Grey and frail, ex Khmer Rouge prison chief bids for bail

A GAUNT former schoolteacher who once ran a notorious torture centre for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge made his first public courtroom appearance yesterday, evoking curiosity and anger as he stood before judges of a UN-assisted genocide tribunal.

Kaing Guek Eav — alias Duch — was escorted by guards into a packed chamber for a bail hearing.

Charged with committing crimes against humanity, Duch is one of five people held in connection with the communist regime’s brutal rule of Cambodia in the 1970s. Trials are expected to begin next year.