By ZOE DANIEL
The Age
Most Cambodians have no memory of life under the brutal Khmer Rouge.
THE wizened Comrade Duch has become the face of the Khmer Rouge trials. Known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the clunky, UN-backed tribunal will wind up its first case this week with final arguments against Duch, otherwise known as Kaing Guek Eav. To a degree, Duch, 66, is the fall guy for the Khmer Rouge regime that's been held responsible for the deaths of about 2 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.
He was the head of the so-called death camp - S21, a former high school that became a prison where more than 14,000 people were held, tortured and exterminated for being enemies of the communist regime.
The court has heard horrendous tales of crimes against humanity; babies being bashed to death on tree trunks, women being raped, men having their fingers and toes cut off, their bodies stretched, their heads dipped into drums of water until they drowned, and worse.
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