Monday, August 16, 2010

Prosecutors file appeal seeking longer sentence for Khmer Rouge war crimes convict

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Prosecutors for Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal have filed an appeal seeking a longer sentence for the former chief jailer of the Khmer Rouge convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A statement issued Monday by the prosecutors said the judgment under which Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, would serve 19 years in prison "gives insufficient weight to the gravity of Duch's crimes."

Duch (pronounced DOIK) supervised a prison where as many as 16,000 people were tortured before being sent for execution.

About 1.7 million people are estimated to have died as a result of the radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge, who ruled Cambodia in 1975-79.

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