The former chief interrogator and torturer for Cambodia's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his alias Duch, died early on September 2 in hospital in Phnom Penh.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his alias Duch, had served as the head of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison and was later convicted of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed war crimes tribunal for his role in the “Killing Fields” regime.
He was the first member of the Khmer Rouge to face judgement before a war crimes tribunal in Cambodia, and was sent to live out his remaining days in Kandal prison after an appeal extended his original sentence to life in 2012.
His testimony at the tribunal served as an important touchstone for millions of Cambodians who had suffered under the regime, keeping meticulous records of the prison and revealing facets of the Khmer Rouge’s secretive workings.
While he had begged for forgiveness for crimes committed at the jail, he later dismayed survivors by asking to be acquitted on the grounds that he was not a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.
The work of the war crimes tribunal was tainted by its limited scope and the age of its defendants and recorded only three convictions — including Duch’s.
This article was written by Agence France-Presse
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1998.113 SRY