Detained KRouge chief's family demand bail

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The family of detained Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea demanded Tuesday he be released on bail because they doubt officials of Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal can tend to his poor health.

"We want him released on bail so we can take care of him," Nuon Chea's son, Nuon Say, told AFP.

"I heard there are doctors to take care of him, but we are still worried about his health... we don't know how they are caring for him."

Nuon Chea, 81, is the oldest of the Khmer Rouge's ageing leaders, all of whom are suffering a variety of ailments, making health a major concern for the court tasked with trying the former regime's leaders.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said earlier that five doctors and four nurses have been assigned to take care of Noun Chea, adding those in the court's custody had access to better healthcare than most Cambodians.

During a routine medical check-up shortly after his arrest last week, Nuon Chea was pronounced to be in relatively good health.

But his lawyer, Son Arun, said Tuesday he was considering seeking bail, in part over the concerns of his client's family.

"We are considering the case... I am thinking about the reasons (to ask for bail)," he said.

Son Arun said the court has already agreed to change Nuon Chea's prison diet to include more fish and vegetables, and build a new Western-style toilet that is easier to use.

Only two former leaders have been arrested so far -- Nuon Chea and former prison chief Duch.

But others are expected, adding to the burden of keeping those accused of crimes committed during the regime's 1975-79 rule alive long enough to see the inside of a courtroom.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, while another likely genocide suspect, military commander Ta Mok, died last year.

By the time the communist Khmer Rouge regime fell in 1979 up to two million people had died of starvation, disease, overwork or were executed in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.