A UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia has charged Khieu Samphan, formerly¹ the head of state for the Khmer Rouge², with genocide.

柬埔寨一家联合国支持的法庭以种族灭绝罪起诉红色高棉前领袖乔森潘。

Khieu Samphan, detained in November,denies repsonsibility

The move came after genocide charges were filed against two other Khmer Rouge红色高棉 leaders, Ieng Sary and Nuon Chea.

All the genocide charges relate to the men's treatment of Cambodia's Vietnamese and Muslim minorities.

All three men had already been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Those charged are already in pre-trial detention³ although the trial is not expected to begin before 2011.

Denial

Up to two million people are thought to have died under the Khmer Rouge's rule.

Khieu Samphan, 78, has never denied these deaths, but both he and his lawyers insist that, as head of state, he was never directly responsible.

One member of his defence team is the infamous⁴ French lawyer Jacques Verges⁵, whose previous clients have included Nazi⁶ war criminal Klaus Barbie and Venezuelan hijacker⁷ Carlos the Jackal.

Mr Verges, 83, has known Khieu Samphan since they were both involved in left-wing student activities in France in the 1950s.

He says he has lived a life of poverty after the Khmer Rouge regime was toppled倾倒，倒塌.

A court official confirmed that the allegations were the related to the treatment of two minority groups: Cham Muslims and ethnic⁸ Vietnamese people.

The accusation⁹ of genocide carries enormous symbolic¹⁰ weight, says the BBC's Guy De Launey in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh金边.

Researchers believe that the Khmer Rouge killed hundreds of thousands of Chams because of their religious beliefs.

Final arguments were heard last month in the trial of Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, who has admitted being responsible for overseeing监督，审查 the deaths of 15,000 people.

Judges at the tribunal are expected to make a ruling on his verdict early next year.