CAMBODIA: Landmark Khmer Rouge genocide hearing ends in no verdict

Judges fail to reach decision on bail after the first hearing of the U.N-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal in Phnom Penh. Cambodians awaited anxiously on Wednesday (November 21) for the verdict in the first hearing of the United Nations-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal in Phnom Pehn, but no verdict was given. Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, was the first senior Khmer Rouge cadre to stand before the U.N.-backed court set up to prosecute "those most responsible" for the 1.7 million deaths during the 1975-79 genocide, one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Judges said they would give their decision on bail at a later date, but did not indicate when. Duch was taken back to the tribunal's detention facility outside the capital, Phnom Penh. "Duch's detention is a necessity to ensure his presence in the court," prosecutor Robert Petit explained. Lawyer, Francois Roux, said Duch's detention ensured a fair trial to the victims. "In doing so, we are also doing a favour to the victims because we want to have a tribunal which applies the law," Roux said. Commenting on why the tribunal did not reach a decision on its second day, Petit said: "This is the type of issue that all of the tribunals who accord these individuals -- all the tribunals have to face such issues." There was little reaction from the grey-haired former schoolteacher, now 66, when prosecutors argued against his release in the nationally televised hearing. They said Duch posed a flight risk and could try to destroy evidence. A born-again Christian, Duch has confessed in interviews with Western reporters that he committed multiple atrocities as head of the infamous Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre. At least 14,000 people deemed to be opponents of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution passed through Tuol Sleng's barbed-wire gates. Fewer than 10 are thought to have lived to tell the tale. Most victims were tortured and forced to confess to a variety of crimes -- mainly being CIA spies -- before being bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of the city. Women, children and even babies were among those butchered. AW/JRC

ITN Source | November 21, 2007

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