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30 Years Later, Khmer Rouge Goes on Trial

Prison warden accused of torture, murder of 20,000 in court

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 17, 2009 5:44 AM CST
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(Newser) – Thirty years after the end of its reign of terror, the Khmer Rouge went on trial in Cambodia for the first time today. In the dock in Phnom Penh is the commander of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, which became a symbol of the brutality of Pol Pot's murderous regime. As the Times of London reports, the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Comrade Duch, is a historic leap forward for the Southeast Asian nation.

The trial of Duch and four other Khmer Rouge leaders, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, is taking places under the joint auspices of the Cambodian justice system and the UN. From 1976 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge killed 1.7 million people in prison camps and the "killing fields" that littered the nation. "I feel hot inside, when I think of what he did," said one survivor of Tuol Sleng in the court today. "I want him to stay in prison forever."

Prosecutors gather at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on the first day of a UN-backed tribunal Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Prosecutors gather at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on the first day of a UN-backed tribunal Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.   (AP Photo/Adrees Latif, POOL)
Former Khmer Rouge prison commander Kaing Guek Eav, also know as Duch looks on during the first day of a UN-backed tribunal Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Former Khmer Rouge prison commander Kaing Guek Eav, also know as "Duch" looks on during the first day of a UN-backed tribunal Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.   (AP Photo/Adrees Latif, POOL)
Cambodian Buddhist monks gather Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, outside the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Cambodian Buddhist monks gather Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, outside the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.   (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
The notorious torture center boss went before Cambodia's genocide tribunal Tuesday for its first trial over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime.
The notorious torture center boss went before Cambodia's genocide tribunal Tuesday for its first trial over the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime.   (AP Photo/Adrees Latif, POOL)
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A brief history of the Khmer Rouge
Time

Articles from the genocide years
Guardian (UK)

 
genocide • torture • war crimes • Cambodia • Khmer Rouge • Duch • Pol Pot • Phnom Penh • crimes against humanity

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