Khmer Rouge Tribunal formally indicts Duch

The Mekong Times
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) formally indicted Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, the chief of the Khmer Rouge torture center S-21, on Tuesday, paving the way for the court's first public trial.

The UN-assisted tribunal said in a statement that its investigating judges issued the indictment upon ending their investigation of Duch.

Duch, 66, charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, is the first suspect to be indicted by the tribunal. He and four other former senior members of the Khmer Rouge were taken into custody last year.
The tribunal's announcement marks another "important moment in the history of the court," said Peter Foster, a tribunal spokesman.

He said the indictment sets the stage for the first trial of the tribunal, which began its work in early 2006. No date has yet been set for a trial, but tribunal officials have previously said it was expected to begin in late September.

When Duch was detained by the tri­bunal in July last year, he was charged only with crimes against humanity, with the war crimes charge being add­ed with the end of the investigation against him. Duch will be tried by a panel of five judges - three Cambodian, one French and one New Zealander - according to a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the UN establishing the tribunal. (AP)