DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodia's war crimes tribunal concluded its final week on Friday with war crimes suspect Comrade Duch asking judges to acquit him and release him when they hand down judgement early next year.
'I would like the chamber to release me,' Duch told the court, in a move that stunned observers.
Until now, a key plank of the defence's strategy has been to get Duch to take responsibility for his crimes and show remorse in the hope of getting a reduced sentence.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, ran S-21, the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison where thousands of perceived enemies of the regime were tortured and murdered between 1975-79. Duch has admitted his complicity in ordering the tortures and executions of more than 12,000 people at S-21 prison.
Duch's national defence counsel, Kar Savuth, then told the court his client should go free since he was not a senior leader of the Khmer Rouge and had merely followed orders issued by the movement's leaders.
'He was not one of those most responsible - the Communist Party of Kampuchea [was responsible and] should be prosecuted, not those under duress,' Kar Savuth said.
'That's why my client has asked to be released,' Kar Savuth concluded.
Legal observers said Kar Savuth's statements that Duch was simply following orders ran counter to international law, which does not recognize that as a defence.
It was a remarkable end to a trial whose closing days revealed a significant divide in the defence, with Duch's national lawyer advancing a legal argument utterly at odds with that of Duch's international defence lawyer, Francois Roux.
On Friday the judges insisted that the defence lay out a single position and tell the joint UN-Cambodian tribunal that it was either seeking Duch's acquittal, or that it wanted the court to reduce an expected lengthy sentence on the grounds that Duch has shown cooperation, remorse and spent five years in illegal pre-trial detention.
'I did say that [he should be acquitted], because release means acquittal,' Kar Savuth eventually told the bench.
It was a remarkable turn of events that led international co-prosecutor William Smith to tell a press conference Friday that the prosecution would have discussed a harsher sentence request than the 40 years it sought Wednesday had it known Duch would seek to have himself acquitted.
Earlier Friday Smith pleaded with the court to hand down the maximum sentence sought by the prosecution.
'We implore you that you do not come back with a sentence of less than 40 years,' Smith told the court.
Duch is 67, so the prosecution's demand would effectively translate to life in prison. There is no death penalty in Cambodia.
Witnesses at the 72-day hearing this year have told how some prisoners at S-21 had their blood entirely drained, while others suffered simulated drowning, electrocution and beatings. Very few prisoners sent to S-21 survived.
Four senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in jail and awaiting trial.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 before being forced out of power by neighbouring Vietnam. Around 2 million people died of starvation and disease or were executed under the radical regime.
'I would like the chamber to release me,' Duch told the court, in a move that stunned observers.
Until now, a key plank of the defence's strategy has been to get Duch to take responsibility for his crimes and show remorse in the hope of getting a reduced sentence.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, ran S-21, the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison where thousands of perceived enemies of the regime were tortured and murdered between 1975-79. Duch has admitted his complicity in ordering the tortures and executions of more than 12,000 people at S-21 prison.
Duch's national defence counsel, Kar Savuth, then told the court his client should go free since he was not a senior leader of the Khmer Rouge and had merely followed orders issued by the movement's leaders.
'He was not one of those most responsible - the Communist Party of Kampuchea [was responsible and] should be prosecuted, not those under duress,' Kar Savuth said.
'That's why my client has asked to be released,' Kar Savuth concluded.
Legal observers said Kar Savuth's statements that Duch was simply following orders ran counter to international law, which does not recognize that as a defence.
It was a remarkable end to a trial whose closing days revealed a significant divide in the defence, with Duch's national lawyer advancing a legal argument utterly at odds with that of Duch's international defence lawyer, Francois Roux.
On Friday the judges insisted that the defence lay out a single position and tell the joint UN-Cambodian tribunal that it was either seeking Duch's acquittal, or that it wanted the court to reduce an expected lengthy sentence on the grounds that Duch has shown cooperation, remorse and spent five years in illegal pre-trial detention.
'I did say that [he should be acquitted], because release means acquittal,' Kar Savuth eventually told the bench.
It was a remarkable turn of events that led international co-prosecutor William Smith to tell a press conference Friday that the prosecution would have discussed a harsher sentence request than the 40 years it sought Wednesday had it known Duch would seek to have himself acquitted.
Earlier Friday Smith pleaded with the court to hand down the maximum sentence sought by the prosecution.
'We implore you that you do not come back with a sentence of less than 40 years,' Smith told the court.
Duch is 67, so the prosecution's demand would effectively translate to life in prison. There is no death penalty in Cambodia.
Witnesses at the 72-day hearing this year have told how some prisoners at S-21 had their blood entirely drained, while others suffered simulated drowning, electrocution and beatings. Very few prisoners sent to S-21 survived.
Four senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in jail and awaiting trial.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 before being forced out of power by neighbouring Vietnam. Around 2 million people died of starvation and disease or were executed under the radical regime.
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