Ailing Khmer Rouge leader discharged from hospital: court

March 6, 2008 Thursday

PHNOM PENH - AILING Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary was discharged on Thursday from hospital after more than two weeks of treatment and returned to the custody of Cambodia's genocide tribunal, court officials said.
The 82-year-old former regime foreign minister was rushed to hospital Feb 20 for the third time this year amid growing concerns over his health ahead of the trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, which are expected to start later this year.
'Ieng Sary has been discharged from hospital and was taken back to the court on Thursday morning,' tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told reporters.
'The doctors said he is OK now,' he added.
Ieng Sary was previously hospitalised in late January for treatment of a chronic heart condition.
He was in hospital again earlier in February, spending a week under treatment after he began urinating blood.
Ieng Sary has suffered from deteriorating health since his arrest last November, according to his lawyer, highlighting the fragile condition of the tribunal's likely defendants who are mostly in their 70s and 80s.
Their condition has increasingly raised fears that some will not live long enough to be brought to trial. -- AFP
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