Khmer Rouge jailer dies aged 77

The Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regime’s most notorious prison, has died.

Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was 77 and had been serving a life prison term for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He died at a hospital in Cambodia early yesterday morning, said Neth Pheaktra, a spokesperson for the tribunal in Phnom Penh that handled the trials over the regime’s crimes.

Duch, whose trial took place in 2009, was the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face the United Nationsbacked tribunal.