TWO Khmer Rouge leaders were jailed for life today after being found guilty of crimes against humanity.

Former prime minister Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan faced the first sentences against top figures of the regime responsible for the deaths of up to two million Cambodians.

Neither betrayed any hint of emotion as the sentences were handed down.

But outside the UN-backed court, survivors applauded, many weeping after a 35-year wait for justice.

Judge Nil Nonn said the defendants, who are the most senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, were “guilty of the crimes against humanity, of extermination” and of “political persecution and other inhumane acts.”

Their lawyers swiftly announced an intention to appeal the verdict, but the judge said the gravity of the crimes meant the pair, who are both in their 80s, should “remain in detention until this judgment becomes final.”

Prosecutors had sought the maximum life terms for the men, who played key roles in a regime that left around a quarter of the country’s population dead between 1975 and 1979.

Regime atrocities affected virtually every family in Cambodia as Pol Pot’s peasant army slaughtered perceived enemies of their revolution and emptied towns and cities at gunpoint to work in the fields.

The plan catastrophically backfired, leading to the collapse of the economy and mass starvation.

Late in their two-year trial both men expressed remorse for the suffering the Khmer Rouge inflicted on Cambodia, but denied any knowledge of its crimes at the time.