Khmer Rouge figure seeks better jail terms

A photographer takes pictures of 'Duch', the former Khmer Rouge prison chief from a TV in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, April 1 (UPI) -- Attorneys for accused Cambodian war criminal and Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, say their client deserves more freedoms in jail.

Duch, 66, testified Tuesday at his genocide trial in Phnom Penh that he had a role in the torture and killing of some of 15,000 prisoners held in the 1970s by the Khmer Rouge at the notorious prison camp known as S-21, where he was the chief officer, CNN reported.

On Wednesday, his lawyers reportedly lobbied the tribunal conducting the trial to ease the terms of Duch's imprisonment in a special facility within the court complex outside Phnom Penh. He has been there for more than three years, and under Cambodian law, a detainee can't be held longer than three years without a conviction, the U.S. broadcaster said.

The Khmer Rouge, who came to power in Cambodia in 1975, killed 1.7 million over a three-year span through execution, disease, starvation and overwork, historians say. The S-21 prison camp played a key role in the genocide, prosecutors say.