Earth Times
Phnom Penh (DPA)- Defence lawyers have formally appealed the guilty verdicts handed down to Comrade Duch (pictured), the former Khmer Rouge cadre who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity last month, the court confirmed Wednesday.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious torture and execution centre in Phnom Penh known as S-21.
Last month, the court sentenced the 67-year-old to 30 years. With an 11-year deduction for time served, Duch will serve 19 years, a term many Cambodians felt was too lenient.
In their appeal, Duch's defence team called on the tribunal to acquit him, saying the conviction was "a miscarriage of justice."
Duch's lawyers claimed he did not fall within the remit of those who ought to be tried by the UN-backed tribunal, and said the court had erred in applying international law over Cambodian civil law.
"All this seems to suggest that the [tribunal] applied victor's justice and that it was established for the sole purpose of prosecuting Duch," his lawyers wrote.
They said Duch ought to be considered a witness of the regime's crimes rather than a perpetrator.
Earlier this month the prosecution announced it too would appeal the sentence, saying it wanted the court to impose a term of 40 years after all deductions were made.
The prosecutors said judges had given "insufficient weight to the gravity of Duch's crimes and his role and his willing participation in those crimes."
An estimated 20,000 people were tortured and condemned to death at S-21 as perceived enemies of the regime during the movement's rule of Cambodia between 1975-79. Just a handful survived the prison.
Four former Khmer Rouge leaders are in detention for their alleged involvement in the deaths of 1.7 million people from execution, disease, starvation and overwork.
The four, whose trials are expected to start early next year, are: Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, the movement's ideologue; head of state Khieu Samphan; foreign minister Ieng Sary; and his wife, the social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.
The movement's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious torture and execution centre in Phnom Penh known as S-21.
Last month, the court sentenced the 67-year-old to 30 years. With an 11-year deduction for time served, Duch will serve 19 years, a term many Cambodians felt was too lenient.
In their appeal, Duch's defence team called on the tribunal to acquit him, saying the conviction was "a miscarriage of justice."
Duch's lawyers claimed he did not fall within the remit of those who ought to be tried by the UN-backed tribunal, and said the court had erred in applying international law over Cambodian civil law.
"All this seems to suggest that the [tribunal] applied victor's justice and that it was established for the sole purpose of prosecuting Duch," his lawyers wrote.
They said Duch ought to be considered a witness of the regime's crimes rather than a perpetrator.
Earlier this month the prosecution announced it too would appeal the sentence, saying it wanted the court to impose a term of 40 years after all deductions were made.
The prosecutors said judges had given "insufficient weight to the gravity of Duch's crimes and his role and his willing participation in those crimes."
An estimated 20,000 people were tortured and condemned to death at S-21 as perceived enemies of the regime during the movement's rule of Cambodia between 1975-79. Just a handful survived the prison.
Four former Khmer Rouge leaders are in detention for their alleged involvement in the deaths of 1.7 million people from execution, disease, starvation and overwork.
The four, whose trials are expected to start early next year, are: Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, the movement's ideologue; head of state Khieu Samphan; foreign minister Ieng Sary; and his wife, the social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.
The movement's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.
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