PHNOM PENH, Sept 2 — Comrade Duch, the senior Khmer Rouge figure who ran Cambodia’s most notorious prison during the genocidal regime, died today, a spokesman for the tribunal that convicted him of war crimes said.

Duch, 77, whose given name was Kaing Guek Eav, was the first Khmer Rouge commander convicted of crimes against humanity in 2010, and sentenced in 2012 after a UN-backed tribunal rejected his appeal claim that he was a junior official following orders. He was serving a life sentence.

"Duch died this morning at 00.52aam (1752 GMT yesterday), on September 2 at Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital. Details of what he died of, I can't tell,” Khmer Rouge tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said. — Reuters