Phnom Penh - The defence in Cambodia's war crimes tribunal showed signs of falling apart Thursday as the trial of former Khmer Rouge prison camp commander Comrade Duch entered its scheduled final day. Duch's international defence lawyer Francois Roux, in his last appearance as a defence lawyer before taking up a position at the UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon, told the court that the closing arguments advanced on Wednesday by his Cambodian defence counterpart, Kar Savuth, had undermined Roux's own planned closing statement.
"We have had to revise the entire plan of our pleadings after Mr Kar Savuth's pleading yesterday afternoon," Roux said in his opening remarks at the joint UN-Cambodian tribunal in Phnom Penh.
Roux told the court there had been "disagreements" within the defence team.
On Wednesday Kar Savuth told the tribunal that Duch, who is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes under Cambodian law, should be freed for a number of reasons, including his contention that international law did not apply and the statute of limitations under the Cambodian law had expired.
The defence's statements were part of its seven-hour closing argument in the trial of Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav. Duch ran S-21, the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison.
Kar Savuth's argument followed yet another admission Wednesday by Duch accepting responsibility for the torture and murder of more than 12,000 people at the S-21 prison camp he ran in Phnom Penh between 1975-79.
Among Kar Savuth's arguments was that since Duch was following orders while allegedly living in fear of his life, he could not be prosecuted for ordering his subordinates to kill.
Some of Roux's comments Thursday were clearly at odds with his co-defence lawyer, including a outright repudiation of Kar Savuth's comments that international law does not apply.
But for much of the first two hours of his closing arguments, Roux lambasted the prosecution, not least its contention that Duch was at the centre of "a network of terror."
"I apologize in advance to the victims for what I am about to say," Roux told the court Thursday. "But how many people died at S-21? We know 12,380 ... and a total of 1.7 million in Cambodia. That means S-21 was responsible for less than 1 per cent of the deaths in Cambodia."
"And [the prosecution] is telling the chamber that Duch was at the centre of a network that bathed Cambodia in blood - how dare you?" Roux said.
On Wednesday the prosecution called on the tribunal to hand down a 40-year sentence to Duch. The prosecution acknowledged some mitigating factors, including that Duch had shown some cooperation and took limited responsibility for the crimes committed at S-21.
Duch is 67, so the prosecution's demand would effectively translate to life in prison.
Kar Savuth's arguments were described "an almost obscene immunization of a mass murderer" by David J Scheffer, a former US war crimes ambassador, who is attending the closing week of the trial.
Scheffer, a professor of law, said the defence argument "defies 65 years of international criminal law."
"If we accept his argument, it would vitiate the provisions of the [tribunal] law that there is no defence to superior orders," Scheffer said. "He ignores that completely."
Sentencing in Duch's trial is due to take place early next year. There is no death penalty in Cambodia, and he faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Witnesses at the 72-day hearing this year have told how some prisoners at S-21 had their blood entirely drained, while others suffered simulated drowning, electrocution and beatings. Very few prisoners sent to S-21 survived.
Four senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in jail and awaiting trial.
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 before being forced out of power by neighbouring Vietnam. Around 2 million people died of starvation and disease or were executed under the radical regime.
