Khmer Rouge Chief Jailer, Known as Duch, Sentenced to Life

WORLD -- February 3, 2012 at 6:56 PM EDT

Khmer Rouge Chief Jailer, Known as Duch, Sentenced to Life

The U.N.-backed tribunal in Cambodia extended the jail time of Khmer Rouge chief jailer Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, from 19 years to a life sentence on Friday.

In 2010, a lower court sentenced Duch to 35 years in prison -- reduced to 19 years with time served -- for his role as director of the Tuol Sleng interrogation and execution facility in Phnom Penh, where an estimated 12,000 people died.

We look back at the NewsHour's past coverage, including special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro's May 2010 report on the role of the tribunal and the case against Duch, now 69:

And a June 2011 report describes how a new generation in Cambodia is learning about its country's bloody past:

The second major trial of three senior Khmer Rouge leaders continues this year.

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