Huw Borland, Sky News Online
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer and jailer has expressed "excruciating remorse" for more than 14,000 people killed under his watch.
Duch, middle, at his trial in Cambodia
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, was in charge at a notorious prison during Cambodia's ultra-Maoist revolution of the 1970s.
The 67-year-old former maths teacher admits being liable for the killings but insists he was serving a mafia-type group "I could not withdraw from".
He is accused at a UN-backed 'Killing Fields' tribunal of "crimes against humanity, enslavement, torture, sexual abuses and other inhumane acts" as commander of S-21 jail.
" I am solely and individually liable for the loss of at least 12,380 lives "
Duch testifying in Cambodia
Witnesses have told of beatings with metal pipes, electrocution, near-starvation, violent rape and forcing some prisoners to eat their own excrement.
Duch denies personally murdering or torturing prisoners and insists he was following orders out of fear for his own life.
But civil party lawyer Karim Khan has urged the tribunal's five-judge panel to reject defence arguments, saying the jailer was "ideologically of the same mind" as the Khmer Rouge leaders.
The tribunal seeks justice for 1.7 million people - nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population - who perished from execution, overwork or torture during the regime's revolution.
Duch told the tribunal in Cambodia: "I am deeply remorseful of and profoundly affected by this destruction. I am solely and individually liable for the loss of at least 12,380 lives."
Researchers said more than 14,000 were killed after passing through S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng. Only seven survived.
"May I plead with you to allow me to share with you my immense and enduring sorrow ... in order to express my most excruciating remorse," Duch added.
Prosecutors, who claim he had broad autonomy and did nothing to stop jail guards from inflicting torture, said the defendant should get 40 years in prison - Cambodia does not have capital punishment.
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