Kaing Guek Eav, known as “Duch,” walked into a courtroom to face charges for the deaths of 1.7 million people nearly 30 years after the atrocities in Cambodia came to an end. Duch, 66, is a former math teacher who lead the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21, where more than 14,000 people were tortured under his strict authority. Few survived the detention.
“Under his authority, countless abuses were committed, including mass murder, arbitrary detention and torture,” the presiding judge said. A former guard at the facility said Duch never directly participated in an execution, but was known to visit the Choeung Ek killing field to observe the executions.
The hearing Tuesday follows the arrest of the last of the former Khmer Rouge leaders, former president Kheiu Samphan. Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister, and his wife were arrested Nov. 12. Nuan Chea, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist was arrested earlier this year. All face war crimes charges for atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime.
The Khmer Rouge were an ultra-communist regime who ruled Cambodia from 1975-79 with the goal of creating a classless, utopian society based on an agrarian economy. The starvation, forced labor, and death camps allegedly resulted in the death of nearly 2 million people. The leader of the regime, Pol Pot, died in 1998 and his military advisor, Ta Mok, died in custody in 2006.
