Duch: “Everything I did, I did it to please my superiors”

Kambol, Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 22/06/2009: In the press room at lunch time, during Duch’s trial at the ECCC (Photo: Vandy Rattana)

25-06-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

During the hearing on Tuesday June 23rd, Alain Werner, co-lawyer for civil party group 1, suggested to the accused another way to look at his role at the head of S-21 – and hence his personality – which departs from what Duch has explained until now during his trial, in other words, that the former director of the security centre where over 12,000 people lost their lives was no other than a zealous cadre. Shortly afterwards, the defence counsel presented a rueful Duch by showing an excerpt from the footage shot during the reconstruction at Choeung Ek and S-21. Also, the tribunal’s international co-Prosecutor, Robert Petit, announced his resignation (see textbox).

Did Duch encourage torture?

Alain Werner introduced his examination by acknowledging that the accused had been in the last few days bombarded with questions and had not eluded any of them. He respectfully invited him to continue giving short answers and launched into a sagacious and uncompromising interrogation that however failed to unsettle the accused.

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