By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Chief Khmer Rouge interrogator Duch is a "gentle man" who was only following orders when he ran the notorious S-21 torture centre during Pol Pot's reign of terror 30 years ago, his sister said on Wednesday.
"My brother was a gentle man," Hong Kimhong, 50, told Reuters outside Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal where Duch, charged with crimes against humanity, is seeking bail ahead of his trial expected next year.
"He worked under the Khmer Rouge regime. If he did not follow orders from above, he would have been killed," she said on the second day of the historic hearing held on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.
Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, is the first senior Khmer Rouge cadre to stand before the U.N.-backed court set up to prosecute "those most responsible" for the 1.7 million deaths during the 1975-79 genocide, one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
There was little reaction from the grey-haired former schoolteacher, now 66, as prosecutors argued against his release in the nationally televised hearing.
"He bears at least some direct responsibility for the detention, torture and deaths of over 14,000 men, women and children," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told the five Cambodian and international judges.
"A lot of Cambodians are watching and listening to what is being said and done in this chamber. Most of them have been waiting for 30 years to see justice done," Petit said.
A born-again Christian, Duch has confessed in interviews with Western reporters that he committed multiple atrocities as head of the infamous Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre.
At least 14,000 people deemed to be opponents of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution passed through Tuol Sleng's barbed-wire gates. Fewer than 10 are thought to have lived to tell the tale.
Most victims were tortured and forced to confess to a variety of crimes -- mainly being CIA spies -- before being bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of the city. Women, children and even babies were among those butchered.
But Duch's sister did not believe "he was as brutal as the allegations say" and she said their family had also suffered under the Khmer Rouge.
"Ten of our family died of starvation under the regime. If he isn't released I don't think it will be a fair trial," she said.
Her comments were echoed by Duch's 30-year-old son, Hong Sivpheng.
"I want to see my Dad released. This is all about politics".
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; editing by Rosalind Russell and Roger Crabb)
"My brother was a gentle man," Hong Kimhong, 50, told Reuters outside Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal where Duch, charged with crimes against humanity, is seeking bail ahead of his trial expected next year.
"He worked under the Khmer Rouge regime. If he did not follow orders from above, he would have been killed," she said on the second day of the historic hearing held on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.
Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, is the first senior Khmer Rouge cadre to stand before the U.N.-backed court set up to prosecute "those most responsible" for the 1.7 million deaths during the 1975-79 genocide, one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
There was little reaction from the grey-haired former schoolteacher, now 66, as prosecutors argued against his release in the nationally televised hearing.
"He bears at least some direct responsibility for the detention, torture and deaths of over 14,000 men, women and children," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told the five Cambodian and international judges.
"A lot of Cambodians are watching and listening to what is being said and done in this chamber. Most of them have been waiting for 30 years to see justice done," Petit said.
A born-again Christian, Duch has confessed in interviews with Western reporters that he committed multiple atrocities as head of the infamous Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre.
At least 14,000 people deemed to be opponents of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution passed through Tuol Sleng's barbed-wire gates. Fewer than 10 are thought to have lived to tell the tale.
Most victims were tortured and forced to confess to a variety of crimes -- mainly being CIA spies -- before being bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of the city. Women, children and even babies were among those butchered.
But Duch's sister did not believe "he was as brutal as the allegations say" and she said their family had also suffered under the Khmer Rouge.
"Ten of our family died of starvation under the regime. If he isn't released I don't think it will be a fair trial," she said.
Her comments were echoed by Duch's 30-year-old son, Hong Sivpheng.
"I want to see my Dad released. This is all about politics".
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; editing by Rosalind Russell and Roger Crabb)
9 comments:
Let Duch go if he wished, unless there is good evidence that he made any decision on his own to kill anyone. He will not fled the country. Where will he go? He will be recognized in second.
if he is released he might be killed by someone to shut him up then it will be less witness to confess.
let him stay in jail.
Correct, but we should do better than jail for important witness. The court should put him under witness protection with good treatment. It is worthed.
Ask Nuon Chea to give order to duch to pull all his finger's nails now. If Duch follows the order, I believe he what he claims.
That is such a stupid idea, 6:50. Which country on this planet will asked their executioners to inflict pain on themselves.
8:01 PM,
I am on the same planet as yours.
The idea is not stupid. It will indeed prove that this monster can think, can have a good judgement that the order he is going to execute is painful, is bad, is wrong. Also very crucial in this legal process, he admits that those victims were innocent people and reveals in his own words that he commits many sins in his life, people will not forgive him, it's time for him to pay the consequences. If he had killed 10 or 20 people, maybe it's a mistake, but 14000 innocent people every single day over 3.5 years period?
And what is the reason for you to defend this monster who tortured and killed 14000 innocent people, including mothers and young children, in the most inhumane methods. Do you ever feel sorry those victims and their families?
9:33, the reason I defend Duch is simply because I was not chosen to wear his shoes and required to do what he did in order to keep my life. I know I will have nightmare every night until I lost my moral when my brain adapted to such condition. Thus, I can't thank him enough for doing it in my place. Get it?
He more than followed order, he happily and actively participated in the system. get it ?
Well, everyone in any society participated in the system, but they are not all guilty.
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