A UN-backed tribunal has sentenced a senior member of the Khmer Rouge to 30 years in prison in its first verdict three decades after the 'Killing Fields' era tore Cambodia apart.
The verdict was short of the maximum 40 years sought by the prosecution and of the life behind bars demanded by many Cambodians.
Read about the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, was found guilty of murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and crimes against humanity.
He ran a prison that symbolised the horrors a regime that has been blamed for 1.7m deaths between 1975 and 1979.
But to the dismay of survivors and relatives of victims, the court took into account the years he had already served since his arrest in 1999, meaning that the 67-year-old could walk free in about 19 years.
Duch betrayed no emotion as the verdict was read but some Cambodians wept loudly in the courtroom.
'There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch,' said Hong Sovath, 47, sobbing. Her father, a diplomat, was killed in the prison.
Khan Mony, whose aunt was executed after passing through the Duch's jail, said he was devastated.
'The verdict is not fair. This warranted life. Duch killed so many people. If this court was fair, people would have been calm and accepted this,' she said.
The court said at least 12,273 people were killed at Duch's Tuol Sleng prison, a converted school also known as S-21, but acknowledged the number could be as high as 14,000.
'The chamber has decided there are significant mitigating factors that mandate a finite term imprisonment rather than life imprisonment,' the tribunal's president said, citing Duch's expressions of remorse and cooperation with the court.
