PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A former Khmer Rouge minister facing trial for crimes against humanity told Cambodia's UN-backed court Wednesday she could not remember how many children she had, arguing she was unfit to stay in jail.
Ieng Thirith, known as the "First Lady" when she was the regime's social affairs minister, is one of five top cadres in the sights of the UN war crimes tribunal over atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.
Her lawyers have previously insisted the 76-year-old is mentally ill. In her first appearance at the tribunal Wednesday for a pre-trial hearing, she was asked by the judge how many children she had.
"Three or four. I forget," she said. Asked a second time, she said: "I have four children. I almost forgot."
It has taken three decades to start bringing senior officials of the Khmer Rouge, who left up to two million people dead from overwork, starvation, torture or execution, to trial at the joint Cambodia-UN tribunal.
The court was not established until 2006, and the trials of the regime's five surviving senior leaders are not due to begin until later this year.
Her foreign lawyer Diana Ellis told the court that Ieng Thirith should be released from detention while she awaits trial.
"In view of her age and her poor chronic health, a lengthy period in detention will ... adversely affect her health," Ellis said. "The charged person would remain in Cambodia, would require treatment and would not flee."
Court officials have already stated doctors have deemed Ieng Thirith fit to stand trial.
The court has said it suspects she is a flight risk and that her detention is necessary to protect her against possible revenge attacks from Khmer Rouge victims. It said it also feared she could put pressure on witnesses.
Ieng Thirith was arrested last November along with her husband, Ieng Sary, who was the regime's foreign minister.
She has rejected the charges against her as "100 percent false" and said that she spent time during the regime's reign repairing hospitals and producing medicines.
One of the other cadres who has been arrested and faces trial, the Khmer Rouge's head of state Khieu Samphan, was meanwhile hospitalised Wednesday with high blood pressure, a court official said.
The former leader, 76, is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN-backed genocide tribunal.
He was taken under heavy security from his detention cell to Phnom Penh's Calmette Hospital after he experienced high blood pressure, said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.
"He is trying to write a book (in his detention cell). That is why his health or blood vessels have problems," Reach Sambath told reporters.
Khieu Samphan has a history of high blood pressure. He was arrested in November at a hospital in Phnom Penh where he was undergoing treatment for the problem.
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