The last living member of former Cambodian leader Pol Pot’s inner circle denied complicity in the genocide committed under the brutal Khmer Rouge government, telling an international tribunal hearing his appeal on Thursday that he was being judged as a proxy for the entire radical communist regime.
Speaking slowly and deliberately, Khieu Samphan, 90, told the tribunal of Cambodian and international judges in a final statement to end his appeal of a 2018 verdict that he “categorically denied” participation in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“The trial chamber has demonstrated its inability to adjudicate me impartially,” he said as he read his statement. “It is clear that through me, the chamber was, rather, targeting the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).”
