Khmer Rouge 'First Lady' in Cambodia court tirade

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The former Khmer Rouge "First Lady" launched an angry tirade at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal on Tuesday, telling her accusers they would be "cursed to the seventh circle of hell."

Ieng Thirith, 76, facing trial for crimes against humanity under the communist regime, at first told the court that defence lawyers would speak on her behalf during her appeal against detention, saying: "I am too weak."

But she later erupted at the prosecution's suggestion that she was aware of atrocities at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison while she served as social affairs minister during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.

"Don't accuse me of being a murderer, otherwise you will cursed to the seventh circle of hell," Ieng Thirith said in an 15-minute outburst.

"I don't know why a good person is accused of such crimes and I have suffered a great deal and I cannot really be patient because I have been wrongly accused," she said.

Alternating between English and Khmer, she said that "everything was done by Nuon Chea," the regime's top ideologue who is also among the five top cadres facing trial at the tribunal over the regime's atrocities.

Although Ieng Thirith regained enough strength for her vigorous denial, the health of the ageing suspects is an ongoing concern.

Ieng Thirith's husband, former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, was hospitalised Monday evening for blood in his urine, court spokesman Reach Sambath said.

It was the ninth time Ieng Sary, 83, has been rushed to hospital since the pair were detained by the court in November 2007, the spokesman said.

In documents read to the court Tuesday, investigating judges argued it was necessary to keep Ieng Thirith in jail to protect her security, preserve public order and ensure she did not flee from trial.

But defence lawyer Phat Pouv Seang demanded her immediate release, saying that the investigating judges failed to provide adequate evidence.

After years of wrangling between the Cambodian government and the United Nations, the court was created in 2006 to try leading members of the Khmer Rouge regime.

The tribunal's long-awaited first trial started last week when the regime's torturer-in-chief, 66-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, went before the court.

Those proceedings were largely limited to lawyers arguing over the use of a film showing the Tuol Sleng prison controlled by Duch, where investigators say more than 15,000 people died.

Arguments and testimony in the case against Duch will begin March 30, according to an order signed Monday by trial chamber president Nil Nonn.

Duch's lawyer Francois Roux has said his client, who has converted to Christianity, wished to use the trial to publicly ask his victims for forgiveness.

The Khmer Rouge government oversaw one of the worst horrors of the 20th century, wiping out up to two million people through starvation, overwork and execution in a bid to forge a communist utopia.

The leader of the regime, Pol Pot, died in 1998. Ieng Thirith's sister Khieu Ponnary was married to him.

Duch's trial is expected to take around three months, and then the court is expected to mount its case against Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith, former "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, 82, and 77-year-old former head of state Khieu Samphan.

Judges are mulling opening cases against several former mid-level Khmer Rouge leaders after a dispute between the international and Cambodian co-prosecutors over whether to pursue more suspects.

International backers have appeared hesitant to pledge more money to the court after allegations of political interference by the government over whether the court will bring charges against more Khmer Rouge figures.

The tribunal has also faced controversy over claims that Cambodian staff paid kickbacks for their jobs.