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Tribunal Indicts Ex-jailer for Khmer Rouge

Cambodia's genocide tribunal formally indicted a former prison chief of the country's notorious Khmer Rouge, paving the way for a historic trial.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal said in a Tuesday statement its investigating judges issued the indictment after ending their investigation of Kaing Guek Eav -- also known as Duch -- whose Phnom Penh prison was used as a torture center.

Duch, accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes, is the first suspect to be indicted by the tribunal. He and four other former senior members of the Khmer Rouge, who held power in the late 1970s, were taken into custody last year.

The 45-page indictment -- posted on the tribunal's Web site -- came in a closing order announced Tuesday by the investigating judges at the end of yearlong inquiries.

The indictment documents now go to the tribunal judges who will decide on a trial date.

You Bun Leng, a Cambodian investigating judge, said Duch will face two specific charges but declined to give details.

The radical policies of the communist Khmer Rouge are considered responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. No senior member of the group has ever stood trial for the atrocities...

Read entire article at CNN