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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. Today brought a moment many Cambodians had been waiting for for decades. The man who ran the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison accepted responsibility for torturing and executing thousands. And he apologized with tears in his eyes. These admissions came on the second day of hearings in a United Nations-backed tribunal. The World's Mary Kay Magistad reports from Phnom Penh.

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: The man in the dock was short and slight and gray-haired. He wore a short-sleeved white business shirt, and a more anxious look than in his first appearances before the tribunal. This was the day that Kaeng Guek Eav, also known as Duch, listened to the prosecution lay out the accusations of all that he did, including the torture and murder of more than 12,000 people at the prison called S-21. Prosecutor Robert Pettis described the methodical system that former Math teacher Duch had set up – photographing his victims, taking their biographies, torturing them into giving detailed confessions, then sending them off to the killing fields.

PETTIS: As described by one of the guards, the victims were brought to the pits, dug beforehand. There they were killed by a blow to the base of the neck using steel clubs. The bodies would be kicked into the holes, their handcuffs taken off their lifeless hands, the bellies sliced open, and the pits covered by dirt.

MAGISTAD: The prosecution showed videos and photos of the torture center. Some of the Cambodians in the courtroom became visibly emotional at this. Some had lost relatives in S-21, and very few had survived it. One of Duch's defense attorneys is Francois Roux.

ROUX: His crimes are horrific and Duch recognizes that. Because Duch admitted that he committed crimes against humanity, his voice today to explain what happened, his voice is useful for the humanity. My role is to permit that this voice can be heard.

MAGISTAD: And today, Duch's voice was heard accepting responsibility and apologizing. He asked to be allowed to apologize to all the survivors of the Khmer Rouge, and especially the family and friends of those who died under his watch at S-21. He asked that they keep a window open for the possibility of forgiveness. He had tears in his eyes, and he seemed startlingly vulnerable. It was a powerful moment, but many still have problems comprehending how Duch could've done what he did. This is Nou Houn. He says, “I just can't understand how Duch did this. For me, even if they paid me, I couldn't do it.” Of course, Duch wasn't alone. He was part of a fanatic communist regime that, in its four-year reign in the late 1970s, killed, starved, or worked to death almost 2 million people. That was about a quarter of the Cambodian population. Part of Duch's defense is that he did not act alone. He took orders from top Khmer Rouge leaders about who to kill, and he feared for his own family's safety if he didn't do what they wanted. Defense lawyer Francois Roux said Duch's contrition and willingness to tell the court whatever it wants to know should help make this a meaningful trial for Cambodians.

ROUX: I'm sure that the victims at the end of the trial cannot have answer for all their questions, unfortunately – because who can answer these terrible question,why that crimes against humanity in Cambodia? Why?

MAGISTAD: Cambodians have been asking that question for 30 years, ever since the Khmer Rouge were driven from power. But these days, most Cambodians are too young to remember the Khmer Rouge, and few seem seized with the drama that played out today in a courtroom on the edge of town. The state-run media have not been publicizing the tribunal much. Many embers of the government are themselves former Khmer Rouge, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, and they want the tribunal to limit its business and finish it fast, before it digs uncomfortably
deep. Today, Hun Sen even said he'd rather see the tribunal run out of money and fail than let it broaden its prosecutions beyond the five former senior Khmer Rouge already indicted. For now, the court continues – but a question lurks. It's like the one that goes, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make any noise?” But here, the question is, “If a former killer shows contrition about his crimes, and few hear it or see it or even know it's happening, can it still help a nation heal? Can it still help lay to rest the haunting questions of a dark history?” For The World, I'm Mary Kay Magistad in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

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