Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Sep 22 (AP) Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal on Thursday rejected the appeal of a genocide conviction by the communist group's last surviving leader in what is expected to be the special court's last session.

The historic international court issued its ruling on an appeal by Khieu Samphan, who served as head of state in Cambodia's 1975-79 Khmer Rouge government.

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He was convicted in 2018 of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced to life in prison.

The tribunal spent USD 337 million and 16 years to convict just him and two other defendants in connection with a reign of terror that caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

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Khieu Sampan denied having had any real say in policies when the Khmer Rouge sought to establish a utopian agrarian society, causing their countrymen's deaths from execution, starvation and inadequate medical care.

It was ousted from power in 1979 by an invasion from neighbouring communist state Vietnam.

“No matter what you decide, I will die in prison,” Khieu Samphan said in his final statement of appeal to the court last year.

“I will die always remembering the suffering of my Cambodian people. I will die seeing that I am alone in front of you. I am judged symbolically rather than by my actual deeds as an individual.”

In his appeal, he alleged the court made errors in legal procedures and interpretation and acted unfairly. But the court noted on Thursday that his appeal did not directly question the facts of the case as presented in court.

It ruled point by point on the arguments raised by Khieu Samphan, rejecting virtually all and saying its final judgment of several hundred page would be official when it is published.

The final ruling makes little practical difference. Khieu Samphan is 91 and already serving another life sentence for his 2014 conviction for crimes against humanity connected with forced transfers and disappearances of masses of people.

His co-defendant Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's No. 2 leader and chief ideologist, was convicted twice and received the same life sentence. Nuon Chea died in 2019 at age 93. (AP)

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