PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A former top Khmer Rouge cadre said on Wednesday he only agreed to become Pol Pot's chief torturer to save the lives of himself and his family.
Duch, the former boss of Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 prison, said he feared he would be killed by the leaders of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime and had pleaded with them to assign him to another position.
"My family was living in fear. I made many attempts to avoid being chief of the prison but the Khmer Rouge's leaders rejected my requests," Duch told the joint United Nations-Cambodian war crimes tribunal.
"I did my best to survive. I worked hard, 10 to 14 hours a day, because I feared I would be killed."
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, is the first of five former members of the Khmer Rouge charged with war crimes committed during the 1975-1979 "killing fields" reign of terror, during which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died.
Second-in-command Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, have also been indicted. Pol Pot, the architect of the ultra-Maoist revolution, died in 1998.
Duch, a former maths teacher detained since 1999, said he joined the communist revolution because he thought it could help his impoverished country to prosper.
He has admitted involvement in the deaths of 14,000 people at the Tuol Sleng prison but insists he was only following orders. He faces life imprisonment if found guilty.
Earlier this week, several of Duch's former students gave testimony about his good nature and dedication to his work, a stark contrast to the harrowing accounts of brutality heard by the court since it first convened earlier this year.
"He was a very good teacher, humble and good hearted," said Tep Sok, 61, who attended Duch's school in the eastern province of Kampong Cham in 1967.
"He invested his efforts in teaching us. He sold study material at a cheap price and he encouraged us to study hard."
Another former student, Tep Sem, said: "Duch treated the poor and wealthy students equally, no discrimination. He even took some poor students to stay and learn with him."
Duch, the former boss of Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 prison, said he feared he would be killed by the leaders of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime and had pleaded with them to assign him to another position.
"My family was living in fear. I made many attempts to avoid being chief of the prison but the Khmer Rouge's leaders rejected my requests," Duch told the joint United Nations-Cambodian war crimes tribunal.
"I did my best to survive. I worked hard, 10 to 14 hours a day, because I feared I would be killed."
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, is the first of five former members of the Khmer Rouge charged with war crimes committed during the 1975-1979 "killing fields" reign of terror, during which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died.
Second-in-command Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, have also been indicted. Pol Pot, the architect of the ultra-Maoist revolution, died in 1998.
Duch, a former maths teacher detained since 1999, said he joined the communist revolution because he thought it could help his impoverished country to prosper.
He has admitted involvement in the deaths of 14,000 people at the Tuol Sleng prison but insists he was only following orders. He faces life imprisonment if found guilty.
Earlier this week, several of Duch's former students gave testimony about his good nature and dedication to his work, a stark contrast to the harrowing accounts of brutality heard by the court since it first convened earlier this year.
"He was a very good teacher, humble and good hearted," said Tep Sok, 61, who attended Duch's school in the eastern province of Kampong Cham in 1967.
"He invested his efforts in teaching us. He sold study material at a cheap price and he encouraged us to study hard."
Another former student, Tep Sem, said: "Duch treated the poor and wealthy students equally, no discrimination. He even took some poor students to stay and learn with him."
17 comments:
Hog wash! This Duch animal is now trying to save his hide. In his hay days, he enjoyed every minute of it torturing and killing people. He was intoxicated in his new found power. A tiny man with a power of a monster.
This guy is full of shit.
That is the communist strategy. We call ask Dutch who was Angka? and its leader? All of former Khmer Rouge blaimed only Pol Pot , but if Pol Pot is alive who they must complain for ??
I can tell you all in this blogger, all of the former Khmer Rouge included King Sihanouk are involed with the "Killing fields" in Cambodia, those must be punished like Adult Hitler regime in Germany during the 2. World war. That is the fair process for all Cambidan victim.
Observer Khmer policy over 55 Years.
Ta, you forget Lon Nol and all the super power and regional powers behind these disastrous leaders.
ah chhkuot 12:46AM,
Lon nol tried to save the country from communist.The main culprit is tmil SIHANOUK.The suffering will never come to a full closure as long as SIHANOUK got away with it..
maybe true, but he and others in the stupid KR group, should've used their god given brain smartly by not destroying cambodia and killing people at their own mercy! are they all finally waking up now? it's kind of too late, you know; can't bring back the dead people! let that be a lesson for cambodia to avoid at all cost in the future, the world, too, for that matter! god bless cambodia.
Lon Nol was dupped and used. Look at the end result, Cambodia was abandoned and the supposedly protector high tailed home left your dumb ass and the Cambodian people in the hands of the vengeful commies. As a result two millions were slaughtered. Lon Nol was an incompetent complete moron. He joins the rank of others.
Old man, in the past 55 years you have been spending times only reading comic books. You also have a stinking mouth.
Dude,
You have been brainwashed so badly in the past 30 years.There will not be a khmer republic HAD NOT your dumbass Sihanouk GAMBLED your country with the communist.Those heroes were trying to save the country with the help of the foreign power but fail primarily because of this devil Sihanouk .khmer people were so loyal to him without reservation because of his demagoguery.And when he called on them to join the khmer rouge,they all heed it,that's why there was such drama at the hand of the khmer rouge.
i know, that was part of the equation in creation of the stupid KR regime; they were full of ignorant people as well!
and who to blame for people's ignorance of that time? i think it was the society before that which sort of kept people ignorant that way. thank god, that was history because in today's cambodia, more khmer people are getting trained and getting educated unprecedentedly in our history, and that is very good for the country, to say the least! please keep up the good work, cambodia. god bless cambodia.
3:10 am Chump,
Brainwashed,..., and then commies, is that what you are going to pull? Hah! you are too typical to say the least. You are one those who still practice McCarthyism. Anybody and everybody that doesn't see it your way is a communist, right? That day has been long over, chump. Besides you don't have the faintest idea the suffering under the hands of the Khmer Rouge was like. To you, it is just a drama. Had not it been Lon Nol and the what so-called protecting power behind him, the commies most likely never succeed and came to power and two millions Cambodians would have been spared. With the same token, Sihanouk was no saint either. He should had come home right away when the coup was taking place. He should had kept mouth shut and did not take side. No, he had to align with the commies which further emboldened them. But that was after the coup. The fact and the matter is Sihanouk was trying to keep Cambodia out of that damn Vietnam war up until 1970. The war which ultimately McNamara, the war manager, said it was the mistake. A few of my uncles and so many other uncles fought and died for the Khmer Republic. They are greatly missed and we are left behind and everyday keep telling ourselves that they did not die in vain. But at the end, it was just Khmer killing Khmer and you conveniently packed up and left to your sweet home. Just read Prince Sirik Matak's letter to Ambassador John Dean, it is the testimony. You are an arrogant prick looking only from your own perspective and not others'. So don't you come here and preach us like we don't know anything. Fact is fact. Face it. Come out and accept it like a man, chump.
"I did my best to survive. I worked hard, 10 to 14 hours a day, because I feared I would be killed." Said mr duch.
From the above quote, we can infer that mr Duch is a coward. He blindly killed millions of people so that his life could be spared during the khmer rouge era. This man is selfish by any standard. The current cambodian govt is no difference from pol pot. there are those who blindly take order from hun sen so that their life can be spared.
Does anybody understood what the bastard 7:o3AM is talking about?.
Obviously you can't even read or write, moron 7:03am. Understanding? Forget it, there is no hope for you. Now crawl back to your worm hole.
9:11pm post was meant for 2:17pm not 7:03am: Obviously you can't even read or write, moron 2:17pm. Understanding? Forget it, there is no hope for you. Now crawl back to your worm hole.
Where were the UN and US? Where was the World compassion? Where was God? Where were you when we need you during the KR regime? I was there and watched the innocent Cambodian dying. I had only the questions without answers. How come the UN, US just show after the Vietnamese invaded and liberated the Cambodians from the bloody hand of Khmer Rouge?? Until now I still can not get the right answers!!
Cambodia did not have raw materiel such as oil,..,etc, back then and important enough to them. Now, it's a bit different. We have something that they can use. That's why.
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