SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2002
Khmer Rouge general appears in court
AFP
PHNOM PENH: Former Khmer Rouge commander General Sam Bith was whisked off to jail on Thursday after appearing in court, charged with the 1994 kidnapping and murders of Australian, French and British backpackers.
Looking pale and ill, and dressed in military khaki with a commando hat slung around his neck, Sam Bith was taken to a narrow room of the dilapidated court complex where he faced a judge, prosecutors and an appointed lawyer.
However, Sam Bith's first move was to reject the court appointed defence lawyer Put Theavy and request the services of Ka Savuth who also defends Kang Kek Ieu, also known as Duch. Duch, now a born-again Christian, ran S21 where some 16,000 people were tortured and executed during the 1975-79 reign of the ultra-Maoists. He is currently in jail awaiting trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Investigating judge Mong Mony Chakrya adjourned the court to allow Sam Bith to consult Ka Savuth who has agreed to handle his case.
The court also heard that Sam Bith was charged with abduction, murder, destruction of property, forming an illegal armed force, robbery and terrorism.
Sam Bith was arrested on Wednesday in northwest Battambang near his home and ferried to Phnom Penh by military helicopter where he was charged for the July 26, 1994 train ambush in southern Cambodia.
Thirteen Cambodians died in the attack and the Westerners were held for two months before being executed at Vine Mountain, on the apparent instructions of Khmer Rouge supremo Pol Pot.
A botched attempt to meet a 150,000 US dollar ransom demand was made before Sam Bith allegedly conveyed Pol Pot's orders to kill Australian David Wilson, Briton Mark Slater and Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet.
About 10 guards armed with automatic weapons escorted Sam Bith into the court room. However, police said they were also concerned for his health.
"He suffered from very high blood pressure overnight and two doctors were charged with his care. We were very worried about his health," said a police officer who spent the night overseeing Sam Bith.
The Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia from 1975 until the Vietnamese invasion of 1979. More than 1.7 million people died through alleged genocide and starvation during that period. However, Pol Pot's cadres continued to control large chunks of Cambodia until civil war finally ended in 1998. A warrant was issued for Sam Bith a year later.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen described the arrest as a success and a victory for his government.
"There was an order from the courts and we the government had a duty to arrest him and find justice for the victims which has to be found," he told reporters.
The arrest ended a three-year search for the chief suspect in the slayings who had ensconced himself in Cambodia's remote northwest, where other Khmer Rouge leaders live freely in their former stronghold of Pailin.
It also followed intense lobbying by the Australian, French and British governments and reports that Sam Bith had set-up a lavish house near Pailin.
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