Phnom Penh, Cambodia – A former schoolteacher who presided over a torture center was charged Tuesday with crimes against humanity, becoming the first top figure of Cambodia’s notorious Khmer Rouge to be indicted for atrocities that led to an estimated 1.7 million deaths.
Duch, 62, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, a virtual slaughterhouse where about 16,000 suspected enemies of the regime were tortured before being taken out to what later became known as “killing fields” near the city.
Cambodia’s holocaust during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-79 reign of terror was the first major case of genocide of the late 20th century. As many as one-fifth of the country’s citizens died as a result of the radical policies of the group and its leader, Pol Pot.
But until this year, when personnel and facilities for a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal were finally in place, those responsible remained mostly at large.
A tribunal statement issued Tuesday night suggested that more information might be released today.
Duch was one of five top Khmer Rouge figures whose indictments were recommended last month by prosecutors of the tribunal, a mixed body of Cambodian and international jurists. The judges have not released the names of the four others.
The Khmer Rouge was founded in the 1950s by Cambodian communists. The group was a marginal force until 1970, when a pro-Western coup ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk from power, and Cambodia was drawn into the Vietnam War.
Some historians believe that heavy U.S. bombing of the countryside radicalized many peasants, swelling the guerrilla ranks and eventually turning their anger into brutality.
With backing from an embittered Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge won a five-year civil war.
Duch supervised the brutal interrogations of those seen as enemies of the Khmer Rouge. His attention to detail and sense of duty meant S-21 kept meticulous records, which are likely to serve as key evidence in any trial.
Of the roughly 16,000 people who passed through S-21, only about a dozen are thought to have survived.
