PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A U.N.-backed court ordered former Khmer Rouge official Ieng Thirith be held and undergo treatment to try to rehabilitate her to stand trial for war crimes.
The Supreme Court Chamber granted Cambodian prosecutors' appeal Tuesday of a lower court decision last month to release Ieng Thirith because she was unfit to stand trial, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
The judges, on a 6-1 vote, ruled Ieng Thirith, 79, the former Khmer Rouge minister for social action, should continue medical treatment to try to improve her mental capacity and be re-examined in six months.
The trial began last month against Ieng Sary, 86, the former Khmer Rouge foreign affairs minister; Nuon Chea, 85, the chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge movement; and Khieu Samphan, 80, the head of state, on genocide, crimes against humanity and other charges. Ieng Thirith, 79, was excused when judges ruled she had dementia and was unfit to stand trial.
The Trial Chamber found Ieng Thirith unfit to stand trial two days before opening arguments. Her attorney had raised questions about her mental state in February.
In June, a New Zealand geriatrician examined Ieng Thirith and concluded she had a "moderately severe dementing illness, most probably Alzheimer's disease" and recommended her doctors reduce her medication to better examine her mental abilities, the Post said.
The Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 from execution, torture, forced labor, disease and starvation.
