LAWYERS for former
Khmer Rouge "Brother No 2" Nuon Chea have filed an appeal against their
82-year-old client's extended detention, saying that there is no
evidence to keep the elderly accused behind bars another year.
"My client has been in detention for one year already, and this is
enough time," Son Arun, his Cambodian lawyer, told the Post Thursday.
"They have no evidence to keep him in detention, so he should be released," he added.
The
court renewed the ageing cadre's yearlong detention in September when
it expired before investigations into his alleged crimes were
completed.
The appeal comes as lawyers for the regime's former foreign minister,
Ieng Sary, prepare for the decision today on their appeal against their
client's provisional detention.
At the time, they argued that Ieng
Sary's rapidly deteriorating health was one of many reasons to release
him ahead of his likely trial.
After the announcement that trials will be delayed again until an
unspecified date next year, lawyers for the five accused are claiming
that continued pretrial detention goes against the defendants' rights,
according to the UN-backed court's internal rules.
Nuon Chea's lawyers gained a victory earlier this month when their
appeal against the conditions of his detention gave all five detainees
freedom to socialise amongst themselves.
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