Decades following the Khmer Rouge regime terrorized Cambodia, one of the Khmer Rouge trials has concluded. Notorious hatchet man for the regime, Kang Kek Iew or Kaing Guek Eav, or “Comrade Duch,” was captured in 1999 and put on trial before a Cambodian tribunal. The trial of the man who presided over more than 17,000 executions has concluded. The most recently concluded trial saw the man who presided over 17,000 or more executions received only 19 years for his crimes, after credit for time served. Survivors of the era and the bereaved of the victims announced outrage at the sentence.
Khmer Rouge warden saw thousands dead
The Khmer Rouge regime came to power in 1975. The goal of leader Pol Pot and also the Khmer Rouge was to liquidate the upper and middle class, and found a collectivist farming utopia. The first to be sentenced to die were the educated, teachers, and perhaps wearing glasses carried a death sentence for appearing to be haughty and bookish. Kaing Guek Eav was the head of security for the Santebal, the state police, and was put in charge of Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21. Over 17,000 inmates were sent to Toul Sleng to be tortured and executed. From that 17,000 which were sent, 12 lived to talk about it.
Capture and trial
When the Khmer Rouge were toppled in 1979, their personnel scattered. Pol Pot went into hiding, eventually being found and put under house arrest until his death in 1998. Other officials of the Khmer Rouge went on trial, and some nevertheless are. Kaing Guek Eav surrendered to authorities in 1999, having been discovered near the Thai-Cambodian border living under an assumed name. He was brought before the Khmer Rouge tribunals, and went to trial. Convicted of crimes against humanity, he was sentenced on July 26, 2010, to 35 years in prison with 16 years credited for pre-trial detention and time served. According to the Christian Science Monitor, he will only serve 19 years behind bars.
No holiday in Cambodia
People who lived under the Khmer Rouge are appalled at the sentence, according to the BBC. Millions perished at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and one of its chief henchmen may live to be released. Present at his trial was Chum Mey, one of 3 living survivors of Tuol Seng. His wife and children were tortured and murdered by the Khmer Rouge. He said “millions of individuals died, a lot of money has been spent on the court – and also the perpetrator is free (in 19 years)? I am not happy with that.”
Find more details on this subject
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge
csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0726/Khmer-Rouge-executioner-found-guilty-but-Cambodians-say-sentence-too-light
bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10763409
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