Two top Khmer Rouge leaders have been jailed for life after being convicted by Cambodia’s UN-backed tribunal of crimes against humanity.

Nuon Chea served as leader Pol Pot’s deputy and Khieu Samphan was the Maoist regime’s head of state.

The court ruled they were complicit in forced evacuations, murder and executions orchestrated by the regime.

The pair are the two most senior members to be held to account for the reign of terror that led to the deaths of up to two million people between 1975 and 1979.

Around 14,000 others were tortured and executed.

The verdict is only the second delivered in the tribunal’s nine years of operation.

Their lawyers say they plan to appeal against the ruling.

The regime sought to turn Cambodia back to “year zero” in its quest for a peasant utopia.

The two men will remain in court to face separate charges of genocide for their part in the 1970s “killing fields” ultra-Maost revolution.