DPA
Phnom Penh - The chief torturer of Cambodia's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime on Tuesday became the first defendant to go on trial before a UN-backed war crimes tribunal for the deaths of up to 2 million people. Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, was the chairman of the infamous Tuol Sleng torture prison in the Cambodian capital some 30 years ago and faces charges of crimes against humanity, premeditated murder and violations of the Geneva Conventions.
"This first hearing represents the realization of significant efforts to establish a fair and independent tribunal to try those in leadership and those responsible for the violation of Cambodian and international law," presiding judge Nil Nonn told the court.
The 66-year-old former mathematics teacher and born-again Christian is the first of five detained former Khmer Rouge leaders to be put on trial, three decades after the ultra-Maoist group was toppled from power. He is the only one to have admitted guilt.
International co-prosecutor Robert Petit said in his opening address that the prosecution team would attempt to convict Duch according to "joint criminal enterprise," a complex legal strategy that observers said would make it easy for the remaining detainees to be convicted.
The tribunal's pre-trial chamber previously rejected prosecutors' attempts to have the strategy used in the trial.
"The trial chamber is not bound by the decision of the pre-trial chamber, that is why we seek to raise this again," Petit told reporters at a press conference after the hearing.
Defence lawyer Francois Roux said Duch had been detained for more than nine years without trial, which he said violated Cambodian incarceration laws.
More than 500 members of the public and about 200 media representatives attended the hearing, held at the tribunal's chambers on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
"I prayed for morning to come quickly to see this hearing start," said Tuol Sleng survivor Van Nath, whose famous paintings depict the horrors of the torture facility.
A gaunt-looking Duch arrived in the court just after 9 am (0200 GMT) but was not called on to testify during Tuesday's session.
He sat with a blank expression throughout the hearing, occasionally taking notes.
This week's hearing is expected to last less than three days and would see the court choose witnesses and set a date for the trial's next stage.
Tuesday's seven-hour session, which dealt mostly with the admissibility of witnesses, was adjourned until Wednesday morning.
Petit said the starting date for the trial's next stage would "most likely" be announced after this week's hearing has finished.
The hybrid court was established after a decade of negotiations between the United Nations and the Cambodian government to try those responsible for the hundreds of thousands of people who were executed or died of starvation or exhaustion during the Khmer Rouge's rule from 1975 to 1979. The tribunal consists of domestic and international judges, prosecutors and defence teams.
The regime sought to transform Cambodian society into an agrarian socialist utopia, erase history and start again at "year zero."
If convicted, Duch faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The tribunal has been rocked in recent months by allegations of corruption on the Cambodian side of the court and claims that government interference was influencing the decisions of domestic co-prosecutors.
International prosecutors have argued that the court should investigate more former Khmer Rouge leaders while the Cambodian side has maintained the current five defendants is enough.
"I am here simply to observe the court and how it is operating," government spokesman Phay Siphan told reporters outside the chambers. "It is in everybody's interest that this trial proceeds successfully, and we hope that it will."
"This first hearing represents the realization of significant efforts to establish a fair and independent tribunal to try those in leadership and those responsible for the violation of Cambodian and international law," presiding judge Nil Nonn told the court.
The 66-year-old former mathematics teacher and born-again Christian is the first of five detained former Khmer Rouge leaders to be put on trial, three decades after the ultra-Maoist group was toppled from power. He is the only one to have admitted guilt.
International co-prosecutor Robert Petit said in his opening address that the prosecution team would attempt to convict Duch according to "joint criminal enterprise," a complex legal strategy that observers said would make it easy for the remaining detainees to be convicted.
The tribunal's pre-trial chamber previously rejected prosecutors' attempts to have the strategy used in the trial.
"The trial chamber is not bound by the decision of the pre-trial chamber, that is why we seek to raise this again," Petit told reporters at a press conference after the hearing.
Defence lawyer Francois Roux said Duch had been detained for more than nine years without trial, which he said violated Cambodian incarceration laws.
More than 500 members of the public and about 200 media representatives attended the hearing, held at the tribunal's chambers on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
"I prayed for morning to come quickly to see this hearing start," said Tuol Sleng survivor Van Nath, whose famous paintings depict the horrors of the torture facility.
A gaunt-looking Duch arrived in the court just after 9 am (0200 GMT) but was not called on to testify during Tuesday's session.
He sat with a blank expression throughout the hearing, occasionally taking notes.
This week's hearing is expected to last less than three days and would see the court choose witnesses and set a date for the trial's next stage.
Tuesday's seven-hour session, which dealt mostly with the admissibility of witnesses, was adjourned until Wednesday morning.
Petit said the starting date for the trial's next stage would "most likely" be announced after this week's hearing has finished.
The hybrid court was established after a decade of negotiations between the United Nations and the Cambodian government to try those responsible for the hundreds of thousands of people who were executed or died of starvation or exhaustion during the Khmer Rouge's rule from 1975 to 1979. The tribunal consists of domestic and international judges, prosecutors and defence teams.
The regime sought to transform Cambodian society into an agrarian socialist utopia, erase history and start again at "year zero."
If convicted, Duch faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The tribunal has been rocked in recent months by allegations of corruption on the Cambodian side of the court and claims that government interference was influencing the decisions of domestic co-prosecutors.
International prosecutors have argued that the court should investigate more former Khmer Rouge leaders while the Cambodian side has maintained the current five defendants is enough.
"I am here simply to observe the court and how it is operating," government spokesman Phay Siphan told reporters outside the chambers. "It is in everybody's interest that this trial proceeds successfully, and we hope that it will."
2 comments:
Christians leaders or Jesus the son of God please come to save him. His is Born Again Christian. He is asking his father for his sin to be forgiven... Both of you (Jesus and Christian leaders) have a tough choice, either save him or make 2 million deads and 2 millions of their relavives who still alive to accept the justice?
Should the Evil be blamed?
Hor Namhong’s involvement in the camp’s administration of Boeng Trabek.
And Hor Namhong had commanded a Khmer Rouge concentration camp and
was responsible for the death and torture of many Cambodians.
I urge the court to put Hor Namhong to stand trial too.
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