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Khmer Rouge Jailer First to Be Charged

UN-backed tribunal opens amid doubts senior leaders will be brought to justice

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 31, 2007 3:31 PM CDT
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(Newser) – A UN tribunal has charged an ex-Khmer Rouge prison chief with crimes against humanity in the torturing and killing of as many as 17,000 people during the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s. Kang Kek Ieu, known as Duch, ordered inmates executed at the "killing fields" near Phnom Penh, the BBC reports. He is one of five suspects the tribunal plans to investigate.

Duch is the first person charged by the tribunal, which has taken years to get off the ground. Survivors publicly wonder whether it will track down more senior Khmer Rouge leaders, many of whom are living freely in Cambodia. The biggest names will never be charged: Pol Pot died in 1998, and second-in-command Ta Mok died last year.

Foreigner and Cambodian pre-trial chamber judges, from left, Rowan Downing (Australia), Prak Kimsan (Cambodia), Katinka Lahuis (the Netherlands) and Hout Vuthy (Cambodia), sit inside the court hall of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal headquarters in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, June 13, 2007. Cambodian and international judges announced guiding rules for a...
Foreigner and Cambodian pre-trial chamber judges, from left, Rowan Downing (Australia), Prak Kimsan (Cambodia), Katinka Lahuis (the Netherlands) and Hout Vuthy (Cambodia), sit inside the court hall of...   (Associated Press)
Cambodian visitors view an exhibit of pictures showing former Khmer Rouge leaders at a former regime's prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 28, 2007. The two photos shown on the bottom are of Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, who headed the prison which is now a genocide museum....
Cambodian visitors view an exhibit of pictures showing former Khmer Rouge leaders at a former regime's prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 28, 2007. The two photos shown on the bottom are of Kaing Khek...   (Associated Press)
A Cambodian Buddhist monk, takes a picture of human skulls at Choeung Ek killing field in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, May 31, 2007. Cambodian and foreign judges met Thursday to narrow their differences on holding a much-delayed U.N.-backed genocide tribunal for former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, a...
A Cambodian Buddhist monk, takes a picture of human skulls at Choeung Ek killing field in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, May 31, 2007. Cambodian and foreign judges met Thursday to narrow their differences...   (Associated Press)
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COMMENTS
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Details of the case against Duch, who presided over the S21 prison
Times (UK)

Lawyer says Duch was only following orders
Telegraph (UK)

Fewer than 10 people left the prison alive
Reuters

 
genocide • torture • Cambodia • Khmer Rouge • Kang Kek Ieu • Duch • Pol Pot • Ta Mok • Phnom Penh • crimes against humanity

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