Former Khmer Rouge Leader Arrested

Guide Note

In September of 2007 Police arrested the highest ranking surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge. Nuon Chea acted as second in command to former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot when the party seized control of Cambodia in 1975. From 1975 to 1979, over 1.7 million people were executed or died of starvation or exhaustion from forced labor during the government-sanctioned genocide on Cambodia's "Killing Fields."

Fast Facts

1. Chea surrendered to the Cambodian government in 1998 after the death of Pol Pot
2. Lived for nearly two decades at the Khmer Rouge's former jungle headquarters
3. Acted as the head of Khmer Rouge Security
4. Known as "Brother Number Two" and "Pol Pot's Shadow" during the regime's ruling years
5. He will appear before a United Nations backed war tribunal
6. Five judges, three of which are Cambodian will preside over the tribunal
7. Chea's maximum sentence will be life in prison
8. Tribunal is expected to be held in 2008

"I was president of the National Assembly and had nothing to do with the operation of the government. Sometimes I didn't know what they were doing because I was in the assembly. I will go to the court and don't care if people believe me or not."