Khmer Rouge suspect tried in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, March 29 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Cambodia allege former math teacher Kaing Guek Eav oversaw the torture and killing of more than 15,000 people in a Khmer Rouge prison.

Better known as Duch, the 66-year-old is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and murder in a trial to resume Monday before a U.N.-backed tribunal, CNN reported, noting he is the first Khmer Rouge leader to stand trial.

He is accused of heading S-21, a prison in a converted school where men, women and children were shackled to iron beds and tortured before being beaten to death three decades ago, prosecutors told the tribunal.

Duch, now a born-again Christian, allegedly ordered his subordinates to meticulously photograph each prisoner before death, CNN reported Sunday.

The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 and within four years at least 1.7 million people -- nearly 25 percent of Cambodia's population -- had died from starvation, disease, execution and overwork, said the non-profit Documentation Center of Cambodia.