Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, the most senior remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, were sentenced to life in prison on Thursday.

In the first of a series of mini trials the pair were found guilty of crimes against humanity for their roles in forced evacuations and an execution site where soldiers of the regime they defeated were systematically murdered.

The sentences were welcomed by civil parties present at the Khmer Rouge tribunal for the verdict, after a long road in the search for some kind of justice.