Some 30 years after the hardline communist regime fell, Duch, a notorious camp commandant, is the first high-ranking Khmer Rouge official to be tried in the UN-backed war crimes court.
More former Khmer Rouge leaders could face charges before a UN-backed tribunal after the court agreed to extend investigations to additional suspects, a decision that could put it on a collision course with the government.
Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal heard its first survivor testimony Monday. Van Nath, one of a handful of prisoners to survive the regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, gave evidence at the trial of his jailor Duch (pictured).
Khieu Samphan, who was head of state under Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge, has appealed for bail ahead of his trial at the UN-backed war crimes court. Samphan is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Kaing Guek Eav, alias Comrade Duch, has admitted responsibility for crimes committed during the Pol Pot regime at the UN-backed Cambodian tribunal. He has also asked the victims' families for forgiveness.
Three decades ago, tens of thousands of Cambodians were massacred by the Khmer Rouge in Takeo province. We accompanied one of the survivors of the genocide as he returned to face his former torturer.
The trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Comrade Duch, resumed in Cambodia on Monday with the prosecution laying out the case before the much-awaited testimony of the ageing former Khmer Rouge leader.
Japan has announced that it will grant the UN-backed tribunal charged with judging former members of the Khmer Rouge dictatorship an extra 200,000 dollars in funding, after donations dried up following corruption charges.
A number of US-born children of refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge grew up in US ghettos. But under American law, they are sent back to Cambodia if they are convicted twice as felons. Their return back in their own unknown country can be nightmarish.
In this edition of our weekly review of Asia: Islamabad bets on Sharia law to restore peace in Pakistan's restive north-western provinces; a Tamil family leaves Sri Lanka; Cambodia's landmark "Duch" trial; and Hillary Clinton's Asia tour.
