Chief torturer for the Khmer Rouge distances himself from his past

MAK REMISSA; Duch

http://www.kansascity.com/

By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times
Sat, Jun. 20, 2009

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia He is deceptively unassuming, a small man in a neat white shirt, sometimes wearing reading glasses as he studies the legal documents he brings every day from his cell to the courtroom.

He gives the judges a humble greeting, both palms pressed together, an obsequiousness that is annoying to some who once suffered at his hands and now sit across the courtroom from him.

But in nearly three months of trial proceedings, a harder man has emerged — alert, vigorous, with a self-confidence that has begun to shade into condescension as he corrects an attorney or a witness about details of his life as the chief torturer for the Khmer Rouge.

This is Kaing Guek Eav, 66, known as Duch, the first person to face trial in the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979 when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia.

If convicted, he would face a possible life sentence for crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as homicide and torture.

Four higher-ranking leaders await their turns.

In the courtroom, Duch has clearly taken pride in the efficiency with which he ran the prison, called Tuol Sleng, or S-21, and he seems to relish his role as the public face of the Khmer Rouge.

Under the guidance of an experienced and nimble French attorney, Francois Roux, Duch has constructed a complicated bait-and-switch defense since the trial opened in March.

But the culpability he admits has become more nuanced as he distances himself from the worst brutality of the regime and places himself within a chain of command where disobedience often meant death.

“The horrendous images of the babies being smashed against the trees, I didn’t recognize it at first,” he testified recently. “But after seeing the photographs I recalled that it had happened. It was done by my subordinates. I do not blame them because this was under my responsibility.”

Court analysts say Duch will not be able to avoid a conviction but is working to soften his image to produce a more lenient penalty.