Phnom Penh: Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch asked Cambodia`s UN-backed war crimes court on Friday to acquit and release him, in a surprise development on the final day of arguments in his nine-month trial.
"I would ask the chambers to release me. Thank you very much," Duch said at the end of his closing statement to the court, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Following a query by judges, his Cambodian lawyer Kar Savuth then confirmed that Duch was asking to be acquitted on the grounds that he was not a senior member of the brutal 1975-1979 communist regime.
Judges declined to act on Duch`s request before ending the trial`s proceedings, following several days of closing arguments.
They did not announce a date for their ruling, which is expected early next year.
Duch commanded the notorious S-21 prison where those accused of disloyalty to the xenophobic communist regime were held. He oversaw the torture and execution of about 16,000 men, women and children during the Khmer Rouge`s reign.
Duch said on Friday he had fully cooperated with the tribunal and had been detained since 1999.
"I want to be released from the chamber," Duch said.
Duch has denied personally killing or torturing the S-21 prisoners, and said he felt compelled by fear for his own life to follow the orders of senior Khmer Rouge leaders.
Duch, the only accused Khmer Rouge leader to acknowledge responsibility for his actions, is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders are in custody awaiting trial.
Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, execution, disease and starvation under the Khmer Rouge, whose Maoist ideologues led by Pol Pot emptied cities and forced virtually the entire population to work on farm collectives.
Bureau Report
