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.