How many years for Duch?
So this Mr.Duch, this time in appeal, how many years in jail will he get for having run an efficient torture center? More? Less? Does it really matter?.. It isn’t as much about the length of his punishment as it is about knowing the mechanisms and the political system which brought him to do what he did, so that it doesn’t happen again isn’t it? Unfortunately when seeing how the next cases are run it is kind of wishfull thinking to see this ECCC trial having some influence on the independence of the Cambodian judicial system. And when seeing the build-up of frustrations caused by land issues in a country where a real democratic process is being jeopardised, my soothsayers’ tooth hurts… What will the real legacy of this trial be?
Here are a few flash-backs on the Duch trial in the stories ‘Khmer Rouge Trial Background’ and ‘Cambodia Khmer Rouge Trial’…
And by the way: I am still looking for a publisher for the book ’30 Years for a Trial’ (31,4 Mb .pdf to download)… So if you want to make me happy for my birthday, let me know about your leads…
CAMBODIA. Kambol (Phnom Penh). 20/11/2007: Duch, in charge of the S21 interrogation center between 1975 and 1979, at the first public hearing at the ECCC regarding Kang Guek Eav (Duch), appealing against his provisional detention order.