'Killing fields' trial begins

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Families of victims of Pol Pot's torture prison Tuol Sleng, a few survivors, international media and observers crammed the world's biggest court today as Cambodia's first long-awaited killing fields warcrimes trial began.

Former teacher Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch as he is known, is on trial before two international judges, New Zealand's Dame Silvia Cartwright and Frenchman Jean-Marc Lavergne, and three Cambodians, Nil Nonn, Ya Sokhan and Thou Mony.

Together they form the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia", more commonly the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, which is trying senior leaders of Pol Pot's brutal regime under which 1.7 million Cambodians died between 1975 and 1979.

The court seats 494 and is, an ECCC official says, the largest in the world.

The audience watches from theatre-style seats while proceedings carry on behind thick bullet-proof glass.

To add to the sense of theatre, a curtain is drawn when privacy is required.

Duch, 66, the former head of Tuol Sleng, or S21 torture centre and prison, looking frail and dressed plainly in a white shirt and dark trousers, spoke clearly when asked to give personal details after the hearing was officially opened.

Charges against him - crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Convention and violations of the Cambodian penal code including premeditated murder and torture - were read out to get the trial under way.

Duch sat in the centre of the court reading paperwork and appearing uncomfortable when his face appeared on the screen in front of him.

Indictments against him detailed how the prison was established and how the conservatively documented figure of 12,380 prisoners were interrogated, tortured and later executed.

Some died in prison cells from starvation, disease or their injuries. Only about 10 prisoners survived.

Prisoners arrived blindfolded, were photographed, stripped and shackled. They were not allowed to speak and the only hygiene was an occasional hosing from the door of their cells.

Prisoners suffered brutal torture, blood draining and medical experiments.

Duch has admitted the crimes that happened under his command but says they were carried out on the orders of his superiors.

He is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge leaders to be tried by the UN-backed tribunal.

An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.

- NZPA

* Maggie Tait travelled to Cambodia with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.