PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Chief Khmer Rouge interrogator Duch stood before the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal on Tuesday, the first public appearance by a senior Pol Pot cadre at the court investigating Cambodia's genocide.
The grey-haired ex-commandant of the S-21 interrogation centre, now 66, sat impassively in the dock as prosecutors read out allegations of torture during a televised bail hearing.
"Many people were brutally tortured and killed. They were killed with electric shocks, their finger nails were pulled off and they were beaten," co-prosecutor Chea Leang told the court.
"Those acts at S-21 were done under the orders of the suspect," she said, arguing that Duch might try to flee the country if he were released on bail.
Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, is appealing against his detention last July when he was charged with crimes against humanity by the joint court set up to prosecute "those most responsible" for the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge reign of terror, one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
His appearance at the specially built court on the outskirts of Phnom Penh was a significant step for the tribunal, officials said, after a decade of delays caused by wrangling over jurisdiction and cash.
"Today is a milestone event in the history of the extraordinary chamber," said Peter Foster, spokesman for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal probing the 1.7 million deaths of the Khmer Rouge era is called.
Dressed in a white shirt and holding his palms together in a sign of respect, Duch told the five Cambodian and foreign judges his detention violated Cambodian law.
"I launched the appeal because I have been detained without trial for 8 years, six months and 10 days," said Duch, who before his July arrest was held in military prison since 1999.
THOUSANDS TORTURED
