Friday, November 27, 2009

Lawyers say Khmer Rouge prison chief a scapegoat

Friday, November 27, 2009
By SOPHENG CHEANG and LUKE HUNT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)— Closing arguments were expected to conclude Friday in the genocide trial of a Khmer Rouge prison chief, with the two sides sparing over how much the former Cambodian school teacher should be held accountable for the regime's brutality.
Prosecutors earlier in the week demanded a 40-year jail sentence for Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, but the defense insisted he was not a senior Khmer Rouge leader and therefore should not be prosecuted at all.
That prompted an angry rebuttal Friday from Australian co-prosecutor William Smith, who said such defense assertions showed that Duch (pronounced DOIK) was "not facing up to who he was back in 1975 to 1979."

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