Frail ‘first lady’ of Khmer Rouge won’t stand trial
The wife of Pol Pot’s right-hand man is believed to be suffering from Alzheimer’s
BANGKOK — The most senior woman in Cambodia’s notorious Pol Pot regime, described as the “first lady” of the Khmer Rouge, has been declared unfit to stand trial.
The country’s UN-backed genocide court will release Ieng Thirith in the next 24 hours, after it said it was likely she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and there was no prospect of the 80-year-old being tried “in the foreseeable future.”
Ieng, the sister-in-law of Pol Pot, was arrested in 2007 and charged with crimes against humanity for her role in the brutal regime. She had denied any wrongdoing.
The frail, grey-haired and bespectacled Ieng was initially declared unfit to stand trial in November last year. After a prosecution appeal, the court reversed the decision, while ordering new tests to be carried out to assess her mental health. Although the prosecution can lodge another appeal, Thursday’s finding is likely to be the end of any attempt to try Ieng.
Ieng was perhaps the ultimate insider in the Khmer Rouge, the fanatical, Maoistinfluenced group whose four-year rule of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 is believed to have resulted in the genocide of two million people through starvation, exhaustion and executions.
She was the social affairs minister in the Khmer Rouge government and was married to Ieng Sary, Pol Pot’s right- hand man and deputy prime minister. Her elder sister was married to Pol Pot himself.
During the Khmer Rouge’s destructive attempt to remake Cambodia into a peasant utopia, Ieng, a graduate of the Sorbonne in Paris, was accused of overseeing the executions of members of the social affairs ministry.
Prosecutors at the tribunal alleged she was also aware people were starving to death on collective farms, but did nothing to stop it.
Ieng’s husband remains on trial for genocide, with two other Khmer Rouge leaders, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan.