Khmer Rouge jailer gets 19 years

July 27, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

A war-crimes tribunal sentenced the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer Monday to a prison term that will see him serve less than half a day for every person killed at the notorious torture center he commanded.

Survivors expressed anger and disbelief that a key player in the genocide that wiped out a quarter of Cambodia’s population could one day walk free — despite being convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“I can’t accept this,” sobbed Saodi Ouch, 46, shaking so hard she could hardly talk. “My family died ... my older sister, my older brother. I’m the only one left.”

Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was the first major Khmer Rouge figure to face trial more than three decades after the “killing fields” regime tried to turn the country into a vast agrarian society — leading to the deaths of 1.7 million people.

As commander of the top secret Tuol Sleng prison — code-named S-21 — the 67-year-old Duch admitted overseeing the torture and deaths of as many as 16,000 people.

He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but will spend only 19 in jail — 11 years were shaved off for time served and five more for illegal detention in a military prison.

“It is just unacceptable to have a man who killed thousands of people serving just 19 years,” said Theary Seng, a human-rights lawyer, who lost both her parents to the Khmer Rouge and has been working with other victims to find justice.

“It comes down to serving 111/2 hours per life that he took,” she said, adding that if prosecutors could get only such a lenient sentence in a case where the defendant admitted his guilt, they could expect even less in the upcoming trial of four senior Khmer Rouge figures.