'Loyalty' the key to survival

PHNOM PENH - THE former Khmer Rouge prison chief told Cambodia's war crimes trial on Tuesday that his loyalty to the regime helped him survive being named a traitor by some of the inmates at his jail.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is on trial for overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the hardline communist movement's notorious Tuol Sleng prison.

Duch, 66, told the court that he was twice incriminated in written confessions by prisoners interrogated at his jail, and both times he left the text for his superiors to see.

'I did not make any changes to it because if I did, people would notice that I deleted my name because I did not want to be implicated,' Duch said.

Swiss lawyer Alain Werner asked Duch how he then avoided being interrogated and executed, which was standard practice for those named in confessions during the 1975-1979 regime.

Duch answered that the confessions, by a purged superior and a former teacher, were not particularly strong, but added: 'The fact is I survived because I insisted I was loyal to (Khmer Rouge leaders).'

Earlier in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the former maths teacher begged forgiveness from the victims of the hardline communist movement after accepting responsibility for his role in leading the jail.

But Duch has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he had a central role in the Khmer Rouge's iron-fisted rule. He maintains he tortured only two people himself and never personally executed anyone.

The court does not have the authority to impose the death penalty, but Duch faces a life sentence for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and many believe the tribunal is the last chance to find justice for victims of the communist regime, which killed up to two million people.