Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court has rejected an appeal by Khmer Rouge jailer Duch and increased his sentence to life imprisonment.
Duch, born Kaing Guek Eav, was jailed in 2010 for his role in running a notorious prison where thousands of inmates were killed.
He had appealed on the grounds that he was a junior official following orders.
But judges rejected his claim and increased his sentence from 35 years to life.
Duch - the first senior Khmer Rouge official to face charges before the court - was convicted of crimes against humanity in July 2010. He appealed against the verdict in March 2011.
The 69-year-old was the commander of Tuol Sleng prison, where at least 15,000 men, women and children deemed enemies of the regime were tortured and then executed in "killing fields" outside Phnom Penh.
He had argued that he should never have been tried, claiming that he was a junior official following his superiors' orders on pain of death.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that his sentence was too lenient. Many survivors were outraged when he was sentenced to 35 years, because he could be free in 18 years given time already served.
The appeal court judges ruled that the initial prison term did not "reflect the gravity of the crimes".
"The crimes by Kaing Guek Eav were undoubtedly among the worst in recorded human history. They deserve the highest penalty available," Judge Kong Srim said.
Duch showed no emotion as the verdict was delivered. But prosecutors praised the ruling.
"We can say that justice has now been served after more than 30 years," Chea Leang said. "To us and to the victims, this is a great success."
Hundreds of survivors gathered at the Phnom Penh court to hear the final verdict.
Duch's case is the first to be concluded by the court against perpetrators of crimes committed during four years of Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.
The regime attempted to create an ideal communist society by forcing city residents to work as peasants in the countryside, and by purging intellectuals, middle class people and any supposed enemies of the state.
Up to two million people - about one-third of the population - are believed to have been killed or died of over-work and starvation.
The three most senior surviving leaders of the regime were put on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity in November 2011. Their trial is ongoing.
The cases against them have been separated to speed up proceedings as the defendants are all in their 80s.
Source
Duch, born Kaing Guek Eav, was jailed in 2010 for his role in running a notorious prison where thousands of inmates were killed.
He had appealed on the grounds that he was a junior official following orders.
But judges rejected his claim and increased his sentence from 35 years to life.
Duch - the first senior Khmer Rouge official to face charges before the court - was convicted of crimes against humanity in July 2010. He appealed against the verdict in March 2011.
The 69-year-old was the commander of Tuol Sleng prison, where at least 15,000 men, women and children deemed enemies of the regime were tortured and then executed in "killing fields" outside Phnom Penh.
He had argued that he should never have been tried, claiming that he was a junior official following his superiors' orders on pain of death.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that his sentence was too lenient. Many survivors were outraged when he was sentenced to 35 years, because he could be free in 18 years given time already served.
The appeal court judges ruled that the initial prison term did not "reflect the gravity of the crimes".
"The crimes by Kaing Guek Eav were undoubtedly among the worst in recorded human history. They deserve the highest penalty available," Judge Kong Srim said.
Duch showed no emotion as the verdict was delivered. But prosecutors praised the ruling.
"We can say that justice has now been served after more than 30 years," Chea Leang said. "To us and to the victims, this is a great success."
Hundreds of survivors gathered at the Phnom Penh court to hear the final verdict.
Duch's case is the first to be concluded by the court against perpetrators of crimes committed during four years of Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.
The regime attempted to create an ideal communist society by forcing city residents to work as peasants in the countryside, and by purging intellectuals, middle class people and any supposed enemies of the state.
Up to two million people - about one-third of the population - are believed to have been killed or died of over-work and starvation.
The three most senior surviving leaders of the regime were put on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity in November 2011. Their trial is ongoing.
The cases against them have been separated to speed up proceedings as the defendants are all in their 80s.
Source
Hopefully this will help give those who suffered under the regime some closure.
Edited at 2012-02-04 05:17 am (UTC)
Hstorically, Khmer Rouge soldiers who changed their views or dissented in any way went straight to the killing fields. His assertion is backed by quite a lot of evidence of cases where other Khmer Rouge soldiers did just that...and immediately died for it.
Nevertheless, there are some evils that HAVE to be punished. Tuol Sleng is one. I spent quite a lot of time in Cambodia when I was eighteen, including at Cheoung Ek - the 'killing fields just outside Phnom Penh' that the article mentions - and...yeah. I've never forgotten that place. I don't think I can.
It’s just an empty field with fruit trees around the edges. It’s beautiful, peaceful. No one’s built on it, no one has touched it – the only things there are a little Buddhist memorial and a few signs, but if you pay attention you notice what you’re supposed to see; the ground looks strange.It’s a different colour in some places. It’s piled up and furrowed and uneven all over the whole field. The whole place looks like that, because there are still unexcavated mass graves buried underneath.
If you go up to the memorial, it’s like a tiny temple packed full of skulls. Thousands of skulls laid out on shelves, some with bullet holes, some smashed in by a rifle butt or a crowbar,some far too small to belong to adults…there are so many you lose count, and they’re right there quietly looking back at you. It’s impossible NOT to see them. Even if you close your eyes and walk away, the image stays in your head…and then when you open them again, you look down and realise you’re standing on another huge grave, another thousand people you didn’t even see.
I'd like to think I'd die trying to do the right thing. Maybe I wouldn't but I know many have during such times. So "otherwise I would have died" isn't a foolproof argument for killing.
When the Nazi defendents used that defence at Nuremberg, that's against the background of there being no cases where a member of a killing detail, SS or anyone else refusing to kill and then being punished for it in any way. Indeed in several cases, their commanders explicitly gave them a way out - "If you feel you can't do this, I'll transfer you to other duties, no punishment, no fault"; very few ever took that way out, and those that did are never recorded as suffering, being demoted or being negatively judged in any way for their choice. When they were setting up the Nuremberg trials, counsel for the defence was allowed into the various internment camps specifically to find cases where men were punished for their refusal. They found none.
In the Khmer Rouge situation...LOTS of otherwise loyal party members who disobeyed orders or were considered traitors were killed. Even the man who had commanded Tuol Sleng before Duch eventually ended up there as a prisoner.
Duch is a monster...but even so, him using that 'orders' defence is a lot more valid than it was at Nuremberg.
I'd like to think I'd die trying to do the right thing. Maybe I wouldn't
"I'd like to think I'd die trying to do the right thing. Maybe I wouldn't but I know many have during such times. So "otherwise I would have died" isn't a foolproof argument for killing."
No one who hasn't been in a kill-or-be-killed situation can make such statements. The Nazis in WW2 are not a valid comparison; officers who couldn't kill were not punished with death. Tuol Sleng is haunted by not only innocent victims but also Khmer Rouge soldiers who attempted to defect.
Please do not attempt to compare what happened in Cambodia to what happened in Europe during WWII. It's a gross misrepresentation of both.
Those Khmer Rouge soldiers attempted to defect rather than take part in genocide which is exactly what I was talking about. You know, where I cut off saying that I didn't know what I'd do to recognize that some people have died rather than follow orders. You say I cut off my comment like it reveals something...
Koken23 already pointed out differences between this case and the Nuremberg trials but without the self righteous tone. I hope you at least had fun.
I've been hearing that the Tribunal is running out of money. I sincerely hope this isn't true, and that the other trials go through as planned.