Torture prison chief expresses 'sorrow' for victims killed under his watch

Kaing Guek Eav, 67, also known as Duch, was the chief in charge of Cambodia’s notorious prison, responsible for thousands of deaths during the country’s Maoist revolution.

Survivors of the prison have revealed beatings with metal pipes, electrocution, starvation, violent rape and forcing prisoners to eat their own excrement. Duch is being accused at a UN-backed tribunal of "crimes against humanity, enslavement, torture, sexual abuses and other inhumane acts" as commander of S-21 jail.

Duch denies personally murdering the prisoners himself, but was serving a mafia-type group “I could not withdraw from.”

The tribunal is seeking justice for 1.7 million people who perished from execution or torture during the revolution. Duch said “I am deeply remorseful of and profoundly affected by this destruction. I am solely and individually liable for the loss of at least 12,380 lives."

Prosecutors, who claim Duch had broad autonomy and did nothing to stop jail guards from inflicting torture, said the defendant should get 40 years in prison; Cambodia does not have capital punishment.