Duch appeared in court on 17th Feb, 2009.Saturday, 21 February 2009
The Macau Daily Times
Vietnam, which overthrew Cambodian dictator Pol Pot in 1979, on Thursday welcomed the start of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, saying those responsible for the regime's crimes should be "severely punished."
The tribunal opened Tuesday with the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who ran the Tuol Sleng prison used as a mass torture centre.
"Vietnam condemns the atrocious crimes of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime and believes that those responsible should be severely punished," Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said at a press conference.
The communist country hoped that the UN-backed war crimes court "works justly and fairly to bring justice to the victims," he added.
Some two million people, about quarter of the Cambodian population, died under Pol Pot's regime of terror between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge, radical communists supported by China, were brought down by Vietnamese-backed troops in January 1979.
The tribunal was established in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations.
It has faced controversy over allegations of political interference by the Cambodian government over the prosecution of further suspects.
The tribunal opened Tuesday with the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who ran the Tuol Sleng prison used as a mass torture centre.
"Vietnam condemns the atrocious crimes of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime and believes that those responsible should be severely punished," Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said at a press conference.
The communist country hoped that the UN-backed war crimes court "works justly and fairly to bring justice to the victims," he added.
Some two million people, about quarter of the Cambodian population, died under Pol Pot's regime of terror between 1975 and 1979. The Khmer Rouge, radical communists supported by China, were brought down by Vietnamese-backed troops in January 1979.
The tribunal was established in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between Cambodia and the United Nations.
It has faced controversy over allegations of political interference by the Cambodian government over the prosecution of further suspects.
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