\n A Khmer Rouge-era jailer who was the first to be convicted in an ongoing Cambodian war crimes tribunal is ill in hospital, a prison official told AFP Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is serving out a life sentence for his role in managing a Phnom Penh detention centre where thousands were incarcerated, tortured and sent to their deaths in nearby \"Killing Fields\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The \"factory of death\" called S-21 was at the heart of the security apparatus of the Khmer Rouge, an ultra-Maoist regime that ruled from 1975-1979 and killed almost a quarter of the population through enslavement, overwork and execution.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duch was sent to a prison in Cambodia's Kandal province after an appeal extended his original decades-long sentence to life in 2012.\n<\/p>\n
\n Chat Sineang, director of the Kandal prison, told AFP that Duch had been undergoing treatment for respiratory problems since October 20 and was moved from a provincial treatment facility to the capital Phnom Penh.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He is still at the Russian Friendship hospital,\" Sineang said, describing his condition as \"quite serious because he is 76 now\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The former mathematics teacher turned torturer was arrested in 1999 after being discovered working for a Christian aid agency under a false name.\n<\/p>\n
\n His eventual trial was followed closely and the conviction was seen as a historic milestone for victims seeking long-delayed justice.\n<\/p>\n
\n Numerous books and films have probed Duch's life and his time at S-21, which has been converted into a museum.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the proceedings, Duch asked for forgiveness but also said he was not a senior member of the Khmer Rouge and should be acquitted.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN-backed trial in Phnom Penh has been tainted by its limited scope since it started more than a decade ago, recording only three convictions including Duch's.\n<\/p>\n
\n Age has also played a factor in thwarting prosecutions in real time.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ieng Thirith, the Khmer Rouge social affairs minister and one of the suspects on trial in the case after Duch's, was released on mental health grounds before dying in 2015.\n<\/p>\n
\n Her husband and co-defendant Ieng Sary died two years earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Khmer Rouge-era jailer who was the first to be convicted in an ongoing Cambodian war crimes tribunal is ill in hospital, a prison official told AFP Wednesday. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is serving out a life sentence for his role in managing a Phnom Penh detention centre where thousands were incarcerated, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-39324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n