PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The U.N.-assisted international tribunal in Cambodia judging the criminal responsibility of former Khmer Rouge leaders for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people will issue verdicts Friday in perhaps the last such trial.
Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are the last two surviving senior leaders of the radical communist group that brutally ruled Cambodia in the late 1970s.
They are already serving life sentences for crimes against humanity connected with forced transfers and disappearances of masses of people.
The trials were split for fear the aged defendants might die before any verdict, erasing the opportunity for any sort of justice. The fear was justified — two co-defendants died before their trials ended.
On Friday, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan will be judged on genocide and other charges.
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