Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal found Monday a former senior member of the infamous Khmer Rouge guilty of committing crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to 35 years in prison.
It ruled that Kaing Khev Iev, alias Duch, the convicted person, would have to serve only 30 years as he was held illegally for five years by the Cambodian military.
Duch headed the Khmer Rouge's most notorious torture center, and was accused of committing crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder of more than 15,000 persons during the communist regime's rule from 1975 to 1979. He reportedly co-operated with the tribunal after being arrested in 1999.
During the hearing of the final arguments of his war crimes trial November 27 last year, he made a surprise last-minute plea for release on the ground that he was not a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy. The judges at the UN tribunal, however, rejected his plea and closed the proceedings.
Duch's plea for acquittal cast doubts about the sincerity of his earlier requests for forgiveness from the families of the victims. He faced a maximum of life term in prison if convicted of the charges, as the UN-backed tribunal does not have the authority to impose the death penalty.
Duch earlier confessed to his roles in the torture and killings of thousands of fellow-Cambodians, but maintains that he was merely following the regime's orders when he oversaw the torture and death of thousands of Cambodians at the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. He also said earlier that he was full of "regretfulness and heartfelt sorrow" for those actions.
Duch is the first Khmer Rouge leader to face the tribunal. Four more of the regime's senior officers are in custody awaiting trial. He is also the first Khmer Rouge leader to have confessed his role in the atrocities, and expressed remorse.
The four other Khmer Rouge leaders awaiting trial are: Nuon Chea--the group's former deputy supremo known as "Brother Number Two"; former foreign minister Ieng Sary, his wife and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, besides former head of state Khieu Samphan.
Duch was arrested in 1999 after British journalist Nic Dunlop discovered him in the Cambodian countryside. He was a member of the Cambodia's infamous Khmer Rouge regime that took over the country in 1975 after ousting a US-backed government shortly after the U.S. pullout from neighboring Vietnam.
It is believed that the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot executed over two million fellow-Cambodians in its efforts to forcefully create a peasant society based on Maoist principles before the Vietnamese army ousted it in 1979. The group's top leader, "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, died in 1998.
by RTT Staff Writer
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