‘Duch’ to serve 19 years for role in Khmer Rouge genocide
Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 35 years in prison for running the notorious Cambodian torture prison where more than 14,000 people died during the Khmer Rouge regime. He was also found guilty of crimes against humanity, murder and torture. However, Duch will serve no more than 19 years of his sentence. The judge took off five years for the time Duch was illegally detained before the United Nations-backed tribunal was established, and another 11 years for the time he has already served behind bars. Duch ran the S-21 prison, where few people made it out alive. When the Vietnamese invaded in 1979, they found only about a dozen survivors. According to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, at least 1.7 million people—nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population—died under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime from execution, disease, starvation and overwork. Prosecutors asked for a 40-year sentence, and are currently studying the ruling to decide whether to appeal.