Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 28/05/2002: Vann Nath, Tuol Sleng survivor, and Suos Thy, formerly in charge of prisoner records, face-to-face during the shooting of documentary movie “S-21, the Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” of Rithy Panh (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)29-07-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set
The hearing on July 28th was one of those days when you came to forget who the accused is, as interrogations strayed so far from the matter being debated. It also illustrated how the debates got bogged down, as more time was devoted to (re)confirm facts already recognised by Duch than to tackle the hundred of factual elements established by the prosecution but denied by the accused – what should be at the heart of this trial. The result: too often, an all-clear for the defence while the documentation work on S-21 and its director Duch was left aside.
A difficult start
The hearing of Suos Thy, who kept the prisoner records at S-21, resumed. The president started by asking that a document be shown. Nothing came. Finally, a chart appeared on the screen. Unfortunately, it was not a document that the witness used to make or use for his work. The president dived noisily into his papers, from which he extracted the reference number of a second document… which still was not recognised by Suos Thy. The third attempt was the right one, but nothing was learnt from it.
Looking at a “list of prisoners whose interrogation was reported,” the witness specified he had not established it, as the decision pertained “to the prerogatives of the interrogation unit only.” The document succeeded on the screen, without bringing anything. “In total, and from what you know, how many prisoners were executed at Choeung Ek?” “I do not know the exact number of executions […]. I was the only person to prepare the lists, so I was unable to make a summary list every month,” said the witness, for whom it would have been impossible to remember better than the records he left behind, thirty years ago. What was Suos Thy able to observe from the prisoners’ detention conditions at S-21, the president wondered, asking in his turn the most popular question in this trial. The witness was able to note they were “skeletal.” And so on.
Click to Read More...
A difficult start
The hearing of Suos Thy, who kept the prisoner records at S-21, resumed. The president started by asking that a document be shown. Nothing came. Finally, a chart appeared on the screen. Unfortunately, it was not a document that the witness used to make or use for his work. The president dived noisily into his papers, from which he extracted the reference number of a second document… which still was not recognised by Suos Thy. The third attempt was the right one, but nothing was learnt from it.
Looking at a “list of prisoners whose interrogation was reported,” the witness specified he had not established it, as the decision pertained “to the prerogatives of the interrogation unit only.” The document succeeded on the screen, without bringing anything. “In total, and from what you know, how many prisoners were executed at Choeung Ek?” “I do not know the exact number of executions […]. I was the only person to prepare the lists, so I was unable to make a summary list every month,” said the witness, for whom it would have been impossible to remember better than the records he left behind, thirty years ago. What was Suos Thy able to observe from the prisoners’ detention conditions at S-21, the president wondered, asking in his turn the most popular question in this trial. The witness was able to note they were “skeletal.” And so on.
Click to Read More...
3 comments:
Everyone just wanted to pose for pictures including the photographer himself. Good angles.
we pain they gain.........
Khmer Rouge aint’ dum, stupid and bad, Khmer Rouge is smart, we protected the country for no one can invaded our territory at that era. Now, you can see there’s lot of foreigners in Cambodia, land grabbing etc. Those who said lot of ‘Youn’ in Cambodia, why is that? because there’s no more Khmer Rouge to protect Cambodia. Again let take a look at the border Khmer-Thai would you? Again there is no more Khmer rouge to protect Cambodia. You keep putting the blame on Khmer Rouge. You always keep saying Khmer Rouge killed million of people. Of course we already knew that lot of Khmer dead you don’t have to keep mention over again and again. It’s past now and over I wish you do not bring up, it’s not going to do any good for young generation. Who to blame? China? I should blame CHINA. You should not blame Khmer Rouge even we had bad reputation, I know this will never been vanished from your heart. I, a former Khmer Rouge soldier feel sorrow for those whose lost families during Khmre Rouge regime. In according to Duck’s case now he is over 60s year old of age, it seems nothing the United Nation can do beside put him in jail when found guilty. Objectively, you can’t blame ALL Khmer Rouges are bad, human NOT all bad, think and look around you. Do you think you could find good people around you to be trustful? Absolutely not there’s no one you can trust. Can you see some people get kill almost everyday by car accident, brutal argument etc, and being discriminated by race Black-Khmer and White-Khmer-Chinese, using her/his as slavery everyday at home. Hey! let me tell you especially the Phnom Penh people I’ve seen now very dicriminated against Black-Khmer, why? Because they consider Black-Khmer as a slave, low value, White-Khmer Chinese treat them high class better than Black-Khmer. This is abuse than Khmer Rouge living regime. Can you see it, this living society now is worse than Khmer Rouge. I hope you know what I meant? If you still keep getting mad, hate Khmer Rouge, it’s not going to do any good in the future. Khmer Rouge is KHMER and you are KHMER too, thus we must end now in order to have the country growth. SAMAKEE, SAMAKEE, SAMAKEE we will always win with to the enemy.
AngkorianMan Krama Man
Post a Comment