Prosecution: History demands justice for Khmer Rouge victims

Phnom Penh: The prosecution at Cambodia's genocide tribunal has begun its case against the man accused of being the Khmer Rouge's architect of torture, saying that history demands justice for the 1.7 million victims of the 1970s communist regime.

The long-awaited case against Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, had opened with a full reading of the 45-page indictment against him, a litany of grisly accounts of the alleged atrocities committed under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge rule.

Co-prosecutor Chea Leang displayed photographs from the Khmer Rouge years, which began with executions of loyalists of the previous regime and the brutal forced evacuation to the countryside of the capital's 2 million residents within days of their April 1975 takeover.