PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Khmer Rouge torture chief Duch once taught math to schoolchildren, but put his cold, calculating mind to far more devastating use as head of a jail from which few inmates ever came out alive.
The 68-year-old – whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav -- oversaw the extermination of around 15,000 men, women and children at the Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia's capital during the communist regime's brutal 1975-1979 rule.
Those who worked under him at the detention centre testified that Duch was universally feared. Most of the staff were uneducated teenage boys and Duch said they could be easily indoctrinated because they were “like a blank piece of paper.”
Duch begged for forgiveness at Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court for crimes committed under his command at the jail, where prisoners were tortured into denouncing themselves and others as foreign spies.
But victims questioned whether his remorse was genuine after he asked to be acquitted in his closing remarks.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison last July for war crimes and crimes against humanity but could walk free in less than 19 years.
Duch's lawyers will appeal against the verdict next week, arguing their client should be released because he falls outside the court's jurisdiction, while the prosecution is seeking a longer jail term.
Anne Heindel, a legal advisor to the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities, said Duch did not accept full responsibility for his crimes.
''He believes he was a cog in the communist party wheel, that because he was not fully autonomous in his decision-making, his guilt is lessened,'' she said.
Born in 1942 in central Cambodia, Duch is remembered as a sincere teacher devoted to helping the poor before he became a Khmer Rouge cadre in 1970.
''I joined the revolution in order to transform society, to oppose the government, to oppose torture,'' Duch said during his trial. ''I sacrificed everything for the revolution, sincerely and absolutely.''
Inside the rebel-controlled zones, he chose Duch as his revolutionary name because it was used by a model student in a schoolbook from his youth.
He oversaw a series of jungle prisons before being made head of Tuol Sleng after the regime seized Phnom Penh in 1975.
What began as only a few dozen prisoners turned into a daily torrent of condemned coming through Tuol Sleng, or S-21, as the regime purged itself of its ''enemies''.
Ever meticulous, Duch built up a huge archive of photos, confessions and other documents with which prosecutors traced the final horrible months of thousands of inmates' lives.
Following the Khmer Rouge's fall from power, he maintained posts within the communist movement as it battled Vietnam-backed troops.
He reportedly worked for Radio China in the 1980s and later taught in at least one refugee camp. After his wife was murdered in 1995, Duch turned to Christianity.
He was arrested after Irish photojournalist Nic Dunlop uncovered him working for a Christian aid agency in western Cambodia under a false name.
4 comments:
Koh Tral Island must not be forgotten
By Ms. Rattana Keo
Why do Koh Tral Island, known in Vietnam as Phu Quoc, a sea and land area covering proximately over 10,000 km2 [Note: the actual land size of Koh Tral itself is 574 square kilometres (222 sq miles)] have been lost to Vietnam by whose treaty? Why don’t Cambodia government be transparent and explain to Cambodia army at front line and the whole nation about this? Why don't they include this into education system? Why?
Cambodian armies are fighting at front line for 4.6 km2 on the Thai border and what's about over 10,000km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam. Nobody dare to talk about it! Why? Cambodian armies you are decide the fate of your nation, Cambodian army as well as Cambodian people must rethink about this again and again. Is it fair?
Koh Tral Island, the sea and land area of over 10,000 square kilometres have been lost to Vietnam by the 1979 to 1985 treaties. The Cambodian army at front line as well as all Cambodian people must rethink again about these issues. Are Cambodian army fighting to protect the Cambodia Nation or protecting a very small group that own big lands, big properties or only protecting a small group but disguising as protecting the Khmer nation?
The Cambodian army at front lines suffer under rain, wind, bullets, bombs, lack of foods, lack of nutrition and their families have no health care assistance, no securities after they died but a very small group eat well, sleep well, sleep in first class hotel with air conditioning system with message from young girls, have first class medical care from oversea medical treatments, they are billionaires, millionaires who sell out the country to be rich and make the Cambodian people suffer everyday.
Who signed the treaty 1979-1985 that resulted in the loss over 10,000 km2 of Cambodia??? Why they are not being transparent and brave enough to inform all Cambodians and Cambodian army at front line about these issues? Why don't they include Koh Tral (Koh Tral size is bigger than the whole Phom Phen and bigger than Singapore [Note: Singapore's present land size is 704 km2 (271.8 sq mi)]) with heap of great natural resources, in the Cambodian education system?
Look at Hun Sen's families, relatives and friends- they are billionaires, millionaires. Where did they get the money from when we all just got out of war with empty hands [in 1979]? Hun Sen always say in his speeches that Cambodia had just risen up from the ashes of war, just got up from Year Zero with empty hands and how come they are billionaires, millionaires but 90% of innocent Cambodian people are so poor and struggling with their livelihood every day?
Smart Khmer girl Ms. Rattana Keo,
Un pardon ne suffit pas !
Duc et les autres ( Angkar : Pol pot , Khiev samphan , Ieng sary ...et toute la bande ) , ne peuvent pas rendre ma famille assassinée et rendre justice à 2000000 d'innocents.
Ces assassins clament toujours leurs innocences ! C'est honteux !
Ils doivent se suicider ! mais ils ne sont pas assez courageux , et ne prennent aucune responsabilité comme gouvernants de 1975-78.
Le tribunal international doit les maintenir en prison jusqu'à leur dernier jour !
Les cambodgiens doivent graver leur noms dans l'histoire du Cambodge pour les générations futures.
One day Sihanouk said,after becoming
king in Hun Sen regime,"all the bones
and skulls must cremate and throw in the rivers and sea because they
were dead,even my bones too".
Sihanouk never wanted to keep bones and skulls in Pol Pot killing fields
alive.
Thank for no one listened to his words;Sihanouk's words were so cheap.
The 15,000 men,women,and children at Tuol Sleng by chief prison guard
King Guek Eav called Duch,Sihanouk
did not pay attention to it.
What a cruel king!
Khmer people should protest in front of International Court in Phnom Penh to get Sihanouk back from China and throw him in jail.
Sihanouk,Duch,and other Khmer Rouge leaders put in jails all the rest of their lives.
Jesus said, i will forgive you..if you forgave other! Just forgive other, like God has forgiven you...
God bless you,
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