The torturer-in-chief for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime finally faced trial yesterday in the first case heard by a UN-backed genocide tribunal into the horrors of the “Killing Fields” 30 years ago.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias “Duch,” faces charges of crimes against humanity over his iron-fisted rule at Tuol Sleng prison, where he is accused of presiding over the deaths of 15,000 men, women and children.
He sat solemnly in the dock as hundreds of people turned up to watch the start of proceedings against a key figure in the ultra-communist regime, which killed around 2 million people in one of the 20th century’s worst atrocities.
“I prayed for dawn as soon as possible so that I could see this trial start,” said artist Vann Nath, one of only about a dozen survivors from the prison, who was put to work painting pro-regime pictures.
Under Duch, a former maths teacher now aged 66, Tuol Sleng was used to extract false confessions from alleged traitors that they were agents of foreign powers including the CIA.
Most inmates were taken from the prison, a former high school, for execution at nearby Choeung Ek, an orchard now known as the “Killing Fields.” Adults were beaten to death with hoes while children’s heads were smashed against trees.
Yesterday, Duch wore a blue shirt and listened through earphones as the court opened the trial behind a huge bullet-proof screen to prevent revenge attacks by his victims. He did not speak publicly.
Officials transported him to court in an armored Land Cruiser. He is being held in a nearby villa along with four top Khmer Rouge leaders, who all face trial later this year.
Duch is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder, and faces a life sentence. The tribunal cannot impose the death penalty.
“This first hearing represents the realization of significant efforts in establishing a fair and independent tribunal to try those in senior leadership positions,” chief judge Nil Nonn said at the opening of the trial yesterday.
For Cambodians the controversial tribunal, established in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between Cambodia and the UN, is seen as the last chance to bring the Khmer Rouge’s surviving leaders to book.
Court spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said yesterday’s initial hearing was “very, very significant” for the conflict-scarred nation, even though it is expected to last less than three days, focusing on procedural matters.
With full testimony not due to start until next month, defense lawyer Francois Roux complained to the court that it was “unacceptable” that Duch had been held without trial for more than nine years.
The hearing adjourned after seven hours of legal arguments, mainly about the admissibility of witnesses.
Roux told reporters afterwards that Duch acknowledged the charges against him and wished to use proceedings to publicly ask forgiveness from his victims as well as all other Cambodian people.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)