Cambodian 'Killing Fields' Trial Opens; the Chief Accused Expresses Remorse

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Feb. 17, 2009 — -- Cambodia's long-awaited genocide ("killing fields") trial began today.

Three decades after the deaths of millions of Cambodians, Guek Eav Kaing, a.k.a. Comrade Duch, is the first member of the communist ruling party Khmer Rouge to stand trial.

"This is the day we have waited for for 30 years," said Vann Nath, 63, one of a handful of survivors from the Tuol Sleng prison camp where, as deputy secretary, Duch is alleged to have presided over the torture and killings of at least 14,000 men, women and children.

He is officially charged with crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

"Duch's hands are full of blood; it's time for Duch to pay for his actions," said 39-year-old Norng Chan Phal, a child survivor of the so-called S-21 prison who is among the survivors expected to be allowed to join the trial process.

The haunting pictures of his victims still hang at Tuol Sleng prison, a former school that is now a tourist attraction for Phnom Penh visitors and a grisly memorial to the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror over Cambodia.

Nearly everyone lost loved ones in the violence, starvation and disease that followed the dictator Pol Pot's dream of building an agrarian utopia in Southeast Asia.

Those who opposed the regime were forced to confess to crimes, and were then shot or beaten to death in the "killing fields" outside the capital.

Duch's alleged involvement was no small contribution to the 1.7 million killed from 1975 to 1979.

Duch is full of remorse, according to his lawyers. "Duch wishes to ask forgiveness from the victims and the Cambodian people," Francois Roux told reporters at the specially built court outside the Cambodian capital. "He will do so publicly."

The neatly dressed communist revolutionary and former school teacher appeared frail but alert as lawyers discussed upcoming proceedings.

This week's hearings will lay the groundwork for a full-blown trial in March, when Duch and survivors are expected to testify.

Instead of an emotionally charged atmosphere, the spectators, some of them victims of the brutal regime, watched the court proceedings with quiet interest.