[Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen] Smith hails Duch's 30-year sentence

July 27, 2010
LLOYD JONES
AAP (Australia)

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has welcomed the decision of a Cambodian court to jail for 30 years one of the architects of atrocities carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime.

The UN-backed extraordinary court chamber in Phnom Penh on Monday sentenced former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, to the 30-year sentence for the execution of about 15,000 people during Cambodia's "killing fields" era.

Mr Smith told reporters in Perth on Tuesday he welcomed the bringing to account of one of the principal architects of the Khmer Rouge regime atrocities for the first time,.

"Australia has supported Cambodia's return to democracy, we have supported financially the establishment and maintenance of the extraordinary chamber and we welcome, very much, the decision yesterday," he said.