Khmer Rouge tribunal indicts 4 senior leaders

Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal on Thursday indicted the four top surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths in the 1970s, paving the way for the panel's long-awaited second trial next year.

The defendants, now frail octogenarians, deny any guilt for their roles in the radical communist rule during which about a quarter of Cambodia's population was either executed or died due to starvation or overwork.

The trial, due to start by mid-2011, will bring to the stand Nuon Chea, 84, the group's ideologist; former head of state and public face of the regime, Khieu Samphan, 79; former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, and his wife Ieng Thirith, ex-minister for social affairs, both in their 80s.

Each face four charges: crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and a combined charge of murder, torture and religious persecution, co-investigating judge You Bunleng told a news conference. They will all be tried together.

The indictments follow the conviction in July of the regime's chief jailer, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder. He was sentenced to serve 19 years in prison - a term criticized by many Cambodians as too lenient. Prosecutors are appealing for a longer sentence, while Duch has filed his own appeal seeking an acquittal.

Duch, 67, (pronounced DOIK) was the first defendant to be tried. He supervised the notorious S-21 prison where as many as 16,000 people were tortured before being executed.

Duch cooperated with prosecutors and the meticulous record-keeping at S-21 made his trial more straightforward than the rest are likely to be. The upcoming trial will also likely be more politically sensitive because some current Cambodian leaders were once lower-level Khmer Rouge cadre themselves.

None of the four defendants has shown any sign they may break ranks or speak openly, and some experts said Duch's reatively light sentence could be an incentive for him to testify.

The devastation to Cambodia caused by the shadowy regime's radical policies during its 1975-79 is beyond doubt. Towns and cities were depopulated in a disastrous agrarian experiment that shunned technology and persecuted the nation's educated classes. Perceived opponents of the regime, even within its own ranks, were ruthlessly purged.