Chief of notorious Khmer Rouge torture center testifies, apologizes [View All]

[Coventina]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- The head of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious torture center accepted responsibility for the torture and death of thousands of Cambodians today, telling the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal that he was "full of shame and regret."

"I admit that I am responsible for the crimes, torture and execution at S-21," said Kaing Khev Iev, 66, better known as Duch, using the code name for Tuol Sleng prison, where more than 12,000 men, women and children were tortured before being executed in the nearby "killing fields" outside the capital.


"I apologize to the survivors of the regime and also the loved ones of those who died brutally during the regime. I don't ask that you forgive me now, but I hope you will later," Duch told the court.

He has been charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder. Duch is one of five detained senior Khmer Rouge leaders believed to be the architects of the ultra-Maoist regime's fanatical rule in the late 1970s, under which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians perished from overwork, starvation and murder.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/fgw-cambodia-genocide1,0,4077468.story

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As explained in the article, his "defense" is the old "I was following orders" excuse.

ETA: I've visited S-21 (as the museum it is now), and I can still "feel" the smell of that place at the back of my throat.....