Ieng Thirith during her bail appeal hearing at the UN backed tribunal at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in 2010 (Source: Reuters) Ieng Thirith, wife of Ieng Sary - the former leader of Cambodia ’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime, died at the age of 83, according to a statement of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on August 22.
Ieng Thirith, ever known as the first lady of the Khmer Rouge, passed away at 10:30 on August 22 in Cambodia ’s northwestern province of Pailin .
She served as the regime’s social affairs minister alongside her husband, former deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ieng Sary, who died in the ECCC’s custody in 2013 at the age of 87.
In 2007, Ieng Thirith and Ieng Sary were arrested for atrocity crimes at the United Nations-backed ECCC.
Ieng Thirith was indicted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, but she had been found unfit to stand trial due to progressive dementia.
Established in 2005, the ECCC is seeking justice for the victims who died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or execution during the regime from 1975 to 1979.-VNA
