PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia's genocide tribunal abruptly adjourned a pretrial hearing for a Khmer Rouge leader Wednesday after his French attorney erupted at judges because thousands of pages of documents had not been translated into French.

The judges later said they would issue a warning to lawyer Jacques Verges for courtroom conduct causing the hearing's postponement.

Verges, 83, who is representing Khieu Samphan in his appeal against pretrial detention, has earned notoriety with a client list that includes Nazi Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie, Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal and former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The tribunal has charged Khieu Samphan with crimes against humanity and war crimes committed when the communist Khmer Rouge held power in 1975-79. Some 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution as a result of the group's radical policies in trying to build a classless society.

(AP) French lawyer, Jacques Verges, representing a former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samph, looks... Full Image

Khieu Samphan, 76, has repeatedly denied responsibility for any atrocities.

Verges stormed out of Wednesday's closed-door hearing, telling reporters that judges had asked Khieu Samphan to find a new lawyer.

"French is an official language of the tribunal. There is not one page of the case file against Mr. Khieu Samphan translated into French," Verges told reporters, speaking in French. "I should be capable of knowing what my client is blamed for."

After Verges refused to participate further, the judges suggested Khieu Samphan might want to appoint a new lawyer to represent him - and then adjourned the hearing.

"I have been a lawyer for 50 years, it is the first time I have seen judges ask an accused to change his lawyer. This is a scandal!" he said.

(AP) Khieu Samphan, center, a former Khmer Rouge head of state, is helped before seating in the dock for... Full Image

One of the Cambodian prosecutors, Chea Leang, said the court is facing difficulty translating thousands of pages of documents for all its cases into the three official languages used by the tribunal - Khmer, English and French.

But she said Verges' refusal to participate in the hearing due to the absence of French-language documents was "unreasonable" because the proceedings were not part of the actual trial.

Verges and Khieu Samphan have said they have known each other since they both were active in left-wing student activities in Paris in the 1950s.

Khieu Samphan has been detained by the tribunal since Nov. 19. He is one of five former senior leaders in custody. The long-delayed tribunal is expected to hold its first trial later this year. Many fear the Khmer Rouge's aging leaders could die before being brought to justice.

In its detention order, the tribunal's judges said Khieu Samphan "aided and abetted" his regime's policies that were "characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhumane acts such as forcible transfers of the population, enslavement and forced labor."

Khieu Samphan's lawyers say he held no real power as the Khmer Rouge's head of state and is not guilty of the crimes he is charged with.

Khieu Samphan has blamed the late Khmer Rouge chief Pol Pot for the group's policies, including decisions to purge many Khmer Rouge cadres suspected of being disloyal or spies.

Expressionless before the court, Khieu Samphan stood when asked to introduce himself Wednesday and said he lived a life of poverty after the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

"I didn't have any job, and after leaving the jungle, I depended on my wife who supported the whole family," he said.