Chief Khmer Rouge interrogator Duch has stood before the UN-backed 'Killing Fields' tribunal in the first public appearance by a senior Pol Pot cadre at the court probing Cambodia's genocide.
Armed guards escorted Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, into a packed court room on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, where he is seeking bail before a panel of five Cambodian and international judges.
"My name is Kaing Guek Eav. I am 66-years-old," Duch, dressed in a white shirt and holding his palms together, told the court.
Duch is appealing his detention last July when he was charged with crimes against humanity by Cambodian and international judges probing the 1975-79 genocide, one of the darkest chapters in the 20th century.
Since then, four other top Khmer Rouge officials have been detained and charged, including former President Khieu Samphan, 78, charged on Monday with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
"Today is a milestone event in the history of the extraordinary chamber," said Peter Foster, spokesman for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal into the 1.7 million deaths during the Khmer Rouge era is called.
Duch, a born-again Christian, has confessed to committing multiple atrocities during his time as head of the capital's infamous Tuol Sleng, or S-21, interrogation centre.
Some 200 local and foreign journalists are covering the two-day bail hearing held in a specially-built court on the outskirts of Phnom Penh and broadcast live in Cambodia and in 10 other countries.
The hearing also serves as a dry run for the three-year, $56 million court which is due to begin full trials next year after a decade of delays due to squabbles over jurisdiction and cash.
"It is the first time that an act of trial, including the prosecution, defence and judges, will be shown to the public. This will go to a potential audience of millions of people," Mr Foster said.
Duch is expected to be a key witness in the trial of other senior Khmer Rouge cadres and had been in a military prison in the southeast Asian nation's capital since 1999.
At least 14,000 people deemed to be opponents of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution passed through Tuol Sleng's barbed-wire gates. Fewer than 10 are thought to have lived to tell the tale.
Most victims were tortured and forced to confess to a variety of crimes - mainly being CIA spies - before being bludgeoned to death in a field on the outskirts of the city. Women, children and even babies were among those butchered. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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