Former senior Khmer Rouge leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea facing court in Phnom Penh in 2011.
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Both leaders had appealed their convictions for crimes against humanity
At least 1.7 million people in Cambodia are believed to have died under the Khmer Rouge rule
CNN
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Two senior leaders of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime had their life sentences for crimes against humanity upheld in a Cambodian court on Wednesday.
Nuon Chea, also known as “Brother Two”, and Khieu Samphan, or “Brother Four,” were found guilty in August 2014, in front of a specially-convened Cambodian court, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
Both men had appealed their verdict, calling for the trial’s judgment to be reversed.
Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan were two of the most senior leaders of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime, in power from 1975 to 1979.
About a quarter of Cambodia’s population – at least 1.7 million people – are believed to have died during that period, from forced labor, starvation and execution.
Reaction to verdict divided
Nushin Sarkarati, Center for Justice and Accountability Staff Attorney, who represents Khmer Rouge victims in the US diaspora at the ECCC, said they welcomed the verdict.
“Today’s decision affirms that it was not error or bias that led to the final verdict, but instead overwhelming evidence brought by victims and witnesses that established the truth and gravity of these crimes,” she said in a statement.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images
Cambodia's bloody past —
Cambodian and international journalists watch a live video feed showing the verdicts in the trial of former Khmer Rouge leader "Brother Number Two," Nuon Chea, and former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, August 7, 2014.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images
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A Cambodian man Khieu Samphan on a television during the trial at the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh on August 7. He and Nuon Chea were found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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Mark Peters/ECCC/Getty Images
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Known as Brother Number Two, Nuon Chea was considered Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's right hand man. This is an image from court in 2011.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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Mark Peters/ECCC/Getty Images
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As the former head of state for the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan occupied a number of key roles as the government tortured, starved and killed its people.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
PHOTO:
AFP/Getty Images
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This undated photo, which may have been taken in 1989, shows Pol Pot, the former leader of the Khmer Rouge. He was under house arrest when he died in 1998 and never faced charges for the slaughter under his reign.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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Keystone/Getty Images
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At least 1.7 million people were killed under the Khmer Rouge's brutal regime, which controlled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. This photo shows open mass graves in 1979.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images/File
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Khmer Rouge guerilla soldiers wearing black uniforms drive into Phnom Penh in April 1975, as Cambodia falls under the control of the Khmer Rouge.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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AFP/Getty Images
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A woman cries next to a dead body in April 1975 in Phnom Penh, after the Khmer Rouge enter the Cambodian capital and establish the government of Democratic Kampuchea (DK).
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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DOCUMENTATION CENTER OF CAMBODIA
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Historical, undated photo of Nuon Chea. He held a number of positions during the regime's rule, including a short stint as acting prime minister.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
PHOTO:
DOCUMENTATION CENTER OF CAMBODIA
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Historical, undated photo of Khieu Samphan. During his trial, Khieu Samphan expressed remorse, claiming he was unaware of the full extent of the atrocities. He became the public face of the Khmer Rouge as it sought international credibility after its fall.
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Omar Havana/Getty Images
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A Cambodian man sits in Choeung Ek Killing Fields near a tree that was used to beat children to death during the Khmer Rouge regime on August 6, 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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Omar Havana/Getty Images
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A Cambodian man stands by a wall of photographs of prisoners of the Khmer Rouge regime in one of the rooms of Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, on August 6 in Phnom Penh.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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ROB ELLIOTT/AFP/Getty Images
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Cambodian citizen Sam Vishna looks at a collection of skulls that make up a map of Cambodia at Tuol Sleng Prison Museum in Phnom Penh in 1998.
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TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images
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Cambodian Buddhist monks bless victims' skulls at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields memorial in Phnom Penh on April 17, 2008.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images/File
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Cambodian Sao Phen prepares skulls and bones of victims of the Khmer Rouge inside a stupa in Kandal province in 2009.
Photos: Cambodia's bloody past
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TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images/File
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A Cambodian woman looks at portraits of victims of the Khmer Rouge at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh on November 17, 2011.
Human Rights Watch Asia Director Brad Adams said the trial had been “possibly the most expensive conviction in history,” taking 10 years to get from arrest to appeal and costing $260 million.
“It’s 40 years too late … the right verdict but at the wrong cost,” he said.
Adams said many Cambodians felt cheated by the two men’s insistence on their innocence, denying the country an explanation for their crimes.
“I think there will never be an explanation or an apology from the architects of the 20th century’s worst genocide,” he said.
During its time in power, the Khmer Rouge regime attempted to create a purely agrarian society through ruthless social engineering policies.
In 2001, Cambodia’s National Assembly voted to create a court to try the crimes of those associated with the regime.
But for many, the few convictions that have followed have done little to heal wounds left by the Khmer Rouge.
“No action can assuage the anguish, sadness and regret that haunts the survivors to this day,” former Khmer Rouge prisoner Youk Chhang wrote for CNN in 2014.
“Over 35 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, we still see the effects from this period in almost every facet of Cambodian society.”
