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| Khmer Rouge Duch in release plea | Khmer Rouge Duch in release plea |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has shocked the UN-backed war crimes tribunal by asking to be released on the final day of the trial. | Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch has shocked the UN-backed war crimes tribunal by asking to be released on the final day of the trial. |
| Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, had admitted being responsible for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people. | Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, had admitted being responsible for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people. |
| Duch commanded a prison from where thousands were killed in an orchard now known as the "Killing Fields". | Duch commanded a prison from where thousands were killed in an orchard now known as the "Killing Fields". |
| His request for clemency cast doubt over the sincerity of his requests for forgiveness from the victims' families. | His request for clemency cast doubt over the sincerity of his requests for forgiveness from the victims' families. |
| Duch, a former maths teacher, said he had co-operated fully with the tribunal and had been detained since 1999. | Duch, a former maths teacher, said he had co-operated fully with the tribunal and had been detained since 1999. |
| "I would ask the chamber to release me. Thank you very much," he said at the end of his closing statement to the court. | "I would ask the chamber to release me. Thank you very much," he said at the end of his closing statement to the court. |
| Tortured and killed | |
| His lawyer confirmed he was asking to be acquitted on the grounds that he was not a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy. | His lawyer confirmed he was asking to be acquitted on the grounds that he was not a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy. |
| The judges did not act on Duch's request and closed proceedings. They are expected to make a ruling on the verdict early next year. | |
| Up to two million Cambodians died under Pol Pot's brutal Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s. | |
| As many as 17,000 inmates are thought to have passed through the gates of the prison which Duch controlled, known as S-21. | |
| The vast majority were tortured, forced to "confess" to crimes against the regime and then put to death just outside Phnom Penh. | |
| Duch is the first of five leading Khmer Rouge figures to face the UN-backed tribunal. | |
| The joint trial of four other - more senior - Khmer Rouge leaders is expected to start in 2011. |