Nuon Chea

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Nuon Chea during a hearing on Jan. 31, 2011

Nuon Chea ( Khmer នួន ជា ; * July 7, 1926 - † August 4, 2019 in Phnom Penh ), also known as Brother No. 2 , was a Cambodian politician . He was the chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge and deputy to Pol Pot . In November 2018, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by an international tribunal for genocide against ethnic Vietnamese and the Muslim minority.

biography

Nuon Chea was born in Battambang Province in 1926 as a member of the Sino-Khmer population. During his studies at Thammasat University in Bangkok he became a member of the Communist Party of Thailand . After returning to Cambodia , he joined the Khmer Rouge. After Pol Pot came to power, Nuon Chea was head of government of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 to 1977 . Although he was often in the background, he was considered tough and ruthless.

Against the background of ideological disputes within the Khmer Rouge and the lack of prospects for its policies, Nuon Chea faced the Hun Sen government in Phnom Penh in 1998 and was "warmly" welcomed by them - in the wording Hun Sens. Hun Sen received Chea together with another high-ranking official, Khieu Samphan , and their families in Phnom Penh for a reconciliation meeting. In view of the rapid onset of domestic and international criticism, Hun Sen felt compelled to make it clear that his political gesture in no way meant an amnesty and that he was leaving any indictment of the two before the United Nations- supported Khmer Rouge tribunal to the judiciary.

In addition to the documents available, Nuon Chea was heavily incriminated by statements made in 1999 by the former head of the S-21 torture center , Kaing Guek Eav , who was arrested in 1999 . In 1999, in several interviews with the US journalist Nate Thayer, the latter made the political role and responsibility of Nuon Chea within the Khmer Rouge clear. In 2004 Nuon Chea publicly declared its readiness to appear before the international tribunal.

On September 19, 2007, Nuon Chea was arrested at his home in Pailin , southwest Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia had previously issued an arrest warrant against him. He was now the highest-ranking defendant in the tribunal that was supposed to prosecute the crimes of the genocide in Cambodia from 1975 to 1978. On September 16, 2010, charges were brought against Nuon Chea. The trial began on June 27, 2011 and ended on August 7, 2014 with conviction and life imprisonment . He appealed the judgment in September 2014. He justified this with an unfair trial in which key witnesses were not admitted. The sentence was upheld as fair by the Supreme Court in November 2016. Chea continued to stand trial for genocide of ethnic Vietnamese and the Muslim minority, as well as forced marriages and rape. In November 2018, he and Samphan were found guilty of this genocide by an international tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Nuon Chea died in August 2019 at the age of 93 in a Phnom Penh prison.

literature

  • Gina Chon, Sambath Thet: Behind the Killing Fields: A Khmer Rouge Leader and One of His Victims. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2010, ISBN 978-0-8122-4245-4 .

Web links

Commons : Nuon Chea  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Adrien Le Gal, Francis Deron: Nuon Chea, ancien dirigeant khmer rouge et bras droit de Pol Pot, est mort. In: lemonde.fr . August 4, 2019, accessed August 4, 2019 (French).
  2. ^ World: Asia-Pacific Letters of surrender - full text. In: BBC News . December 26, 1998, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Cambodia's Surreal Beach Party. In: The New York Times . January 5, 1999, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  4. ^ Declaration of Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia and Command-in-Chief of the Cambodia National Armed Forcers. In: camnet.com.kh. January 1, 1999, archived from the original on May 13 ; Retrieved August 5, 2019 (English, public clarification by Hun Sen).
  5. ↑ Chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge arrested. In: Welt Online . September 19, 2007, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Four former leaders of the Khmer Rouge indicted. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . September 16, 2010, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Khmer Rouge in court: "Brother number two" awaits his punishment. In: Spiegel Online . June 27, 2011, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Khmer Rouge leader sentenced to life imprisonment. In: DiePresse.com . August 7, 2014, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  9. ^ Lauren Crothers, Khmer Rouge leaders appeal life sentences for crimes against humanity. In: The Guardian . September 30, 2014, accessed November 23, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Cambodian court upholds life sentences for Khmer Rouge leaders. In: The Guardian. November 23, 2016, accessed November 23, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Hannah Beech: Khmer Rouge's Slaughter in Cambodia Is Ruled a Genocide. In: nytimes.com . November 15, 2018, accessed August 5, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Nuon Chea
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cambodian politician, chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Province Battambang
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 2019
Place of death Phnom Penh