A Cambodian court charged former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife today with crimes against humanity, the latest members of Pol Pot's inner circle to face justice.
The octogenarian Ieng Sary , who became the international face of the Beijing-backed ultra-Maoist revolution after it was overthrown by a 1979 Vietnamese invasion, also stands accused of war crimes, a court spokesman said.
Ieng Sary and Khieu Thirith - sister of Pol Pot's first wife, Khieu Ponnary - were arrested soon after dawn today by police who sealed off the Phnom Penh villa where they have lived since cutting a deal and surrendering in 1996.
They were then taken to the court compound on the western outskirts of the capital to face the Cambodian and international judges probing their alleged role in theKhmer Rouge massacre.
An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation under the Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror between 1975 and 1979.
Ieng Sary and Khieu Thirith are the third and fourth senior cadres to be arrested since the a UN-backed tribunal investigating the killings began work this year after almost a decade of delays.
Duch, who ran the "S-21" interrogation and torture centre at Phnom Penh's former Tuol Sleng high school, has been charged with crimes against humanity, as has "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, who is also accused of war crimes.
While Nuon Chea has proclaimed his innocence, Duch, in interviews with Western reporters, has confessed to his role in the mass killings and is expected to be a key witness against other senior regime figures.
"Brother Number One" Pol Pot died in 1998 in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng, a jungle-clad mountain on the border with Thailand.