Cambodia court rejects bail for Khmer Rouge 'First Lady'

Cambodia court rejects bail for Khmer Rouge 'First Lady'
11 May 2009, 1803 hrs IST, AFP

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal on Monday rejected
an appeal by the former "First Lady" of the hardline communist Khmer
Rouge government to be released on bail.

Ieng Thirith, 77, the regime's one-time social affairs minister, is
one of five top cadres in the sights of the tribunal over atrocities
committed during the regime's 1975-1979 rule.

"The appeal is dismissed. The request to be released on bail is
inadmissible," said Judge Prak Kimsan, the president of the tribunal's
pre-trial chamber.

"There are well-founded reasons to believe that the charged person may
have committed crimes with which she has been charged. There is reason
to show that people were arrested from her ministry," the judge said.

The judge also cited Ieng Tririth's furious outburst when she first
asked for bail in February. She told members of the court that they
would be "cursed to the seventh circle of hell."

Ieng Thirith did not appear today's hearing as she was not well enough
to get out of bed, her Cambodian lawyer Phat Pouv Seang said.

"We do not agree 100% with the court decision and will try to pursue
this issue in the trial," he said.
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