At least 14,000 people died in the prison ran by DuchMonday, 23 November 2009
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh
The first trial at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal is entering its final week, with lawyers due to give closing arguments after months of testimony.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, ran a prison where thousands of people were tortured and murdered in the late 1970s.
He is accused of crimes against humanity and faces a lifetime prison sentence if convicted.
But the defence is likely to repeat its argument that he was following orders.
The week is the final chance for the prosecution and defence to have their say before the judges retire to consider their verdict.
Time has also been set aside for the civil party lawyers representing dozens of people who lived through the Khmer Rouge era.
They include the only three confirmed survivors of Comrade Duch's notorious S-21 prison.
At least 14,000 inmates passed through the gates of that facility. Most of them were tortured.
If they survived that ordeal they were bludgeoned to death at the so-called killing fields just outside Phnom Penh.
'Small cog'
Comrade Duch has admitted that he was in charge of S-21 and apologised in court for his part in the atrocities committed there.
The co-prosecutor Bill Smith said he believes the trial may have helped Cambodians come to terms with their horrific recent history.
"I think the trial has been very, very successful," he told the BBC.
"The fact that the court has allowed the victims to participate through their civil party lawyers has been a real major success connecting what's happening in that courtroom back to the people who experienced the tragedy of S-21."
The prosecution wants Duch to serve the maximum sentence: life imprisonment.
But the defence is likely to reiterate its argument that its client was just a small cog in the Khmer Rouge machine, and that Duch and his family would have been killed if he had not followed orders.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, ran a prison where thousands of people were tortured and murdered in the late 1970s.
He is accused of crimes against humanity and faces a lifetime prison sentence if convicted.
But the defence is likely to repeat its argument that he was following orders.
The week is the final chance for the prosecution and defence to have their say before the judges retire to consider their verdict.
Time has also been set aside for the civil party lawyers representing dozens of people who lived through the Khmer Rouge era.
They include the only three confirmed survivors of Comrade Duch's notorious S-21 prison.
At least 14,000 inmates passed through the gates of that facility. Most of them were tortured.
If they survived that ordeal they were bludgeoned to death at the so-called killing fields just outside Phnom Penh.
'Small cog'
Comrade Duch has admitted that he was in charge of S-21 and apologised in court for his part in the atrocities committed there.
The co-prosecutor Bill Smith said he believes the trial may have helped Cambodians come to terms with their horrific recent history.
"I think the trial has been very, very successful," he told the BBC.
"The fact that the court has allowed the victims to participate through their civil party lawyers has been a real major success connecting what's happening in that courtroom back to the people who experienced the tragedy of S-21."
The prosecution wants Duch to serve the maximum sentence: life imprisonment.
But the defence is likely to reiterate its argument that its client was just a small cog in the Khmer Rouge machine, and that Duch and his family would have been killed if he had not followed orders.
3 comments:
A CPP ASS KISSER SOY SOPHEAP PHONE# 011-855-12819005
CALL HIM AND TELL HIM TO SHUT THE FUCK OFF!!
Cambodian are now in great danger to the thai and the youn.We must to forget all the personal conflict if it is necessary .
"Even a young monk who devotes himself to the teaching of the Buddha,illumines this world as does the moon freed from a cloud"
"yo-hak vétak hak-ror ,phikhu yugn chhati puthsané sor-imaing lokaing ,paphear séti akphea mutorvak munti mear"
Wisdem of Buddha
Communist Ho,Mao,Sihanouk have no Buddha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTsb-woP3jI
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