The head of the Khmer Rouge’s prison system, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of thousands of Cambodians, has died.
The head of the Khmer Rouge’s prison system, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of thousands of Cambodians, has died. Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, died at a hospital in Cambodia early on Wednesday morning after suffering breathing difficulty, said Neak Pheaktra, a spokesperson for the tribunal in Phnom Penh that handled the trials over the regime’s crimes. Duch had been serving a life prison term for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 2009 he became the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face the UN-backed tribunal that had been assembled to deliver justice for the regime’s brutal rule of Cambodia in the late 1970s. The commander of the top-secret Tuol Sleng prison code-named S-21 was one of the few ex-Khmer Rouge who acknowledged even partial responsibility for his actions. Men, women and children seen as enemies of the regime or who disobeyed its orders were jailed and tormented there, and only a handful survived.
