UN-Backed Tribunal to Release ex-Khmer Rouge Leader

For medical reasons

A former Khmer Rouge leader is to be set free after a Cambodian court ruled Thursday that she was medically unfit to stand trial, a decision criticised by many survivors of the brutal regime.

Ieng Thirith, 80, formerly a social affairs minister and the sister-in-law of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, is one of only a few people ever brought before a court for the atrocities committed during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge era.