PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Chief Khmer Rouge inquisitor Duch appeared before Cambodia's "Killing Fields" tribunal on Tuesday, the first of Pol Pot's henchmen to be questioned over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.
Duch, also know as Kang Kek Ieu, has confessed to committing multiple atrocities during this time as head of Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre.
He is expected to be a key witness in the trial of other senior Khmer Rouge cadres.
The 65-year-old, who has been in military prison in the southeast Asian nation's capital since 1999, faced investigating judges at a closed-door meeting attended by his lawyer and translator, a spokesman for the joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal said.
The long-awaited $56.3 million tribunal into atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror has its own detention centre on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
It remains unclear whether Duch will be transferred to the purpose-built prison while Cambodian and international judges investigate prosecution allegations.
At least 14,000 people deemed to be opponents of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution passed through Tuol Sleng's barbed-wire gates. Fewer than 10 are thought to have lived to tell the tale.
Most victims were tortured and forced to confess to a variety of crimes -- mainly being CIA spies -- before being bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of the city. Women, children and even babies were among those butchered.
Earlier this month, prosecutors lodged formal cases against five suspects, who have not been named.
Besides Duch, they are widely thought to be "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, former president Khieu Samphan and Meas Muth, a son-in-law of Pol Pot's military chief Ta Mok, who died last year.
Pol Pot died in April 1998 in Along Veng, a final Khmer Rouge redoubt in jungle-clad mountains along the Thai border.
Duch, also know as Kang Kek Ieu, has confessed to committing multiple atrocities during this time as head of Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre.
He is expected to be a key witness in the trial of other senior Khmer Rouge cadres.
The 65-year-old, who has been in military prison in the southeast Asian nation's capital since 1999, faced investigating judges at a closed-door meeting attended by his lawyer and translator, a spokesman for the joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal said.
The long-awaited $56.3 million tribunal into atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror has its own detention centre on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
It remains unclear whether Duch will be transferred to the purpose-built prison while Cambodian and international judges investigate prosecution allegations.
At least 14,000 people deemed to be opponents of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution passed through Tuol Sleng's barbed-wire gates. Fewer than 10 are thought to have lived to tell the tale.
Most victims were tortured and forced to confess to a variety of crimes -- mainly being CIA spies -- before being bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of the city. Women, children and even babies were among those butchered.
Earlier this month, prosecutors lodged formal cases against five suspects, who have not been named.
Besides Duch, they are widely thought to be "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, former president Khieu Samphan and Meas Muth, a son-in-law of Pol Pot's military chief Ta Mok, who died last year.
Pol Pot died in April 1998 in Along Veng, a final Khmer Rouge redoubt in jungle-clad mountains along the Thai border.
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