Former Khmer Rouge
leader Ieng Sary remained in Calmette
Hospital all week
undergoing check ups by a group of doctors after complaining of medical
problems in his cell at the Khmer Rouge tribunal jail February 4.
Reach Sambath,
spokesman of the ECCC, told the Post that
it was not yet clear when Sary would be able to go back to prison. At 82, Sary
is one of the oldest of the five Khmer Rouge leaders in jail, and is the one
whose health has given the court the most concern due to his previous heart
problems.
However Sambath said
Sary’s “health condition was not serious. The doctor told us that he has no
problem and the doctors have been following with check-ups.”
It is Sary’s second
admission to the hospital since he was arrested in November last year.
Sary’s defense
lawyer Ang Udom told the Post on February
6 that he did not know the current condition of Sary’s health, though he told
AFP that initially the defendant was urinating blood.
“The ECCC would not
let me know. It is not wrong because it is not my responsibility,” Udom said.
“But everyone is concerned that Sary will die before they can try him and we
need him to corroborate the defendants’ stories.”
Sary has been charged
with war crimes and crimes against humanity. His wife Ieng Thirith, the highest
ranking woman in the Khmer Rouge regime, was charged with crimes against
humanity. The couple has separate defense teams.
The two have long
denied any role in the “excesses” of the regime. On August 26, 1996, a small
group of journalists was invited to interview Sary after he broke away from Pol
Pot and his hard-line faction. When asked if amnesty was one of the conditions
for his joining the government, he responded, “I have made no mistakes for them
to excuse me.”
He pinned the blame
for massacres, killings, and executions – including the killing of
intellectuals, who he admitted he “gathered to come help build the country” –
on “a committee which considered all questions about security.”
The committee
comprised four people; Nuon Chea who appeared in court this month, and three
others. The others – all dead – were Pol Pot, Son Sen and Son Sen’s advisor,
Yun Yat.
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