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    November 21, 2011

Khmer Rouge Genocide Trial Opens in Cambodia

   The 3 elderly defendants sat silently as the judge opened proceedings

   VOA News
   A Cambodian Khmer Rouge victim weeps during a Buddhist ceremony in
   Phnom Penh
   Photo: AP/Heng Sinith
   A Cambodian Khmer Rouge victim, right, weeps during a Buddhist ceremony
   near Choeung Ek stupa, the site of the Khmer Rouge's former "killing
   fields," on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Nov. 20,
   2011.

   Three top Khmer Rouge leaders went on trial in Cambodia Monday on
   charges of genocide and other atrocities during the communist
   movement's reign of terror in the late 1970s.
   Nil Nonn, the judge presiding over the U.N.-backed court, declared the
   trial open and read out the names of the defendants.
   Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, reputed chief ideologue Nuon
   Chea and Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary listened silently as
   the charges were read aloud in a crowded courtroom in Phnom Penh.
   The three are accused of crimes against humanity, including genocide,
   homicide and torture. The Khmer Rouge ruled from 1975 to 1979, when up
   to two million Cambodians - one quarter of the population - are
   estimated to have died.

   A fourth defendant, Ieng Thirith, was ruled unfit to stand trial last
   week because she has Alzheimer's disease. She is Ieng Sary's wife and
   served as the minister for social affairs for the Khmer Rouge.
   The Khmer Rouge's supreme leader Pol Pot died in 1998 in a jungle camp,
   where he was held prisoner after his former comrades turned on him.

   Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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