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| Southeast Asia |
| Long jail term for Duch? |
| 2009-11-25 |
| [Straits Times] PROSECUTORS urged judges at Cambodia's war crimes court on Tuesday to hand a lengthy jail term to the former prison chief of the Khmer Rouge regime for his role in the 'Killing Fields' atrocities. Duch - whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav - has apologised repeatedly and admitted responsibility for his actions under the blood-soaked communist movement, which killed up to two million people in the 1970s. But prosecutors giving their final arguments to the UN-backed tribunal after a nine-month trial said Duch 'was the personification of ruthless efficiency' and the 'perfect candidate' to run the regime's principal torture centre. 'It does not matter that others may not admit their guilt or fail to cooperate with authorities,' prosecutor Chea Leang told the court. 'It is simply inconceivable that anything other than a lengthy sentence of imprisonment should be imposed on him.' She said Duch held a unique, central role in the Khmer Rouge security apparatus and called on judges to reject defence suggestions he was a scapegoat for a regime which had a network of some 200 prisons across Cambodia. The former maths teacher, 67, faces a maximum life sentence as the tribunal does not have the power to impose the death penalty. A verdict is expected in March next year. |
| Posted by:Fred |