Khmer Rouge Prison Chief Could Get 40 Years

A photographer takes picture of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the former Khmer Rouge prison...

A photographer takes picture of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the former Khmer Rouge prison chief of S-21 or Tuol Sleng prison from a livefeed video grab during his trial at the Extraodinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh on July 16, 2009. Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch implored his deputy to tell the truth on July 15, at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court, but the weeping witness refused to admit to crimes.

(TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images))

The prison chief being tried for running a Khmer Rouge torture center apologized but said he was only following orders and couldn't stop the abuse and the thousands of killings there, as prosecutors sought a 40-year prison sentence.

Defense attorneys in Cambodia's first genocide tribunal continued their closing arguments Thursday. Kaing Guek Eav, 67, is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Some survivors and other victims of the Khmer Rouge attending the U.N.-backed trial said a 40-year prison term, which would likely lock up Kaing Guek Eav for life, would not be harsh enough.

"I cannot accept this sentence request because it is too little," Chum Mey, 78, one of a handful of survivors from the S-21 prison run three decades ago by Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, said Wednesday. "He should get 70 or 80 years. ... He should be punished by hanging, but Cambodian law doesn't allow it."

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Judges are to decide the verdict and sentence by early next year.

About 16,000 men, women and children suspected of disloyalty were tortured at the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh before being taken away for execution. In total, some 1.7 million Cambodians died due to the radical communist policies of the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime and their French-educated leader, the late Pol Pot. Four other senior leaders are in custody, and expected to face trial in the next year.

Duch (pronounced DOIK) has denied personally killing or torturing the S-21 prisoners, and testified that he acted with reluctance on orders from his superiors, fearing for the safety of his family and himself.

Addressing the court Wednesday, Duch once again apologized to the dead, their families, survivors of the regime and to all Cambodians — something he has done repeatedly since the trial began in March.

He said he was "deeply remorseful and profoundly affected by the destruction on such a mind-boggling scale."