Former Khmer Rouge Prison Chief Asks for His Release

New Tang Dynasty Television
31st March, 2011

A former Khmer Rouge prison chief appeared at the United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal on Wednesday for the last day of a hearing into appeals over his jail sentence.

In his closing statement, 67-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, better know as Duch, asked the court for his release. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison in July 2010 for overseeing 14-thousand deaths in Cambodia during the 1970s.

Duch was found guilty of murder, torture, rape, crimes against humanity and other charges as chief of Tuol Sleng prison. That was a converted school known as S-21 that symbolized the horrors of a regime… blamed for 1.7 million deaths from 1975 to 1979.

Dozens of people turned up at the joint U.N.-Cambodian court, which seeks justice for nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population killed by execution, overwork or torture during the Khmer Rouge's agrarian revolution.

[Duch, Former Khmer Rouge Prison Chief]:
"I would like your honors of the supreme court chamber to consider and decide on the issue of my personal jurisdiction that I do not fall within that jurisdiction of the ECCC. This is the principle that you should abide by in order to seek justice and truth for the Cambodian people and as well as for the former Khmer Rouge soldiers and cadres especially the middle class who do not fall within the jurisdiction of this tribunal."

Duch's lawyers have appealed the court's verdict… and are seeking his release in consideration of his confession and co-operation with the court. They argue that Duch was not a top leader and was only following orders.

Co-prosecutors say Duch's jail term is too lenient and are appealing for a heavier sentence. A co-international prosecutor urged the court on Tuesday to add no less than 45 years in jail due to his serious crimes committed at the time.

Some survivors and relatives of victims are also hoping for a heavier punishment.

[Bou Meng, Tuol Sleng Prison Survivor]:
"I believe that Duch is the person who is responsible at Tuol Sleng prison and he ordered the killing of the prisoners like my wife, as an example. Without his order, Duch's order, his subordinates couldn’t have taken my wife to kill at the Chheung Ek killing field site."

Duch is the first member of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime to face justice.

According to a tribunal spokesperson, a ruling is expected by the end of June.