Former Khmer Rouge leader on trial for genocide in critical condition: Lawyer
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This handout photo taken and released by the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Dec 5, 2011 shows former deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs Ieng Sary in the courtroom in Phnom Penh. Former Khmer Rouge leader on trial for genocide Ieng Sary is in critical condition in hospital, his lawyer said on March 6, 2013, stoking fears that top figures in the murderous regime may never face justice. -- FILE PHOTO: AFP
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A former Khmer Rouge leader on trial for genocide is in critical condition in hospital, his lawyer said on Wednesday, stoking fears that top figures in the murderous regime may never face justice.
Ieng Sary, who at 87 years old is the oldest defendant at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court, was hospitalised on Monday with stomach problems - the latest in a string of ailments.
"His situation is critical now," Ieng Sary's Cambodian lawyer Ang Udom told AFP.
The former French university radical, who later emerged as one of the few public faces of the Khmer Rouge during its brutal rule in the late 1970s, has difficulty eating and has been vomiting, he said.
