Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch found guilty
Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal.
Duch, 67, whose full name is Kaing Guek Eav, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
He had admitted overseeing the torture and execution of thousands of men, women and children at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, and asked for forgiveness.
This is the tribunal's first verdict.
Prosecutors had asked the judges for a 40-year prison sentence.
However, Duch will not serve the full 35 allotted years as judges reduced the sentence by five years because he had been held illegally, and reduced it by a further 11 years for time already served behind bars.
Wearing a blue shirt, the former Khmer Rouge jailer looked pensive and slumped in his chair as proceedings were held behind a floor-to-ceiling bullet-proof screen which separated the public gallery from the rest of the court.
Reading out the sentence, the president of the five-judge panel said it reflected the "shocking and heinous" nature of the offences.
Crowds of Cambodians attended the specially built court on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, to hear the verdict, which was also broadcast live across the country.
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Duch, 67, whose full name is Kaing Guek Eav, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
He had admitted overseeing the torture and execution of thousands of men, women and children at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, and asked for forgiveness.
This is the tribunal's first verdict.
Prosecutors had asked the judges for a 40-year prison sentence.
However, Duch will not serve the full 35 allotted years as judges reduced the sentence by five years because he had been held illegally, and reduced it by a further 11 years for time already served behind bars.
Wearing a blue shirt, the former Khmer Rouge jailer looked pensive and slumped in his chair as proceedings were held behind a floor-to-ceiling bullet-proof screen which separated the public gallery from the rest of the court.
Reading out the sentence, the president of the five-judge panel said it reflected the "shocking and heinous" nature of the offences.
Crowds of Cambodians attended the specially built court on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, to hear the verdict, which was also broadcast live across the country.
...