Closing Order of Case 002 against Senior KR Leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith

In light of the start of trial hearings beginning on 27 June 2011 of Case 002 against the surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, KI Media is posting installations of the public document of the Closing Order of Case 002.  The Closing Order of the Co-Investigating Judges forms thebasic document from which all the parties (Co-Prosecutors, Co-Lead Lawyers for all civil parties, Defense Lawyers) will be making their arguments before the Trial Chamber judges (one Cambodian President, 2 Cambodian Judges, 2 UN judges).  Up until now, the hearings involving these four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been in the Pre-Trial Chamber over issues of pre-trial detention and jurisdictional issues.  Beginning in June 2011, the Trial Chamber will hear the substantive arguments over the criminal charges (e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956).  Available in Khmer and French. Contact the ECCC for a free copy. 

 

CLOSING ORDER

of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde

15 September 2010

S-21

 

Interrogations

448. Most S-21 prisoners were systematically interrogated.¹⁹⁴⁹ These interrogations were carried out by S-21 personnel in their official capacity.¹⁹⁵⁰ Once the prisoners had been allocated cells,¹⁹⁵¹ the interrogators would take them from their cells and escort them, blindfolded, to the interrogation rooms.¹⁹⁵² The prisoners were required to provide biographies to the interrogaters and respond to the accusations that had led to their arrest.¹⁹⁵³ Not all interrogations were recorded in the form of written confessions,¹⁹⁵⁴ and there was no general rule about the number of times a detainee could be interrogated, or on the duration of the interrogations.¹⁹⁵⁵ Interrogation sessions did not end until the confessions made by the prisoner were considered to be "satisfactory",¹⁹⁵⁶ and prisoners could be interrogated repeatedly and ordered to rewrite their confessions several times.¹⁹⁵⁷

449. In general, Duch or the S-21 personnel had the autonomy to decide whether to use violence and ill treatment,¹⁹⁵⁸ except for important prisoners or those in whom the superiors had a special interest, in which case they would issue specific instructions.¹⁹⁵⁹

450. Duch explains that he had introduced three interrogation methods to be used by the interrogation teams: the "cold" method, the "hot" method, and the "chewing" method.¹⁹⁶⁰ The cold method consisted of interrogating a prisoner by use of propaganda, without using ill-treatment or insults. The hot method explicitly included "insults, beatings and other torture authorized by the regulations"⁹⁶¹ The chewing method was an intermediate technique consisting of "gentle explanations in order to establish trust/confidence, followed by prayers to the interrogated person, continually inviting her or him to write".¹⁹⁶² Ill treatment was also allowed.¹⁹⁶³

451. The use of ill treatment during interrogations was frequent and has been acknowledged by Duch¹⁹⁶⁴ and the interrogators;¹⁹⁶⁵ it is also confirmed by many documentary records from S-21.¹⁹⁶⁶ Two former S-21 prisoners, Chum Mey and Bou Meng, explain that they suffered serious ill-treatment during their interrogation, which they described both during the judicial investigation and in detail before the Trial Chamber.¹⁹⁶⁷ It was shown that ill- treatment increased when detainees did not provide confessions as anticipated. Additionally, any confession that was not sufficiently precise, or did not mention the name of another "traitor", was considered unacceptable.¹⁹⁶⁸

452.                  The interrogators used several forms of torture to extract confessions from the detainees. According to Duch, four methods were authorized: blows, electric shocks, a plastic bag over the head, and pouring water into the nose.¹⁹⁶⁹ However, it appears that other forms of ill-treatment were used in addition to these four methods, including some which, according to Duch, were forbidden at S-21. Thus, fingers and toenails of persons undergoing interrogation were punctured and removed;¹⁹⁷⁰ at least one prisoner was allegedly fed excrement and others were forced to drink their urine;¹⁹⁷¹ a cold water and fan technique was used;¹⁹⁷² as well as a technique consisting of undressing prisoners and applying an electric current to their genitals and ears.¹⁹⁷³ The practice of forcing detainees to pay homage to dogs with the head of Ho Chi Minh or of Lyndon B. Johnson¹⁹⁷⁴ was considered by the Trial Chamber in Case 001 as having caused deep humiliation and severe mental distress in the Cambodian cultural context.¹⁹⁷⁵ Furthermore, Vann Nath remembers seeing a guard take a prisoner to a crossbeam, hang him from a rope and immerse his head in a water jar .¹⁹⁷⁶ Duch and the interrogators also used propaganda, scorn, bluffing and threats in order to obtain confessions.¹⁹⁷⁷

453.                  The physical consequences of torture and ill-treatment during interrogations (lacerations, bleeding, contusions, bruising, loss of consciousness, removal of fingernails and toenails) were so visible that almost all former employees of S-21 who were interrogated admitted that, even though they were not personally present at torture sessions, they knew that such acts were being committed.¹⁹⁷⁸ In some instances, physical suffering was such that it resulted in the prisoners' death.¹⁹⁷⁹ Duch acknowledges that such extreme cases did happen, adding that he organised a study session to address the situation.¹⁹⁸⁰

454.                  The use of ill treatment during interrogations was aimed at obtaining a "complete" answer, including the crimes of which the prisoner was accused and the names of other presumed enemies of the regime.¹⁹⁸¹ With regard to Vietnamese prisoners, Duch adds that the objective was to obtain confessions to prove that "Vietnam had invaded Cambodia with a view to integrating it into an Indochinese federation".¹⁹⁸² Unlike interrogations of Cambodian prisoners, interrogations of Vietnamese prisoners were often tape-recorded and were then broadcast over the radio for propaganda purposes.¹⁹⁸³ The interrogation of Vietnamese prisoners was also aimed at obtaining military information.¹⁹⁸⁴

455.                  The primary function of S-21 was to extract confessions from detainees that would help uncover other networks of potential traitors. Duch states that "the content of the confession [was] the most important work of S-21" ¹⁹⁸⁵ Most often, these confessions were in the form of a political autobiography written by the detainee who, under duress, ended up confessing to treason and implicating other traitors working for the secret services of foreign powers considered to be enemies of the Cambodian revolution.¹⁹⁸⁶ The 'truth' that these confessions were supposed to reveal was, in many respects, defined beforehand, since the interrogators, who had been instructed by Duch to establish the existence of links with the CIA, the KGB and/or the Vietnamese, forced detainees to provide pre-determined

1987

answers.

456.                  Written confessions obtained by the interrogators were transmitted to Duch accompanied by their interrogation reports.¹⁹⁸⁸ Duch read, analyzed, annotated¹⁹⁸⁹ and meticulously summarised¹⁹⁹⁰ most of these confessions, in order to report them to his superiors.¹⁹⁹¹