand trial for her own role in the genocide in 2012, and was released back into public life in September by the court in a controversial decision.

"It's upsetting both as a victim of the regime and as a human rights activist," said Cambodian Center for Human Rights director Ou Virak of the death.

"One of the most senior leaders is escaping justice, and the rest are old and sick. The tribunal is in danger of being a wasteful exercise of hundreds of millions of dollars."

Amnesty International researcher on Cambodia Rupert Abbot called for haste in the proceedings of the , noting the advanced age of surviving defendants Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea.

“The news of Ieng Sary’s death will be difficult for the victims of the Khmer Rouge crimes who have waited so long for justice," noted Abbot, adding that Ieng Sary should not be presumed guilty of any crime as no verdict was reached before his death.

“The Cambodian government and donor countries should provide the full resources required for the proceedings in this case and others to move forward, so that justice can be served," said Abbot of the Khmer Rouge court.

"We knew right from the beginning the accused were old and getting older," said political analyst Mong Hay Lao of Sary's passing, adding to the public debate over both the slow pace of the trial and the ever-advancing age of the defendants.

"Perhaps the public needs to consider whether we are having a moral dilemma. If these people are too old to be tried, should we have a trial or not?"

For more information : http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia- pacific/cambodia/130313/khmer-rouge-leader-ieng-sary-dead-at-87