Further charges possible for Khmer Rouge torture chief

Updated August 22, 2008 08:19:05

Comrade Duch will be the first Khmer Rouge leader to face trial. [AFP]

Prosecutors at the United Nations backed genocide tribunal in Cambodia are appealing to have additional charges lodged against Comrade Duch, the first of five Khmer Rouge defendants.

South East Asia Correspondent Karen Percy reports that the co-prosecutors of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia want Comrade Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, to face homicide and torture charges as allowed by Cambodian law.

As it currently stands, the co-investigating judges have sought only to charge him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Duch was head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands of people were detained, tortured and killed in the 1970s under the orders of the Khmer Rouge government.

The Khmer Rouge are thought to have killed as many as two million people during their four year reign.

The outcome of this appeal should be known by the end of September.

The trial against Comrade Duch is expected to get underway in October.