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TOP Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea has been formally arrested by a UN-backed genocide tribunal, after police seized him from his home in northwest Cambodia.

"Nuon Chea arrived at the court. He was brought before the office of the co-investigating judges ... on execution of an arrest warrant,'' tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.

He said Nuon Chea would be informed of the charges being brought against him, but did not say what those charges would be.

The 82-year-old, known as "Brother Number Two'', was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's most trusted lieutenant and allegedly a key architect of the regime's horrific execution policies.

Nuon Chea is the first of a small group of former top cadres living freely in Cambodia to be arrested by tribunal authorities, prompting many who lost relatives to wonder why they have been left alone for so many years.

His rank in the communist hierarchy and alleged decision-making role would make him the most significant defendant to be tried for crimes committed under the 1975-79 regime by the tribunal, which was established last year.

Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge.

The regime abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.

News Limited
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