Comrade Duch aka Kaing Guek Eav, Khmer Rouge torturer wants forgiveness

Remember the "Killing Fields" back in the 1970s (1975 to 1979, to be exact), when the brutal communist party, the Khmer Rouge, killed almost a quarter of the Cambodian population, a whopping 1.7 million or so souls? Starved, overworked and murdered for a political ideology.

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Thousands upon thousands were imprisoned, for alleged disloyalty to the regime, where they were tortured and eventually killed since they were presumed guilty, or "already dead", according to Comrade Duch (Kaing Guek Eav). Duch was a math teacher turned communist revolutionary and head honcho of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, and responsible for well over 12,000 deaths.

They were to be tortured for false confessions, usually that they were traitors working for the CIA or KGB, through electric shocks, beatings and whippings, water-boarding, having fingers cut off or toenails pulled out. The victims were then executed, most driven to nearby Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields, where they were bludgeoned to death with ox-cart axles and buried in mass graves.

Duch lived, for the most part, in relative freedom until 1999, when he was detained by authorities. But it wasn't until July 31st, 2007 when

Duch was formally charged with crimes against humanity and detained by Cambodia's United Nations-backed Cambodia Tribunal. Duch, represented by Cambodian lawyer Kar Savuth and French lawyer Francois Roux, appealed against his provisional detention by the ECCC based on the more than eight years he spent without trial in Cambodian military detention. The appeal was unsuccessful and on August 14, 2008, the tribunal issued its indictment after completing their investigation of Duch.

67 years old now, Duch is the first of 5 to be tried for crimes against humanity, though the 4 others aren't expected to necessarily survive until their trials in 2011, given their advanced ages.

Whether sincere, or not, Duch now wants to apologize to all his victims and accepts full responsibility for their torture and murder. Perhaps a result of facing his own mortality, or because he became a Christian in the mid 90s. But live, on TV, he addressed the families and survivors

"I am solely and individually responsible for the loss of at least 12,380 lives," he said. "These people, before their deaths, endured great and prolonged suffering and countless indignities. I … forever wish most respectful and humble apologies to the dead souls. As for the families, I [am] asking you to kindly leave your door open for me to make my apologies. May I meet with you to allow me to share your intense and enduring sorrow any time in order to express my most excruciating remorse?"

But no survivors seem interested in forgiving him. They doubt his sincerity. One survivor who walked out of the courtroom, who was a child when the prison was liberated and whose mother died in Tuol Sleng prison, had this to say about Duch

"I don't want to hear this. It is not real and it is not enough for my family. Look at him, he is an old man, he has had a long life. The way he talked, I do not believe he is genuine."

I don't think anyone can truly know whether this man is remorseful or not, but his horrendous crimes should be punished. He was directly responsible for the death of thousands of men, women and children.

What I want to know is what took so long to bring them all to trial?