Former KR Leader, Khieu Samphan, Lashes out at Tribunal

Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan defended his actions during the last day of his appeal hearing yesterday in one of the longest speeches he has given in his six-year trial at the court. Raising his voice to a shout, Mr. Samphan accused the trial chamber of using forged documents to convict him, and insisted that he played no role in the deaths of millions of Cambodians.

“In the pretrial, the trial chamber had already made its decision that I am guilty,” he said. “After making their decision they selected and faked documents to fit their decision...I have to shout strongly that I have never agreed with any policy that was against the people of Cambodia...I never agreed with any policy that involved crimes against humanity.”

Mr. Samphan was sentenced by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to life imprisonment last year, on charges of orchestrating the mass murders that took place during the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh and at the Toul Po Chrey execution site in Pursat.

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