Duch's lawyers had argued their client's eight years in jail without trial violated his human rights [Reuters] MONDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2007
Al Jazeera
A United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia has rejected an appeal by the former Khmer Rouge prison chief against his continued detention.
Passing their ruling at a special court in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday, the panel of judges ruled that Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, might try to flee the country or threaten witnesses if he were set free ahead of his trial.
The former boss of the notorious S-21 torture and interrogation centre is awaiting trial on crimes against humanity, expected to begin next year
Duch's defence lawyers had argued last week that he should be freed because his human rights had been violated by the more than eight years he has already been in jail without trial.
But prosecutors said that Duch's release would pose a threat to public order in Cambodia, and he could attempt to escape justice by fleeing the country.
They argued that he should remain behind bars for his own safety because he could be harmed both by "accomplices wishing to silence him and by the relatives of victims seeking revenge".
Duch's appeal was the first heard before a UN-backed tribunal for former Khmer Rouge members and had been seen as a key test of the court's credibility.
Duch was initially arrested by the government in 1999.
Last year he was handed over to the tribunal and charged with crimes against humanity.
Duch is one of five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders currently in detention awaiting trial before the tribunal.
During the Khmer Rouge's rule over Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 he ran its secret police as well as the notorious S-21 torture and interrogation centre.
Some 17,000 people are thought to have passed through the centre, with only a handful surviving.
Among the five former officials awaiting trial Duch is the lowest ranking member of the former regime, but his role in charge of the S-21 interrogation centre, housed in a former Phnom Penh high school, has made him one of the most notorious.
He has insisted he was simply following orders from the top to save his own life.
"I was under other people's command, and I would have died if I disobeyed it," he told a government interrogator after his arrest.
The first formal trials before the tribunal are expected to get under way early next year.
Passing their ruling at a special court in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday, the panel of judges ruled that Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, might try to flee the country or threaten witnesses if he were set free ahead of his trial.
The former boss of the notorious S-21 torture and interrogation centre is awaiting trial on crimes against humanity, expected to begin next year
Duch's defence lawyers had argued last week that he should be freed because his human rights had been violated by the more than eight years he has already been in jail without trial.
But prosecutors said that Duch's release would pose a threat to public order in Cambodia, and he could attempt to escape justice by fleeing the country.
They argued that he should remain behind bars for his own safety because he could be harmed both by "accomplices wishing to silence him and by the relatives of victims seeking revenge".
Duch's appeal was the first heard before a UN-backed tribunal for former Khmer Rouge members and had been seen as a key test of the court's credibility.
Duch was initially arrested by the government in 1999.
Last year he was handed over to the tribunal and charged with crimes against humanity.
Duch is one of five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders currently in detention awaiting trial before the tribunal.
During the Khmer Rouge's rule over Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 he ran its secret police as well as the notorious S-21 torture and interrogation centre.
Some 17,000 people are thought to have passed through the centre, with only a handful surviving.
Among the five former officials awaiting trial Duch is the lowest ranking member of the former regime, but his role in charge of the S-21 interrogation centre, housed in a former Phnom Penh high school, has made him one of the most notorious.
He has insisted he was simply following orders from the top to save his own life.
"I was under other people's command, and I would have died if I disobeyed it," he told a government interrogator after his arrest.
The first formal trials before the tribunal are expected to get under way early next year.
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