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| Southeast Asia |
| Duch pleads for release |
| 2009-11-28 |
| [Straits Times] AFTER claiming to feel great remorse for his part in Khmer Rouge atrocities, the defendant in Cambodia's first genocide trial on Friday surprised the court with a last-minute plea for his freedom, saying he should not have been prosecuted and has already spent ten years in jail. Kaing Guek Eav, who headed a torture center from which about 16,000 men, women and children were sent to their deaths, seemingly stepped back from previous assertions of responsibility for his actions and expressions of sorrow to his victims, as well as willingness to accept severe punishment. His Cambodian lawyer, Kar Savuth, went a step further and stunned the tribunal by issuing the trial's first clear call for an acquittal of his client, even after his French lawyer, Francois Roux, denied seeking such a verdict. Only when directly pressed by a frustrated Judge Dame Silvia Cartwright of New Zealand did Kar Savuth say that in calling for Duch's release he was seeking his acquittal. After consultations, the judges at the UN-assisted tribunal accepted the plea for acquittal, even though the legal basis for it was unclear. Acquittal in legal terms normally means a finding that the defendant is not guilty of the crimes he is charged with, while the defense case hinged generally on claims that Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, ought to have any punishment lightened in view of his cooperation with the court and expressions of remorse. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 AFTER claiming to feel great remorse for his part in Khmer Rouge atrocities, the defendant in Cambodia's first genocide trial on Friday surprised the court with a last-minute plea for his freedom, saying he should not have been prosecuted and has already spent ten years in jail. How much time should be spent in jail for taking part in ending a person's life? Apparently this guy thinks about an hour is OK. One of the most haunting images I have seen is a photograph of a young Cambodian woman who is being "processed" by the Khmer Rouge before going into one of their camps, probably to be executed. The photo was a simple above-the-waist shot of a distraught woman. What was so shocking was the child's hands barely visible at the bottom of the picture, holding onto her, probably for assurance. If he was truly sorry, he would have killed himself long ago. I don't know why the world puts up with these people for longer than it took one of the Khmer Rouge's goons like Duch to put a bullet in the back of a baby's head. The only lightening his punshment might deserve is a death that is not quite so slow and agonizing as it should be. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-11-28 04:07 |