Kaing Guek Eav – known simply as Duch – begged for forgiveness Monday on the eve of his war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge.
“He said to the victims, I ask your forgiveness, I ask your forgiveness,” said his lawyer, Francois Roux.
Duch, who faces charges for crimes against humanity, had war crimes added to his list of charges stemming from atrocities during the reign of the regime from 1975 to 1979.
Five senior members of the Khmer Rouge were arrested in 2007 and charged with a variety of atrocities, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. It’s estimated than nearly 2 million people died in a quasi-eugenics campaign backed by the Khmer Regime to form an ultra-communist agrarian utopia through forced labor camps.
Duch, a former math teacher, led the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21, where more than 14,000 people were tortured under his strict authority.
Though largely procedural, the trial Tuesday puts an end to years of malfunctions at the hybrid court.