Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan is again in good health, after collapsing Tuesday, and is ready to go home, his wife So Socheat said Thursday.
Khieu Samphan, 76, collapsed at his Pailin home, and was flown by government helicopter to Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital Wednesday morning for treatment.
So Socheat said the collapse had been triggered by her husband’s high blood pressure, which has now returned to normal.
International media reports had branded Khieu Samphan’s minor illness a stroke.
“He has good health,” So Socheat said.
Khieu Samphan is staying in a VIP room at the hospital, usually reserved for high-ranking government officials, accompanied by seven armed guards, said Hang Borith, Calmette Hospital’s chief of administration.
He said Khieu Samphan had undergone a complete battery of medical tests, but he was unsure of the results.
Ministry of Health Secretary of State Heng Taykry, who is director of the hospital, said he was too busy to comment.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the government was not detaining Khieu Samphan against his will at the hospital.
It is up to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to decide whether to charge and detain Khieu Samphan, he said.
“We don’t have the right to prevent him from going. Only the court does,” he added.
Khieu Samphan’s younger brother, Khieu Seng Kim, 62, on Thursday protested his brother’s innocence.
“I strongly believe my brother is not a killer,” he said, adding that as head of state, his brother had no real power in the Democratic Kampuchea government.
Recounting comments made by other Khmer Rouge officials about Khieu Samphan, Khieu Seng Kim said: “Pailin people always looked down on him: ‘Why should we listen to a head of state who is no more than a warehouse guard?’”
Khieu Seng Kim said he supported the work of the ECCC and hoped the court would clear his brother’s good name.
(additional reporting by Erika Kinetz)
