backed by china, rebels took control of the capital phnom penh, and replaced a pro-american government. the communist regime decided to build a new society based on agriculture but it took social engineering to an extreme evacuating cities and sending the entire population to forced labor in rural villages. the regime also purged intellectuals and practitioners of traditional culture, resulting in the deaths of more than 1.5 million people. a basic agreement between cambodia and the united nations was reached more than a decade ago, paving the way for the extraordinary chambers in the courts of cambodia but the tribunal was not established until 2006 as the government sought to retain control of the court. >> earlier michio kijima spoke with senior reporter yusaka nakagawa who spoke as our phnom penh bureau chief since 2005. he spoke with nuan chie, a former democrat of the people's assembly. >> would you first tell us a bit more about this man? >> he is said to be the architect of the pol pot regime's ideology. he was second in command. the interview took place in 2004 when he was liv

now it's a museum and one of phnom penh's biggest tourist attractions. this man knows the killing fields well. his name is him hoy and he's a former khmer rouge prison guard. >> i killed five people. i did it at chunk x. i was forced to kill them. if i didn't do it, i would have been killed myself. >> he worked here at phnom penh's notorious prison also known as s21. thousands of prisoners were tortured and interrogated here before being sent to the killing fields for execution. >> i didn't know why people were being brought here. i 07b8 knew they were to -- i only knew they were enemies of the state. >> they accused me of being a spy for the kgi. >> his friends are part of a small group that survived the khmer rouge prisons. >> they beat me once for 12 days and 12 nights and then my back was so swollen i couldn't lie down. i had to be on my side. >> last yaryks may testified at the at the un backed tribunal, the first ever trial against a khmer rouge official. he had come to confront the former chief of the prison, also known as doyk. >> we find you of

members of the khmer rouge appeared in court for their trial in genocide in the cambodian capital phnom penh. they're charged with causing the death of 2 million people during the late 1970's. the former governor of illinois, rod blagojevich, has been convicted of 17 of the 20 corruption charges against him, including all 11 charges related to his attempt to trade president barry bonds's vacated senate seat. jurors could not reach a verdict on cho charges of attempted extortion and found him not guilty on one charge of soliciting bribes. he will be sentenced later. hugo chavez is hardly known for keeping quiet. and that's perhaps why the most current mystery surrounding his health is causing quite the stir a cording to top government officials, chavez remains in havana where he's recuperating two weeks on an operation after a pelvic abscess. opponents are quick to seize on his absence as violation of the constitution. speculation abroad continues to build. from havana, michael ross reports. >> hugo chavez is constantly traveling to cuba and helps bank roll the island's struggling economy. wh