Khmer Rouge Torture Chief In Court

Hundreds Of Cambodians Flock To Catch Glimpse Of "Duch" At Genocide Tribunal Hearing

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Nov. 20, 2007

"We have wanted to know whether those who have committed wrongdoing will ever be prosecuted." - Mam Thorn

(AP) Chatter filled the venue of Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal Tuesday, as hundreds of people eagerly awaited the arrival of the chief of the Khmer Rouge's largest and most notorious torture center.

Silence fell as Kaing Guek Eav - alias "Duch" - was escorted into a courtroom for the first public session of the long-delayed tribunal probing the communist regime's reign of terror in the 1970s.

With seating limited in the small chamber, a live video feed was broadcast to the bigger, main courtroom seating 500 people. Two satellite trucks from Cambodian television stations parked outside the courthouse to broadcast the proceedings nationwide.

Many of those gathered were family members of the victims of the 1975-79 regime, which is widely held responsible for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Duch, 66, was charged in July with crimes against humanity for his role as the head of the regime's infamous Tuol Sleng prison, also called S-21, in Phnom Penh. Up to 16,000 men, women and children were tortured there from 1975-79 and later taken away to be executed. Only 14 people are thought to have survived.

"More than three years under their rule were very painful," said 58-year-old Sin Khor, who lost her husband and two brothers - one of them executed - under the Khmer Rouge.

"This makes me feel more confident about seeing justice done," she said.

Others openly expressed their impatience and lingering anger, as Duch's defense lawyers made their arguments seeking to appeal Duch's detention order.

Oum Pum, 76, said his anger made him want to "punch Duch in the face."

"During the Khmer Rouge, they accused me of being CIA and put me in prison for one month before they released me," said Oum Pum, who lost 12 relatives.

Some who had hoped to hear Duch testify were disappointed as the pretrial hearing dealt mostly with technical issues surrounding Duch's detention. He was initially arrested on May 10, 1999 and held in a Cambodian prison on war crime charges before being transferred to the tribunal's custody in July. His lawyers argued that he had neither the means nor intention to flee if released on bail.

Chhoeuk Sao, 58, said he came to the hearing because he wanted to hear Duch say "from whom he received the order to torture and kill people." He said he lost five relatives during the Khmer Rouge years.

Despite the lack of testimony about the Khmer Rouge years, he said he was happy to be in the courtroom to witness the historic event, which comes almost three decades after the regime fell from power.

Mam Thorn, 53, wondered what would happen next.

"I am interested to see Duch," said Mam Thorn. "He was a prison chief, who had inflicted suffering and killed thousands. ... We have wanted to know whether those who have committed wrongdoing will ever be prosecuted."