PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The man accused of overseeing the torture and execution of enemies of Cambodia’s former Khmer Rouge rulers faced scores of his victims Monday as the first trial for one of the communist group’s leaders opened at a genocide tribunal.
Victims of the 1975-79 regime, some missing limbs, mixed with earnest law students in a modern courtroom to watch the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, who ran the main prison where every inmate “was destined for execution,” according to the indictment.
The 66-year-old defendant, widely known as “Duch,” betrayed no emotion as court officials read a litany of horrors that took several hours and was broadcast live nationwide.
“Several witnesses said that prisoners were killed using steel clubs, cart axles, and water pipes to hit the base of their necks,” the indictment said. “Prisoners were then kicked into the pits, where their handcuffs were removed. Finally the guards either cut open their bellies or their throats. After the executions were complete, the guards covered the pits.”
Despite the emotional weight of the moment, a polite calm prevailed among the 500 spectators and the robed judges and lawyers, who conducted the proceedings on a stage behind a glass wall.
The U.N.-backed tribunal on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, is seeking to establish responsibility for the reign of terror under Pol Pot, the group’s leader who died in 1998. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died of starvation, medical neglect, slave-like working conditions and execution under the Khmer Rouge, which ruled from 1975 to 1979.
Duch is charged with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as torture and homicide. He ran the group’s main prison, the notorious torture center known as S-21, or Tuol Sleng, in Phnom Penh. As many as 16,000 men, women and children were brutally tortured there before being killed.
Duch holds the distinction of being not only the first member of the Khmer Rouge to face trial for the regime’s atrocities, but also the only one of five set to be tried to express remorse or take responsibility for his actions.
Five hundred seats in the courtroom are allotted for the public and scores of survivors traveled from around the country to witness the trial. Among them was Svay Simon, a 64-year-old farmer whose leg was blown off by a Khmer Rouge bomb in 1975. He lost 10 relatives, including his sister and brother, to the regime.
“I never thought I would have a chance to see Duch and sit in on this trial,” he said, walking with a cane as he entered the courtroom.
