Khmer terror 'for good of people', says ex-deputy leader

The former deputy leader of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, accused over the deaths of 1.7 million people, has claimed the regime was acting in the country’s best interests.

Nuon Chea told a UN-backed tribunal that it was failing to consider the complete story behind the Khmer Rouge. The tribunal is trying him and two other Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity and other charges of atrocities committed under the 1970s regime.

All three say they are innocent. Nuon Chea was the chief ideologist for the communist movement and its number two behind Pol Pot.