A UN-BACKED tribunal sentenced the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer to 35 years for overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people – the first verdict involving a senior member of the “killing fields” regime that devastated a generation of Cambodians.

A former Khmer Rouge chief jailer was sentenced to 19 years behind bars today after a United Nations-backed tribunal found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.