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Khmer Rouge leaders found guilty of genocide in landmark ruling 40 years after fall of brutal Cambodian regime

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea sits in court at the ECCC in Phnom Penh - AFP
Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea sits in court at the ECCC in Phnom Penh - AFP

The two surviving leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge were on Friday convicted of genocide in a historic ruling, four decades after the fall of the regime which wiped out up to a third of the population.

Nuon Chea, 92, and Khieu Samphan, 87, were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison by the country's long-running international tribunal, the first genocide conviction handed down by the UN-backed court.

"The verdict is essentially the Nuremberg judgement for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia," said David Scheffer, who served as the UN secretary general's special expert on the Khmer Rouge trials from 2012 until last month.  

The pair are already serving life sentences over the forced urban exodus and disappearances of millions of Cambodians by Pol Pot's regime during its terrifying four-year reign in the late 1970s.

Friday's genocide verdicts relate to killings of the Cham and Vietnamese ethnic groups.

The two leaders were also convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the Khmer Rouge's brutal work camps, including murder, extermination, enslavement, torture, enforced disappearances, forced transfers, forced marriages and rape.

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea sits in court at the ECCC in Phnom Penh - Credit: MARK PETERS/ AFP
Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea sits in court at the ECCC in Phnom Penh Credit: MARK PETERS/ AFP

An estimated 1.7 million people - up to a third of the population - were executed or died of starvation and overwork under the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist group which tried to create an agrarian utopia by forcing urban-dwellers into rural labour camps.

Nuon Chea was the Khmer Rouge ideologist and and deputy leader considered  Pol Pot's right hand man, while  Khieu Samphan  was the head of state who served as the regime's public face.

The wheels of justice have turned exceedingly slowly in Cambodia, with senior members of the regime for years living in relative impunity among their victims. 

Amid political resistance and technical obstacles, it was not until 2006 that the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, composed of Cambodian and United Nations-nominated judges, finally began its work.

Cambodian Buddhist monks wait in queue to enter into the courtroom - Credit:  Heng Sinith/AP
Cambodian Buddhist monks wait in queue to enter into the courtroom Credit: Heng Sinith/AP

It took a further four years for the court to hand down its first conviction, to Kang Kek lew, known as Comrade Duch, head of the internal security branch the Santebal and director of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison - or S-21 - in Phnom Penh.

Nuon Chea,  Khieu Samphan, and  Kang Kek lew are the only three Khmer Rouge leaders ever to have been prosecuted.

Pol Pot died of a heart attack while under house arrest in 1998, while two others indicted by the court have since died.

Cambodia's strongman prime minister, Hun Sen - himself a former Khmer Rouge commander turned defector who has been in power since 1985 - has vowed to halt any further prosecutions, saying they will cause political instability.

Cambodian-Muslim women attend the verdict  - Credit: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP
Cambodian-Muslim women attend the verdict Credit: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP

But at the verdict Friday, victims welcomed the landmark genocide ruling.

Sum Rithy, 65, said he had been jailed for two years by the Khmer Rouge, while three of his siblings were executed. His father died of starvation.

"Today, I am very happy that both the Khmer Rouge leaders were sentenced to life in prison. The verdict was fair enough for me and other Cambodian victims," he said.

"Last night, I could not sleep because I was afraid that Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan could die before this verdict was announced."