Victim's brother: S-21 boss Duch 'failed humanity' and must pay

Fri, 23 Jul 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - New Zealander Rob Hamill, whose brother was tortured and executed at a Khmer Rouge prison in 1978, said its former chief failed humanity and must be held accountable.

Speaking ahead of the verdict due Monday at the international war crimes tribunal, Hamill said he believed prison chief Comrade Duch at some point had realized his role in running the torture and execution centre was morally wrong.

"But he carried on - that's the problem. That's where he failed humanity," Hamill said in Phnom Penh. "That's where he failed everyone, especially my brother [Kerry] because he could have saved his life."

Kerry Hamill was taken to the prison, known as S-21, with Briton John Dewhirst after their yacht strayed into Cambodian waters in 1978. Canadian Stuart Glass was shot dead when Khmer Rouge soldiers abducted them from the boat.

The two were executed after several months' detention at the notorious torture centre. During his own trial, Duch told the court that both men had signed confessions supposedly implicating them as spies.

Rob Hamill, a former Olympic rower, last year told the tribunal how news of his brother's murder had devastated the close-knit family and led directly to his brother John's suicide.

Hamill, who said Duch's professed contrition during his trial was partly genuine and partly a strategic bid for a reduced sentence, opposed any chance of release for the 68-year-old defendant.

"The concept of him being a free man probably for a lot of people doesn't feel very appropriate," he said.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, appeared at the UN-backed tribunal on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other crimes under Cambodian law.

At a public conference on Friday, one of S-21's few survivors, Bou Meng, said Duch had given the court "a lot of fake answers."

Bou Meng, whose skills as an artist kept him alive, said he was angered that Duch had asked the court to release him in the closing days of his trial last November.

"This is my last word: I am not satisfied with Duch asking for forgiveness and being set free," he said.

He was kept alive to paint portraits of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

S-21 was a torture centre designed to extract confessions from the Khmer Rouge revolution's supposed enemies, who were invariably then executed. By far the majority of S-21's estimated 20,000 victims were Cambodian. Just a handful survived the prison, which operated between 1975 and 1979.

Duch's involvement was beyond doubt since his signature appeared on thousands of orders to "smash", or kill, inmates.

But in the closing days of his nine-month trial he stunned the court when he sought acquittal on the grounds that international law did not apply and that he was merely following orders.