The court hearing a bail appeal against a former female Khmer Rouge leader adjourned to a date to be set for its decision, a court official said Wednesday. Court media liaison officer Reach Sambath said the hearing involving former Democratic Kampuchea Social Affairs minister Ieng Thirith, would give a verdict at a date yet to be set. The day-long hearing heard three prosecution lawyers for victims argue that Thirith, 76, should not be released so close to national elections scheduled for July because it could cause public disorder. The defence argued that Thirith had a mental illness which was being made worse while she was jailed awaiting charges of human rights abuses.
Thirith's sister, Khieu Ponnary, was married to the movement's leader Pol Pot but the marriage reportedly broke down over Ponnary's mental health problems. Ponnary died of natural causes in 2003. Former Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot died at home in 1998. Five former leaders face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes at the joint UN-Cambodian tribunal to prosecute leaders of the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, under which up to 2-million Cambodians died.
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