Verdict on Cambodian prison chief Duch casts cloud over UN tribunal

A United Nations-backed court set up to find justice for 1.7 million people killed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s is at risk of losing credibility and relevance among Cambodians outraged by its first verdict.

Kaing Guek Eav, a former prison chief better known as Duch, was on Monday found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He received less than half the 40-year sentence sought by prosecutors for his role in the 1975-1979 reign of terror.

The ruling devastated many of the estimated five million survivors and raised questions among Cambodians over a tribunal that spent $78.4 million over five years to bring its first case in one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

Duch, a 67-year-old former schoolteacher, admitted overseeing the deaths of up to 14,000 people as the chief of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison. During the eight-month trial, he expressed ‘excruciating remorse’ for his actions.

That repentance helped to reduce his sentence, said the five-judge joint UN-Cambodian tribunal which gave Duch 35 years but shocked the court by saying the term would be cut to 19 years given the amount of time he has already spent in jail.

Cambodians, who hoped to see Duch spend his remaining years behind bars, or for the country to reintroduce the death penalty, say they are struggling to understand how he could be freed before he dies.

Duch's prison symbolised the horrors of the regime. Most inmates, including women and children, were tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned to death at the ‘Killing Fields’ execution sites during the revolution, which ended with the 1979 invasion by Vietnam.

Court authorities said he may be eligible for early parole if he demonstrates that he has been rehabilitated.

"There will now be a big question mark in Cambodia over this court and its credibility," said Mark Turner, a Cambodia expert at the University of Canberra in Australia.

Many Cambodians question whether other indicted former Khmer Rouge cadres will face justice for their roles in the Maoist revolution that wiped out nearly a quarter of the country's population.

Cambodia's government has historic ties to the Khmer Rouge, with several ministers accused of high-level involvement. It has offered little support to the tribunal, claiming that civil war could flare up if it broadened its investigation.

"This verdict [on Duch] has taken the momentum out of pursuing the real Khmer Rouge leaders," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian who lost her parents to the regime and who was one of the leading advocates for establishing the tribunal.

It is unclear whether the four other cadres awaiting trial can implicate prominent political figures in the government.

The cases of former president Khieu Samphan, deputy to the late Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith are highly complex and politicised, and many fear they may never go to trial, or might die in custody.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the court's credibility would be undermined if political meddling prevailed.

Chum Mey, one of the few who survived Tuol Sleng, wept after Monday's verdict. "I am hopeless. I have lost confidence," the 79-year-old tour guide told reporters.

The trial of Nuon Chea, alias ‘Brother Number Two’, is expected to begin early next year.

"The remaining four have refused to speak, have blamed others and they don't acknowledge the crimes,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which has gathered evidence for the tribunal.