Photos: Duch in his cell in 2003 (L), and judges hearing his appeal on 20th November 2007.PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief "Duch" will on Tuesday appeal his detention by Cambodia's genocide tribunal in the first public hearing at the UN-backed court since its creation last year.
Lawyers for Kaing Guek Eav, whose revolutionary name was Duch, will argue that years spent imprisoned without trial by another court are grounds for his release, legal documents show, in what many see as a key opening test of the tribunal's credibility.
Established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of tense negotiations between Cambodia and the UN, the long-stalled tribunal seeks to prosecute crimes committed 30 years ago by senior regime leaders.
But since it opened, corruption allegations and infighting between judges have buffeted the court and raised fears of more delays.
With trials not expected until mid-2008, Tuesday's hearing has been widely anticipated as a gauge of how well the court can begin reconciling a nation with its distant, but brutal past.
"It is the first public test of professionalism and hence credibility for the (tribunal)," said David Scheffer, a former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and a key negotiator in the tribunal's creation.
"I am confident it can deal with the legal complexities of the cases that come before it," he added.
Duch allegedly oversaw the torture and extermination of some 16,000 men, women and children at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison during the regime's 1975-79 rule over Cambodia.
He was arrested by the tribunal in July -- the first top cadre to be detained -- and charged with crimes against humanity pending further investigation of the case against him.
In interviews with journalists in 1999 shortly before he was seized by the government, Duch -- by then a born-again Christian discovered working in refugee camps on the Thai border -- admitted to his role in the Tuol Sleng atrocities and said he wanted to stand trial.
But Duch's lawyers say eight years spent in military prison prior to his transfer to the tribunal violate Cambodian law, as well as international legal standards, and should be reason for his immediate release.
In extending Duch's pre-trial detention for a ninth year, tribunal judges have "contributed to the excessive duration" of his imprisonment, Duch's lawyers said in their appeal filed in September.
The judges acknowledged these concerns in their orders for Duch's imprisonment, saying: "His continued provisional detention is problematic in light of international standards of justice," according to court documents issued at the time of his arrest.
But the judges also consider Duch, 65, a flight risk, and ordered him detained "on the grounds that there are well-founded reasons to believe that he participated in the crimes" committed by the Khmer Rouge.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-79 rule.
The Khmer Rouge also abolished money, religion and schools.
So far five top leaders have been detained by the tribunal. Former head of state Khieu Samphan was arrested Monday.
Foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith were seized last week, while regime ideologue Nuon Chea was arrested in September.
Lawyers for Kaing Guek Eav, whose revolutionary name was Duch, will argue that years spent imprisoned without trial by another court are grounds for his release, legal documents show, in what many see as a key opening test of the tribunal's credibility.
Established in July 2006 after nearly a decade of tense negotiations between Cambodia and the UN, the long-stalled tribunal seeks to prosecute crimes committed 30 years ago by senior regime leaders.
But since it opened, corruption allegations and infighting between judges have buffeted the court and raised fears of more delays.
With trials not expected until mid-2008, Tuesday's hearing has been widely anticipated as a gauge of how well the court can begin reconciling a nation with its distant, but brutal past.
"It is the first public test of professionalism and hence credibility for the (tribunal)," said David Scheffer, a former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and a key negotiator in the tribunal's creation.
"I am confident it can deal with the legal complexities of the cases that come before it," he added.
Duch allegedly oversaw the torture and extermination of some 16,000 men, women and children at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison during the regime's 1975-79 rule over Cambodia.
He was arrested by the tribunal in July -- the first top cadre to be detained -- and charged with crimes against humanity pending further investigation of the case against him.
In interviews with journalists in 1999 shortly before he was seized by the government, Duch -- by then a born-again Christian discovered working in refugee camps on the Thai border -- admitted to his role in the Tuol Sleng atrocities and said he wanted to stand trial.
But Duch's lawyers say eight years spent in military prison prior to his transfer to the tribunal violate Cambodian law, as well as international legal standards, and should be reason for his immediate release.
In extending Duch's pre-trial detention for a ninth year, tribunal judges have "contributed to the excessive duration" of his imprisonment, Duch's lawyers said in their appeal filed in September.
The judges acknowledged these concerns in their orders for Duch's imprisonment, saying: "His continued provisional detention is problematic in light of international standards of justice," according to court documents issued at the time of his arrest.
But the judges also consider Duch, 65, a flight risk, and ordered him detained "on the grounds that there are well-founded reasons to believe that he participated in the crimes" committed by the Khmer Rouge.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-79 rule.
The Khmer Rouge also abolished money, religion and schools.
So far five top leaders have been detained by the tribunal. Former head of state Khieu Samphan was arrested Monday.
Foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith were seized last week, while regime ideologue Nuon Chea was arrested in September.
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