The health of former Khmer Rouge Minister of Social Affairs Ieng Thirith has improved to the point that she was able to return home last week after a lengthy hospitalisation in Thailand, her attorney and son-in-law said yesterday.

Phat Pov Seang, who defended Thirith at the Khmer Rouge tribunal before she was severed from Case 002 due to advancing dementia, said she had stabilised enough to be removed from the oxygen tank and feeding tube she had been connected to for over two months.

“The doctor says her health is better and that she could come back. She can breathe on her own, and now she’s staying at her son’s house in Pailin,” Seang said. “However, she still needs treatment at home.

“I will try to see her in Pailin,” he added. “I keep in contact with her daughter to follow up on her health situation.”

Seng Ran, Thirith’s son-in-law, also confirmed her return.

“She is staying at home now, and her condition is better” than it was before she was hospitalised, he said.