Channel 4 News (UK)
Author and photographer Nic Dunlop first tracked down Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, currently on trial in Phnom Penh for crimes against humanity.
Duch was commandant of the S-21 Tuol Send prison in Cambodia, where at least 14,000 "enemies of the revolution" were jailed and later killed.
Channel 4 News online spoke to Nic Dunlop in Bangkok.
How did you actually track down Duch?
I'd come out to Cambodia because I wanted to have an understanding of why the Khmer Rouge had happened. I began to carry round a photograph of Duch with me. He was a key lnk between the Khmer Rouge leadership and the killing of the Khmer Rouge's enemies.
Of all the people in the world that you'd like to talk to to explain this period, Duch would be the man. A year prior to meeting him (in 1999) I began to carry around a photo.
One day, while on a routine assignment in the west of Cambodia, I had a day off. There was a meeting in a former Khmer Rouge zone which I'd always wanted to go to.
Duch felt protected where he was, and that no matter what happened he would be looked after. Most of these people (a reference to four other high-ranking Khmer Rouge functionaries, due to be tried later this year) were never on a wanted list.
Duch seemed quite keen to tell me that he was a Christian, that he'd seen the light. And I think he just assumed that I would be a Christian.
Several meetings later I, along with Nate Thayer (the last western journalist to have interviewed Pol Pot), confronted Duch. I'm not sure he was aware of why we'd come. He then began an extraordinary confession where he talked about his role as Pot Polt's executioner.
And he's remained true to his word that he's gong to tell as much of the truth as he can. That will be devastating for the rest of them.
How easy or difficult will it be to convict the others if Duch's conviction fails?
Proving they were aware of what Duch was doing isn't going to be difficult. Proving their involvement is going to be more difficult.
When I talked with Duch in 1999 we presented him with signed lists of victim's confessions. But he said the signatures were not his writing but belonged to the others. But I think it may be very difficult to make the link with the others.
30 years on, what meaning does the present process have for Cambodians?
For those who are aware of it, yes, it is meaningful. I've never met anybody who didn't want some accounting, who didn't believe it was terribly important.
But very little is understood outside Phnom Penh. There's a chasm between the world of rural Cambodia and urban Cambodia.
At least one lawyer I spoke to said, "We've failed to explain what we're going." I met one woman who had been a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge for three years, and she had no idea that the tribunal was happening.
Duch was commandant of the S-21 Tuol Send prison in Cambodia, where at least 14,000 "enemies of the revolution" were jailed and later killed.
Channel 4 News online spoke to Nic Dunlop in Bangkok.
How did you actually track down Duch?
I'd come out to Cambodia because I wanted to have an understanding of why the Khmer Rouge had happened. I began to carry round a photograph of Duch with me. He was a key lnk between the Khmer Rouge leadership and the killing of the Khmer Rouge's enemies.
Of all the people in the world that you'd like to talk to to explain this period, Duch would be the man. A year prior to meeting him (in 1999) I began to carry around a photo.
One day, while on a routine assignment in the west of Cambodia, I had a day off. There was a meeting in a former Khmer Rouge zone which I'd always wanted to go to.
"Of all the people in the world that you'd like to talk to to explain this period, Duch would be the man."I was wandering around and this mean wearing an American Refugee Committee T-shirt came up to me and introduced himself. So the meeting was largely accidental.
Duch felt protected where he was, and that no matter what happened he would be looked after. Most of these people (a reference to four other high-ranking Khmer Rouge functionaries, due to be tried later this year) were never on a wanted list.
Duch seemed quite keen to tell me that he was a Christian, that he'd seen the light. And I think he just assumed that I would be a Christian.
Several meetings later I, along with Nate Thayer (the last western journalist to have interviewed Pol Pot), confronted Duch. I'm not sure he was aware of why we'd come. He then began an extraordinary confession where he talked about his role as Pot Polt's executioner.
And he's remained true to his word that he's gong to tell as much of the truth as he can. That will be devastating for the rest of them.
How easy or difficult will it be to convict the others if Duch's conviction fails?
Proving they were aware of what Duch was doing isn't going to be difficult. Proving their involvement is going to be more difficult.
When I talked with Duch in 1999 we presented him with signed lists of victim's confessions. But he said the signatures were not his writing but belonged to the others. But I think it may be very difficult to make the link with the others.
30 years on, what meaning does the present process have for Cambodians?
For those who are aware of it, yes, it is meaningful. I've never met anybody who didn't want some accounting, who didn't believe it was terribly important.
But very little is understood outside Phnom Penh. There's a chasm between the world of rural Cambodia and urban Cambodia.
"There's a chasm between the world of rural Cambodia and urban Cambodia."The problem with this tribunal is that 85 per cent have little or no understanding of the tribunal or don't know about it. The rest know about the tribunal, but beyond that very few people understand it.
At least one lawyer I spoke to said, "We've failed to explain what we're going." I met one woman who had been a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge for three years, and she had no idea that the tribunal was happening.
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