Kaing Guek Eav given life after both sides appealed against 35-year term for 'killing fields' slaughter of 12,000 people

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

The Khmer Rouge tribunal's supreme court has ordered the regime's chief jailer to serve out the rest of his life in prison because of his "shocking and heinous" crimes against the Cambodian people.

The surprise ruling increased a lower court's 19-year sentence against which prosecutors had appealed as too lenient and by the convicted man as too harsh. Survivors had feared the man who oversaw the killings of thousands could one day walk free.

Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was commander of the top-secret Tuol Sleng prison codenamed S-21. He has admitted to overseeing the torture of prisoners before sending them for execution at the "killing fields".

In July 2010 the tribunal's lower court convicted Duch of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder.

He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but had his sentence reduced by 11 years for time served and other technicalities.

The sentence was appealed against by both prosecutors who called for life imprisonment and by Duch who argued it was too harsh because he was merely following orders.

The appeal judge said the upper court felt the penalty should be more severe because the former jailer was responsible for the brutal deaths of so many. The tribunal says Duch oversaw the killing of at least 12,272 victims but some estimates have placed the number as high as 16,000.

"The crimes of Kaing Guek Eav were of a particularly shocking and heinous character based on the number of people who were proven to have been killed," the judge said.

The 69-year-old Duch stood calmly without emotion as the sentence was read.

He then pressed his palms together and pulled them to his chest in a show of respect to the judge, before being led away by court guards. The ruling was final with no other chance for appeal.

The tribunal is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died from torture, starvation, exhaustion or lack of medical care during the Khmer Rouge's rule in the 1970s.

Three senior Khmer Rouge figures are on trial in what is known as Case 002. Unlike Duch, who admitted his role and asked for forgiveness, the others claim no wrongdoing.

They are 85-year-old Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist and second in charge; 80-year-old Khieu Samphan, an ex-head of state; and 86-year-old Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister. They are accused of crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.