Khmer Rouge ex-prison chief pleads for release

Kian Guek Eav, who commanded the Khmer Rouge's infamous torture centre, the S-21 prison, in which those accused of disloyalty to the regime were held, has asked the genocide tribunal to release him as he had already served a decade in jail.

A journalist takes pictures of Kaing Guek Eav, the former chief of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison, seen in a screen at the court press centre of the U.N.-backed tribunal while he is being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 25, 2009.

The Khmer Rouge prison chief blamed for thousands of deaths at an infamous torture centre has asked Cambodia’s genocide tribunal to release him, citing the decade he already has served in jail and his cooperation.

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch (pronounced Doik), commanded the notorious S-21 prison where those accused of disloyalty to the xenophobic communist regime were held. He oversaw the torture and execution of about 16,000 men, women and children during the Khmer Rouge’s reign.

Judges declined to act on Duch’s request before ending the trial’s proceedings, following several days of closing arguments. They did not announce a date for their ruling, which is expected early next year.