Saturday, 23 February 2008

Cambodia tribunal to visit K Rouge torture centre

radionetherlands.n
Friday 22 February 2008

Phnom Penh - A former Khmer Rouge jailer on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity by Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal will re-enact his alleged crimes as part of the investigation against him. Duch, a 65-year-old former mathematics teacher, oversaw the Communist regime's main torture centre of Tuol Sleng where around 16,000 men women and children were tortured before being executed. He will lead tribunal judges through the notorious torture centre and describe his actions before going to the killing fields outside Phnom Penh where most of the inmates were slaughtered.

Some of the regime's victim's will probably be present at the re-enactment. Just seven people are known to have survived Tuol Sleng. Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has never denied his crimes.

The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 and terrorised the country's population during its four-year rule. Around two million people died of starvation and overwork or were executed by the Khmer Rouge, who were attempting to create a modern agrarian society.

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