Anne Barrowclough
Times Online (UK)
Cambodian prosecutors in the war crimes trial of the Khmer Rouge's former prison chief have demanded a 40 year jail sentence for the part he played in murdering thousands of Cambodians and spreading terror across Cambodia.
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, was the director of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands of Cambodians were sent to be tortured and killed at the height of Pol Pot's genocidal regime.
Notoriously brutal, Duch encouraged the jail's interrogation teams to apply ever harsher torture techniques to their victims, including cutting off their fingers and toes, forcing them to eat their own excrement and literally bleeding them to death. The jail's chief executioner Him Huy told The Times that his boss used to like to watch the executioners at work Cheong Ek, known as the Killing Fields, where prisoners were bludgeoned to death.
Under Duch's directorship, 17000 men, women and children who had been accused of disloyalty were taken to Tuol Sleng - known as S-21- to be interrogated until they implicated friends, relatives and even people they had never met in fantastical 'plots' against the regime. Then they were killed. There was no reprieve; of the thousnds who passed through the gates of S-21 between 1977 - 1979, only 15 emerged alive.
Today in the wood-panelled Extroardinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, co-prosecutor William Smith acknowledged that Duch had admitted his guilt and repeatedly apologised to his victims throughout his nine month trial for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture. But he said the 67-year-old former maths teacher must be held accountable for his 'unrelenting brutality' at S-21.
"The sentence to be imposed by this trial chamber should be 40 years imprisonment," Mr Smith said, adding that five years had been taken off the request for his co-operation and five more for time already served.
"Your honours should be mindful of the dreams and opportunities that were denied, also keep in mind the S-21's unrelenting brutality that was meted out with no mercy to all prisoners including hundreds of children — the most defenceless of victims," he said. "Finally, bear in mind the loss and suffering of the families of the victims who are still suffering to this very day."
Despite his repeated apologies to his victims, the former torturer-in-chief has continued to deny that he personally killed or tortured his prisoners, and to claim that he acted under orders from his superiors, and was often frightened for his own life as he saw his peers taken to be executed.
However the prosecution consistently argued that he played a vital role in keeping Pol Pot's regime in power.
At the start of his trial, co-prosecutor Chea Leang told the court: "S-21 formed an integral and indeed vital role in a widespread attack on the population of Cambodia. The accused's crimes were part of this attack. "
On Tuesday, during closing arguments, Ms Chea described Duch as: "the personification of ruthless efficiency" and the "perfect candidate" to run the Khmer Rouge's model political prison.
If the UN-backed tribunal finds him guilty and gives him a 40 year sentence, he will be 107 before he can be released. He could stillr eceived a life sentence, but the Cambodian justice system does not allow a death sentence.
Duch is the only former member of Pol Pot's inner circle to admit his guilt. Four other Khmer Rouge leaders will follow him into the dock, although it is expected that their trials will not begin until 2011.
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, was the director of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands of Cambodians were sent to be tortured and killed at the height of Pol Pot's genocidal regime.
Notoriously brutal, Duch encouraged the jail's interrogation teams to apply ever harsher torture techniques to their victims, including cutting off their fingers and toes, forcing them to eat their own excrement and literally bleeding them to death. The jail's chief executioner Him Huy told The Times that his boss used to like to watch the executioners at work Cheong Ek, known as the Killing Fields, where prisoners were bludgeoned to death.
Under Duch's directorship, 17000 men, women and children who had been accused of disloyalty were taken to Tuol Sleng - known as S-21- to be interrogated until they implicated friends, relatives and even people they had never met in fantastical 'plots' against the regime. Then they were killed. There was no reprieve; of the thousnds who passed through the gates of S-21 between 1977 - 1979, only 15 emerged alive.
Today in the wood-panelled Extroardinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, co-prosecutor William Smith acknowledged that Duch had admitted his guilt and repeatedly apologised to his victims throughout his nine month trial for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture. But he said the 67-year-old former maths teacher must be held accountable for his 'unrelenting brutality' at S-21.
"The sentence to be imposed by this trial chamber should be 40 years imprisonment," Mr Smith said, adding that five years had been taken off the request for his co-operation and five more for time already served.
"Your honours should be mindful of the dreams and opportunities that were denied, also keep in mind the S-21's unrelenting brutality that was meted out with no mercy to all prisoners including hundreds of children — the most defenceless of victims," he said. "Finally, bear in mind the loss and suffering of the families of the victims who are still suffering to this very day."
Despite his repeated apologies to his victims, the former torturer-in-chief has continued to deny that he personally killed or tortured his prisoners, and to claim that he acted under orders from his superiors, and was often frightened for his own life as he saw his peers taken to be executed.
However the prosecution consistently argued that he played a vital role in keeping Pol Pot's regime in power.
At the start of his trial, co-prosecutor Chea Leang told the court: "S-21 formed an integral and indeed vital role in a widespread attack on the population of Cambodia. The accused's crimes were part of this attack. "
On Tuesday, during closing arguments, Ms Chea described Duch as: "the personification of ruthless efficiency" and the "perfect candidate" to run the Khmer Rouge's model political prison.
If the UN-backed tribunal finds him guilty and gives him a 40 year sentence, he will be 107 before he can be released. He could stillr eceived a life sentence, but the Cambodian justice system does not allow a death sentence.
Duch is the only former member of Pol Pot's inner circle to admit his guilt. Four other Khmer Rouge leaders will follow him into the dock, although it is expected that their trials will not begin until 2011.
6 comments:
What the point of putting him in prison when he still get rice, place to sleep, pple to talk too? that is like heaven in Cambodia if you get all that under one roof. 40 yrs is not enough! He deserve a torture chamber!
The Killer Chinese Kang Khen Ieng is very happy face. He ordered to kill almost 20000 Khmer innocent people and just 40 years in a good prison. His life in UN Prison is better than 70% of Khmer lifes today.
DEATH SENTENCE!
forty years? I said life in prison. He is luck to stay alive.
40 years will not deter future killers from killing again.
40 years jail term for Duch is insulting to Cambodians and 15000 lives lost under his supervision.
Post a Comment