Prosecutor: Khmer Rouge defendant guilty of regime’s crimes

By SOPHENG CHEANG and DAVID RISING
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Prosecutors are arguing the former head of the Khmer Rouge shared joint culpability for the regime’s atrocities in Cambodia in the 1970s, rejecting defense arguments that he should not be held responsible. Khieu Samphan is appealing his 2018 conviction on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. His attorney said the principle of joint criminal enterprise was a hazardous basis for conviction. Prosecutors argued it was properly applied in his case. Khieu Samphan is the last surviving member of the inner circle of Pol Pot’s radical communist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.