Senior Khmer Rouge official receives 35-year jail sentence
Source: Agencies |
July 27, 2010, Tuesday
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A UN-BACKED tribunal sentenced a senior Khmer Rouge commander to 35 years in prison yesterday in its first verdict on the "Killing Fields" revolution blamed for 1.7 million deaths in Cambodia three decades ago.
But 67-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, will only serve 19 years after the court subtracted 16 years for time already served - short of the maximum 40 years sought by the prosecution and the life behind bars many Cambodians demanded.
The former schoolteacher admitted during the eight-month trial to overseeing the torture and the killing of more than 14,000 people but said he was only following orders.
"We hoped this tribunal would strike hard at impunity but if you can kill 14,000 people and serve only 19 years - 11 hours per life taken - what is that? It's a joke," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian who is now a US-national and lost his father at the Tuol Sleng prison run by Duch.
"My gut feeling is this has made the situation far worse for Cambodia," he said.
Duch betrayed no emotion as the verdict was read. Some Cambodians wept loudly in the courtroom.
He was found guilty of murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts, crimes against humanity and other charges for running Tuol Sleng, a converted school also known as S-21.
An estimated fifth of the population died during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule over the already war-scarred country.
Thousands huddled around televisions in cafes and homes to watch live broadcasts of the sentencing, struggling to understand the first verdict by the joint UN-Cambodian court set up to end decades of silence over atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.
"There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch," said Hong Sovath, 47, sobbing. Her father, a diplomat, was killed in the prison.
Khan Mony, whose aunt was executed after passing through the Duch's jail, said he was devastated.
"The verdict is not fair. This warranted life. Duch killed so many people. If this court was fair, people would have been calm and accepted this," she said.
The joint court said that it opted against life in prison for several reasons, including Duch's expressions of remorse, cooperation with the court, his "potential for rehabilitation" and the coercive environment of life under the then Khmer Rouge.
"The chamber has decided there are significant mitigating factors that mandate a finite term imprisonment rather than life imprisonment," the tribunal's president said in a statement.
Now a born-again Christian, Duch had expressed "excruciating remorse" for the S-21 victims, most of them tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned at the "Killing Fields" execution sites during the agrarian revolution, which ended with a 1979 invasion by Vietnam.
The court said at least 12,273 people were killed at Tuol Sleng but acknowledged the number could be as high as 14,000.
But 67-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, will only serve 19 years after the court subtracted 16 years for time already served - short of the maximum 40 years sought by the prosecution and the life behind bars many Cambodians demanded.
The former schoolteacher admitted during the eight-month trial to overseeing the torture and the killing of more than 14,000 people but said he was only following orders.
"We hoped this tribunal would strike hard at impunity but if you can kill 14,000 people and serve only 19 years - 11 hours per life taken - what is that? It's a joke," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian who is now a US-national and lost his father at the Tuol Sleng prison run by Duch.
"My gut feeling is this has made the situation far worse for Cambodia," he said.
Duch betrayed no emotion as the verdict was read. Some Cambodians wept loudly in the courtroom.
He was found guilty of murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts, crimes against humanity and other charges for running Tuol Sleng, a converted school also known as S-21.
An estimated fifth of the population died during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule over the already war-scarred country.
Thousands huddled around televisions in cafes and homes to watch live broadcasts of the sentencing, struggling to understand the first verdict by the joint UN-Cambodian court set up to end decades of silence over atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.
"There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch," said Hong Sovath, 47, sobbing. Her father, a diplomat, was killed in the prison.
Khan Mony, whose aunt was executed after passing through the Duch's jail, said he was devastated.
"The verdict is not fair. This warranted life. Duch killed so many people. If this court was fair, people would have been calm and accepted this," she said.
The joint court said that it opted against life in prison for several reasons, including Duch's expressions of remorse, cooperation with the court, his "potential for rehabilitation" and the coercive environment of life under the then Khmer Rouge.
"The chamber has decided there are significant mitigating factors that mandate a finite term imprisonment rather than life imprisonment," the tribunal's president said in a statement.
Now a born-again Christian, Duch had expressed "excruciating remorse" for the S-21 victims, most of them tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned at the "Killing Fields" execution sites during the agrarian revolution, which ended with a 1979 invasion by Vietnam.
The court said at least 12,273 people were killed at Tuol Sleng but acknowledged the number could be as high as 14,000.
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