Cambodian tribunal convicts former Khmer Rouge officer to 35 years of imprisonment
On July 26, 2010, the five-judge Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), including two international judges appointed by the UN Secretary-General, convicted former Khmer Rouge officer KAING Guek Eav (alias Duch) of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Chamber imposed a single, consolidated sentence of 35 years of imprisonment. Duch was the first person to stand trial before the ECCC, and his conviction was the first verdict delivered by the Chamber. The substantive part of the trial against Duch commenced on March 30, 2009. Closing arguments ended on November 27, 2009 after a total of 77 trial days, during which 17 fact witnesses, seven character witnesses, nine expert witnesses and 22 Civil Parties were heard. More than 28,000 people followed the proceedings from the public gallery.
Duch served as Deputy and then Chairman of S-21, a security centre that operated from1975 to 1979 to interrogate and execute persons perceived as enemies of Democratic Kampuchea by the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The Chamber found that he acted with various individuals, and through his subordinates, to operate S-21 as well as S-24, which was an adjunct facility used as a re-education camp. He was found to have possessed and exercised significant authority at S-21 and that his conduct in carrying out his functions showed a high degree of efficiency and zeal. Duch was also charged with national crimes of premeditated murder and torture, punishable before the ECCC under Article 3 of the ECCC Law, but the absence of a required majority prevented the Chamber from exercising its jurisdiction in relation to these national crimes. The Chamber decided that there were significant mitigating factors that mandated the imposition of a finite term of imprisonment rather than one of life imprisonment. These factors include cooperation with the Chamber, admission of responsibility, limited expressions of remorse, the coercive environment in Democratic Kampuchea, and the potential for rehabilitation.
For more information, please see the article, Kaing Guek Eav convicted of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.