Cambodia court rejects genocide appeal of last surviving Khmer Rouge leader

Judge upholds conviction of Khieu Samphan, 91, in what is likely to be UN-backed court's last judgment

Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal for the Khmer Rouge has upheld a genocide conviction against the regime's last surviving leader, more than 40 years after Pol Pot's brutal communist regime fell.

The tribunal, known as the extraordinary chambers in the courts of Cambodia (ECCC), rejected an appeal by Khieu Samphan, 91, in what was expected to be the final judgment by the court. Khieu Samphan, who was a former head of state, was found guilty of crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions, and of the genocide of ethnic minority Vietnamese in 2018.