Two former Khmer Rouge leaders have been sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the genocide of an estimated two milllion people in Cambodia.
The UN-backed tribunal's verdicts were announced against Khieu Samphan, 83, the Maoist regime's former head of state, and Nuon Chea, 88, who was leader Pol Pot's deputy.
The charges centred on the forced exodus of millions of people from Cambodia's cities into the countryside, where they were starved or worked to death.
The case also involved an execution site in the northwest where thousands of people were shot and buried in mass graves.
Nuon Chea (L) and Khieu Samphan remained impassive as they were sentencedNuon Chea, wearing his trademark sunglasses, sat in a wheelchair in the dock as the verdict was read in the capital Phnom Penh, while Khieu Samphan stood next to him.
A man whose father and siblings died during the regime cries outside courtSurvivors of the brutal regime - which oversaw the torture and execution of tens of thousands of Khmer people - cried and applauded as they were jailed following the two-year trial.
Skulls at a memorial at the Killing Fields where thousands were butchered"This is the justice that I have been waiting for these last 35 years," said 70-year-old survivor Khieu Pheatarak.
"I will never forget the suffering but this is a great relief for me. It is a victory and an historic day for all Cambodians."
Cambodian and international journalists watch the trialShe was among tens of thousands of Cambodians taken from their homes at gunpoint in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge's peasant army.
A woman holds a traditional Khmer scarf as she awaits the sentencingThey were forced into agricultural work in an attempt to create a totally self-sufficient and classless agrarian society.
The men's lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
Torture instruments used by Khmer Rouge activists displayed at Tuol Sleng"It is unjust for my client. He did not know or commit many of these crimes," Son Arun, a lawyer for Nuon Chea, told reporters.
Despite both defendants denying any knowledge of the Khmer Rouge's crimes, they both eventually expressed remorse for the suffering inflicted.
Former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary died while facing trialSurvivors fear the ageing men will not live long enough to serve more than a year or two of their sentence.
Former foreign minister Ieng Sary died aged 87 last year while on trial on charges of genocide.
An undated photo of Pol Pot (left) with Ieng Sary (centre)His wife Ieng Thirith was released in 2012 after it was ruled she was too ill to stand trial.
Pol Pot was arrested by former Khmer Rouge colleagues and sentenced to life under house arrest in 1997. He died a year later.
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