KHIEU Samphan
Biography
Khieu Samphan received a bursary to study in France in 1955 and published his doctoral dissertation “Cambodia's economy and industrial development”. Upon his return to Cambodia, Khieu Samphan became a professor before being appointed Secretary of State for Trade in Sihanouk’s regime in 1962. Under threat from Sihanouk’s security forces, he allegedly went into hiding in 1967 and reemerged within the Khmer Rouge resistance in the early 1970s. In 1976 he was appointed Democratic Kampuchea’s Head of State. He succeeded Pol Pot after the latter retired as the official head of the Khmer Rouge in 1987, and represented Kampuchea at the 1989 International Conference on Cambodia in Paris. After pledging allegiance to the Cambodian government in 1998, he left the Khmer Rouge and lived in the north-western province of Pailin until being arrested in placed in provisional detention at the ECCC in November 2007.
| Alias | Hem |
| Date of Birth | 28 July 1931 |
| Place of Birth | Svay Rieng |
| Arrested Date | 19 November 2007 |
| Defence counsel | Mr. Kong Sam Onn(Cambodia), Mr. Jacques Vergès (France) |
| Position in Democratic Kampuchea | Head of State (Chairman of the State Presidium) of Democratic Kampuchea. |
| Status of case | Khieu Samphan has been indicted and sent to trial for Crimes against Humanity, Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Genocide, offences which are defined and punishable under Articles 4,5, 6, 29 (New) and 39 (New) of the Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers as amended 27 October 2004. The case is currently on trial. The initial hearing in the trial was held 27-30 June 2011, and the substantive part of the trial commenced with opening statements on 21 November 2011. |
| Key allegations | Khieu Samphan is alleged to be responsible, through his acts or omissions (committed via a joint criminal enterprise), for having planned, instigated, ordered, or aided and abetted, or being responsible by virtue of superior responsibility, for the following crimes committed between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979:
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