Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan was admitted to hospital in Cambodia on Wednesday, a court official said, becoming the second ageing war crimes suspect taken ill within days.
The 81-year-old was rushed from his detention facility at Phnom Penh’s UN-backed war crimes court to hospital Wednesday morning due to “weakness, fatigue and shortness of breath,” court spokesman Lars Olsen told AFP.
“He will remain at the hospital under observation for the time being,” he said, adding he was undergoing tests by doctors.
“We don’t know how long he will be at the hospital,” Olsen added.
Khieu Samphan, Khmer Rouge “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, and the regime’s foreign minister Ieng Sary are currently on trial for alleged atrocities during the 1975-1979 regime’s murderous rule.
Nuon Chea, 86, was hospitalised on Sunday with “acute bronchitis,” prompting judges at the court to suspend trial proceedings this week and renewing fears for the much-delayed legal process.
The trio of top former Khmer Rouge leaders deny charges including war crimes and genocide from their roles in a regime blamed for the deaths of up to two million people.
Health fears have long hung over the UN-backed tribunal with the octogenarian defendants all suffering a variety of ailments.
The regime oversaw one of the worst horrors of the 20th century, wiping out nearly a quarter of the population through starvation, overwork and execution in a bid to forge a communist utopia.
Second K. Rouge suspect hospitalised in Cambodia
