Duch trial: quick hearing in front of populous audience

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 23/04/2009: Villagers from Kampong Speu province visiting the ECCC. They live near M13, the antechamber to the S-21 interrogation centre. (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

23-04-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

On Thursday April 23rd, the courtroom was packed as some 250 villagers came to attend the hearing. They live in the Omlieng commune, where the M-13 centre, formerly directed by Duch, was located, and were taken to Phnom Penh by the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam). Also, about sixty inhabitants living on the outskirts of Phnom Penh were there, taken to the tribunal by the ECCC (Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia) Public Affairs Section and fifty students from the private Build Bright University (BBU) also came to watch. The hearing, which only took place in the morning, started late and was slowed down by the search for sorting marks on documents but Duch, the accused, began mentioning the early stages of S-21, where more than 15,000 people lost their lives.

During the hearing, Duch claimed that before coming to the ECCC, he was only aware of the existence of two Khmer Rouge security centres, on top of S-21, which he directed. He explained that “All security offices, including the S-21 office, had the duty to detain, torture, interrogate and finally to smash -- that is to kill”. After a recap, with maps, of the “successive houses and offices of Duch”, judges started mentioning the structure of S-21. An organisation chart drawn by Duch himself was then projected, showing his name at the top.

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