Khmer Torturer Gets 35 Years in Jail
A man who ran a notorious torture prison where more than 14,000 people died during the Khmer Rouge regime was found guilty of war crimes Monday and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Despite the sentence, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, will serve no more than 19 years. The judge took off five years for the time Duch was illegally detained before the U.N.-backed tribunal was established, and another 11 years for the time he has already served behind bars.
The verdict — which also convicted Duch of crimes against humanity, murder and torture — sparked strong reactions as word spread outside the courtroom. Some said it made them lose faith in the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal.
“It’s becoming a sham,” said Cambodian-American Theary Seng, chairwoman of the Center for Justice and Reconciliation.
Seng, who said the Khmer Rouge killed both of her parents, described Monday’s verdict as “scandalous.”
“It’s an insult to the survivors. Effectively, he should have been receiving many life sentences. It makes light of the crime and suffering,” she said.
Duch, 67, was the head of the S-21 prison. Few people brought to the prison made it out alive; only about a dozen were found by the Vietnamese who invaded Cambodia in 1979.
One of the survivors, Bou Meng, said that the verdict made him so angry that he was sweating in the air-conditioned courtroom as he listened to the judge’s words.
