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Ex-Khmer Rouge minister detained Ex-Khmer Rouge minister detained
(about 1 hour later)
Police and officials from Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal have taken former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary into custody.Police and officials from Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal have taken former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary into custody.
The former leader was detained after police surrounded his home in Phnom Penh early in the morning. Ieng Sary and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, were driven to Phnom Penh's special courts.
He will be taken before judges who will decide if he should face charges. They will appear before judges who will decide if they should face charges.
Ieng Sary was the brother-in-law of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Some one million people are thought to have died under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.Ieng Sary was the brother-in-law of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Some one million people are thought to have died under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.
The former foreign minister is the third senior official to be targeted by the tribunal. A special court was established last year to bring surviving leaders of the brutal regime to the dock. Trials are expected to start in 2008.
Former Khmer Rouge second-in command Nuon Chea and former prison chief Kang Kek Ieu - also known as Duch - have both been charged with crimes against humanity. Two senior Khmer Rouge officials have already been charged by the court.
Pol Pot's second-in command, Nuon Chea, and the head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison Kang Kek Ieu - also known as Duch - both face charges of crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Purge of intellectuals
Police surrounded the Phnom Penh house of Ieng Sary and his wife early in the morning.
WHO WERE THE KHMER ROUGE? Maoist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979Founded and led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998 Abolished religion, schools and currency in a bid to create agrarian utopiaBrutal regime that did not tolerate dissentMore than a million people thought to have died from starvation, overwork or execution Brutal Khmer Rouge regime
They searched the house for around three hours and then drove the couple away in a convoy of vehicles.
They will face a short hearing at the courts and will likely be charged later in the day, says the BBC's Guy Delauney in Phnom Penh.
The couple, who have been living freely in the Cambodian capital for more than 10 years, were at the heart of the Khmer Rouge leadership.
Ieng Thirith's sister was married to Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge founder who died in 1998.
Ieng Sary, meanwhile, was responsible for convincing many educated Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge to return to help rebuild the country.
Many were then tortured and executed as part of the purge of intellectuals, some of them diplomats from his own office.
Prosecutors for the tribunal have said there is evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in crimes, including planning, directing and coordinating forced labour and unlawful killings.
Ieng Sary has repeatedly denied any crime. In 1996 he became the first senior Khmer Rouge leader to defect - and as a result was granted a royal pardon.
But, says our correspondent, the validity of that agreement looks set to be tested with his arrest by the court.