A photographer takes pictures of Cheam Soeu, 52, the former guard of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison, known Tuol Sleng genocide museum, on a screen at the court press center of the U.N.-backed tribunal while Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch is on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)August 5th, 2009
Sopheng Cheang
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A former security guard at the Khmer Rouge’s most notorious prison told a tribunal Wednesday he watched as a Western prisoner was burned alive.
But the head of the prison — the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial in the U.N.-assisted tribunal — denied it.
“It’s hard for me to believe that the prisoner was burned alive. I believe that nobody would dare to violate my order,” Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, told the court. “They had to be killed and then burned to ash.”
Up to 16,000 people were tortured under Duch’s command at S-21 prison and later were taken away to be killed during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-1979 rule of Cambodia. Only a handful survived.
Cheam Soeu, now 52, told the court he was a youth when he joined the Khmer Rouge and helped the communist regime take power. He spent two years as a guard at S-21, where four Westerners were among the prisoners.
The Westerners included an American, an Australian, a New Zealander and a Briton, who were captured on their yacht while sailing in Cambodian waters.
Cheam Soeu told the court he was on guard outside the prison late one evening and watched as one of the Westerners — he does not know which — was led by three security guards to the street.
“The prisoner was still alive. They asked him to sit down, and they put a car tire over his body,” Cheam Soeu testified. He said guards then set the body on fire. “I saw the charred torso of the body and black burned legs.”
Cheam Soeu said he constantly feared that if he did something wrong he would face the same fate.
Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, summary executions, disease and starvation during the Khmer Rouge’s rule, during which the Maoist ideologues emptied cities and forced virtually the entire population to work on farm collectives.
Duch (pronounced DOIK) testified previously that he carried out orders from the regime’s late leader Pol Pot to kill the four Westerners and then burn their corpses. Prison records suggest there may have been as many as 11 Western prisoners.
Duch, 66, is the only senior Khmer Rouge figure to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. He is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials.
Senior leaders Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Sary’s wife, Ieng Thirith, are detained and are scheduled to face trial in the next year or two.
But the head of the prison — the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial in the U.N.-assisted tribunal — denied it.
“It’s hard for me to believe that the prisoner was burned alive. I believe that nobody would dare to violate my order,” Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, told the court. “They had to be killed and then burned to ash.”
Up to 16,000 people were tortured under Duch’s command at S-21 prison and later were taken away to be killed during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-1979 rule of Cambodia. Only a handful survived.
Cheam Soeu, now 52, told the court he was a youth when he joined the Khmer Rouge and helped the communist regime take power. He spent two years as a guard at S-21, where four Westerners were among the prisoners.
The Westerners included an American, an Australian, a New Zealander and a Briton, who were captured on their yacht while sailing in Cambodian waters.
Cheam Soeu told the court he was on guard outside the prison late one evening and watched as one of the Westerners — he does not know which — was led by three security guards to the street.
“The prisoner was still alive. They asked him to sit down, and they put a car tire over his body,” Cheam Soeu testified. He said guards then set the body on fire. “I saw the charred torso of the body and black burned legs.”
Cheam Soeu said he constantly feared that if he did something wrong he would face the same fate.
Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, summary executions, disease and starvation during the Khmer Rouge’s rule, during which the Maoist ideologues emptied cities and forced virtually the entire population to work on farm collectives.
Duch (pronounced DOIK) testified previously that he carried out orders from the regime’s late leader Pol Pot to kill the four Westerners and then burn their corpses. Prison records suggest there may have been as many as 11 Western prisoners.
Duch, 66, is the only senior Khmer Rouge figure to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. He is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials.
Senior leaders Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Sary’s wife, Ieng Thirith, are detained and are scheduled to face trial in the next year or two.
11 comments:
Boy! This show to make Khmer and Khmer hate forever.
AngkorianMan Krama Man
CPP (Corpes of Pol Pot)
I feel so sorry for Duch when a British Journalist Nic Dunlop found him in Cambodian countryside, where he and his family were living there.
Fuck you Dunlop!
Get your ass out of Cambodia MAN!
Are there any more Khmer Rouge you are looking for? Fuck you asshole Nic Dunlop
AngkorianMan Krama Man
Do not forget the fresh blood of our soldiers (Khmer Rouge). Do not forget what our Angkars taught us to defense the enemy. For former Khmer Rouge who still alive, Please help our prosperous former KR soldiers. Stand up now!
AngkorianMan Krama Man
what an idiot you are Angkorinaman.
when we have dark skin khmers run the country, they run the country to the ground and think they didn't do anything wrong. They killed lot of light skin khmers who can modernize the country.
now the viet is taking advantage of that.
To 3:14 AM
Well, this is it. If you hate Khmer, Youn will take over. Do you understand? It'snt mater light or Black skin as you stated, we all Khmer baby!
Krama Man
You're Khmer, but you're Khmer criminal and you don't have the same right as normal people. Criminal like you, belong in jail. Otherwise you will go around and kill more innocent people with your mental retardation. Your whole body is controlling by a demon. You're not normal. Sorry..dude.
To 10:31 PM
Let's take a look the situation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia now, there're lost of brutal people who kill more innocent people in Cambodia not only Khmer Rouge did. Do you live in Cambodia now? If you do, you probably seen this almost every day. People are so brutal, mean worse then Khmer Rouge, such as driven by shooting, hit and run, brutal argument and so on. I don’t mean to cut down our Khmer people but you keep blaming on Khmer Rouges too much. Please stop using criminal against Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge was not a criminal. Thanks
AngkorianMan Krama Man
3:30am,
It's too late. You and your clan should have thought of that when you allowed millions of Khmer families to live in the middle of nowhere in 1975 until 1979. You treated them like cows or chicken. Didn't you?! They starved. They got killed over tho most stupid stupid thing. They lost their loved one. You separated them. You and you clan turned them against their own parents, bothers and sisters aunts and uncles. You looked at them as they were your enermy. You did not look at them as they were Khmer or your own people. You were a monster. You killed their families and you made them buried themselves alive while you stood at the top their graves laughing. What for man? You said those rich educated people were worse horrible and missed treating you and your clan, but you and yours and what you all did, were a lot worse 100 to 1000 times worse. Some may be just be your hateful mind. They may have not doing any wrong at all. Those dead skulls in the museum and under ground in Khmer land everywhere are calling for justice for their innocent death. You need to turn yourself in and beg for their forgiveness. May be then the rest Khmer will forgive and care for you. Otherwise, you're too dangerous to be around. Not hate, just fear of a monster like you..
That's because Phnom Pehn today is running mostly by former lawless people. They couldn't careless.
Listen up Angkorian boy! Please do yourself a great great favor. Go and prove to court that someone else and not the Khmer Rouges are criminal. Then you're off and you will do the whole Khmer Nation a great big and magnificient honor. Just do it.
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