PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A U.N.-backed tribunal in Cambodia said Monday that it will begin the trial of the first of five Khmer Rouge leaders accused of crimes against humanity in mid-February. Kaing Guek Eav (pictured), better known as Duch, will appear at an initial hearing on Feb. 17, a court document said.
Duch, 65, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture center, is accused of having committed or abetted a range of crimes including murder, torture, rape and persecutions on political grounds. The charges stem from the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror over Cambodia, during which at least 1.7 million people died of disease, starvation or execution.
The trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal is called, comes 30 years after the Khmer Rouge were toppled by a Vietnamese invasion, 13 years after the tribunal was first proposed and nearly three years after the court was inaugurated.
Duch, 65, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture center, is accused of having committed or abetted a range of crimes including murder, torture, rape and persecutions on political grounds. The charges stem from the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror over Cambodia, during which at least 1.7 million people died of disease, starvation or execution.
The trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal is called, comes 30 years after the Khmer Rouge were toppled by a Vietnamese invasion, 13 years after the tribunal was first proposed and nearly three years after the court was inaugurated.
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