Nazi defence provides model for Khmer Rouge cadre

High-ranking Nazis at the 1946 Nuremberg trial including Hitler's key architect, Albert Speer (top row, third from left)

Thursday, November 19, 2009
By Patrick Falby
AFP

PHNOM PENH — Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer is set to play a posthumous role this week when the trial of the main jailer for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime hears final arguments from lawyers.

Speer escaped death at the Nuremberg trials after World War II by admitting responsibility for Nazi crimes and expressing remorse for using concentration camp inmates and prisoners of war for slave labour.

Similarly, Khmer Rouge cadre Duch (picture) is expected to repeat his expressions of remorse for the deaths of around 15,000 at the communist movement's main detention centre, a move his defence hope will spare him from life in prison.

Duch's defence has submitted as part of his case file the memoir by former Nuremberg prosecutor Henry King, "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer", in a bid to highlight similarities and show that Duch could one day foster reconciliation.

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