Prison Survivor Lashes Out at Duch

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 June 2009

Chum Mey, who survived a notorious Khmer Rouge prison, confronted his jailer Tuesday, exchanging sharp words in a tribunal courtroom over the regime’s use of the “CIA” excuse to arrest people and describing severe, prolonged torture during his incarceration.

Chum Mey was one of the few people to live through Tuol Sleng, a prison where confessions were exacted under torture and where prosecutors say 12,380 people were sent to their deaths. Scholars say as many as 16,000 were killed there.

The former administrator, Kaing Kek Iev, better known as Duch, joined Chum Mey in court. Duch is facing a battery of atrocity crimes charges for his role as prison chief.

Chum Mey mocked the Khmer Rouge’s use of the “CIA” in its arrests during its nearly four-year rule, as cadre became increasingly paranoid their ranks had been infiltrated. Many of the accused found themselves in Tuol Sleng, suffering water-boarding, electric shock and other torture methods to have confessions forced from them.

“As an alleged CIA agent, I want to ask you, Duch, if there are any more CIA agents now?” Chum Mey asked in court Tuesday. “Already 16,000 [killed], so I just want to ask whether there are now no more CIA agents, or still a million more?”

In response, Duch addressed his former prisoner as “Brother,” saying, “the term CIA was used to arrest those against the Organization.”

“They were not really CIA agents employed and appointed by the US,” he said. “The CIA established by the communist party of Kampuchea was just to arrest people like you who were against it.”

Chum Mey is the second former prisoner to testify before the court, following the painter Vann Nath’s testimony Monday.

Now 79, Chum Mey said he was tortured for 12 consecutive days and nights after being sent to the prison in late 1978. Three of Duch’s interrogators beat him with sticks, pulled out his toenails and electrocuted him, he told the court.

His life was spared because he could repair sewing machines for the Angkar, or Organization.

“This experience of suffering has caused me such uncontained anger,” Chum Mey said. “I tell you frankly, Mr. Duch: You are lucky you did not fight me during that time. If you had, you would not now see the sunlight.”

Khmer Rouge jail survivor 'had toenails torn out'

By Patrick Falby

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A second survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime's main jail on Tuesday told how torturers ripped out his toenails and gave him electric shocks to make him confess to being a Soviet and US agent.

Chum Mey described to Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal how he wept every day for the wife and children he lost under the 1975-1979 communist movement and the horrors he endured at Tuol Sleng prison.

The 79-year-old former mechanic was giving evidence at the trial of prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the facility.

"Because I kept telling them I didn't know about the KGB and the CIA, they used pliers to twist my toenails. The nail was completely detached from my toe, they pulled it out," Chum Mey said.

He then stood in the centre of the courtroom and removed his sandals to show that his toenails had grown back deformed.

The former inmate detailed how he buried his two-year-old son who died of illness as the Khmer Rouge emptied the capital Phnom Penh in 1975, and talked of his two daughters who disappeared under the regime.

Up to two million people were murdered or died of overwork and starvation as the Khmer Rouge tried to forge a communist utopia.

Chum Mey said he was working at a sewing machine factory when he was brought to Tuol Sleng in 1978, while his pregnant wife was held in a nearby "re-education centre".

They were reunited -- along with their then-two-month-old baby -- in 1979 but he lost them again when they disappeared without trace when Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia the same year, toppling the regime.

"I cry every night. Every time I hear people talk about the Khmer Rouge, it reminds me of my wife and kids. I am like a mentally ill person now," he said, weeping.

During his time at Tuol Sleng, Chum Mey said he was repeatedly tortured on suspicion of espionage.

"While I was walking inside (after arriving) I said (to a guard), 'Brother, please look after my family.' Then the person kicked me to the ground," Chum Mey said, adding the man swore at him and told him he would be "smashed".

Chum Mey told judges he was photographed, stripped, handcuffed and yanked by his earlobes to face interrogators.

"They asked me to tell them the truth -- how many of us joined the KGB and CIA," Chum Mey said. "I'm still longing to know the reason why I was accused of being CIA and KGB because I knew nothing about them."

He described how interrogators beat him for 12 days and nights as he pleaded for his life. He shuddered in pain after they pulled out his toenails, he said, and heard "some sort of sound" after they subjected him to electric shocks.

The agony finally ended when he falsely confessed to being a CIA and KGB agent, Chum Mey said, and his life was then spared because he was put to use repairing sewing machines and a water pump.

Asked by his lawyer whether he had any questions for Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, Chum Mey asked whether all so-called CIA agents in Cambodia had been "smashed" or whether some remained.

Duch answered that CIA was a broad term for people suspected of working against the Khmer Rouge.

"The real CIA and the CIA perceived by the (Khmer Rouge) were different. They only identified you as someone opposing them -- that's why you were identified as CIA," Duch said.

On Monday, fellow survivor Van Nath described how starving prisoners ate insects and said he was only spared because he painted pictures of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

Earlier in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the 66-year-old Duch begged forgiveness from the victims after accepting responsibility for running the jail.

He has stated he did not believe most confessions extracted under torture, but rejects prosecutors' claims that he had a central role in the Khmer Rouge's rule and says he never personally executed anyone.

Four other detained former Khmer Rouge leaders are expected to face trial next year.

Khmer Rouge torture survivor testifies at UN-backed tribunal

Chum Mey, one of the few who survived imprisonment at the Khmer Rouge's S-21 prison, smiles before attending a U.N.-back genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh on April 23, 2008. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
CBC News (Canada)

One of three living survivors from the Khmer Rouge's main torture centre wept as he told a United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia Tuesday that he was beaten, subjected to electric shocks and had his toenails pulled out, but was spared execution because he knew how to fix cars.

"When I was tortured, I no longer felt like a human being. I felt like an animal," said Chum Mey, 79, who was jailed at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, also known as the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh between 1975 and 1979. "I was beaten for 12 days and nights. I was beaten day and night. I could hardly walk."

Mey was testifying at the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, 66, popularly known as Duch, who headed the prison from 1975 to 1979, and is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and murder.

About 16,000 men, women and children were detained and tortured at S-21 before being executed at the "Killing Fields."

Mey's wife and baby were among the estimated 1.7 million people killed under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

Like most prisoners at S-21, Mey was forced to confess that he was a spy for the CIA, Russia's KGB or Vietnam.

"I kept responding that I didn't know anything about the CIA and KGB, but they used pliers and twisted off my toenail," he said. After removing one big toenail, torturers moved to the other foot.

"They tried to twist the other one off with the pliers but the nail didn't come out so they pulled it out with their hands," Mey said.

His torture ended once his captors realized he had a useful skill and he was put to work fixing his jailers' cars, tractors, sewing machines and typewriters.

In response to Mey's testimony, Duch told the tribunal the term CIA was used to refer to anyone who opposed the Khmer Rouge.

He is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to acknowledge responsibility for his actions and stand trial. Earlier, Duch testified that he was only following orders to save his own life.

Senior leaders Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Sary's wife, Ieng Thirith, are all detained and likely to face trial in the next year or so.

With files from The Associated Press

Khmer Rouge survivor describes torture at S-21

Tuesday June 30 2009
SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press Writer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - One of three living survivors from the Khmer Rouge's main torture center testified Tuesday that he endured beatings, electric shocks and had his toenails pulled out but was spared execution because he knew how to fix cars.

Weeping as he spoke, 79-year-old Chum Mey said he cries every night and any mention of the Khmer Rouge reminds him of his wife and baby - both killed under the regime whose 1970s rule of Cambodia left an estimated 1.7 million people dead.

Three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, a U.N.-backed tribunal is piecing together Cambodia's dark past with the trial of Kaing Guek Eav - better known as Duch, who headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh between 1975-1979.

Duch sat impassively and listened as Chum Mey spoke.

"I was beaten for 12 days and nights. I was beaten day and night. I could hardly walk," said Chum Mey, who was arrested in early 1975 and remained jailed until Vietnamese troops ousted the Khmer Rouge regime and liberated the prison inmates in January 1979.

First he was hit with sticks, then subjected to a week of torture with live electrical wires.

Like most prisoners at S-21, Chum Mey was forced to make confessions that suited the regime's radical communist perspective. Although most apparently were innocent, many confessed to being spies for the CIA, Russia's KGB or Vietnam.

"I kept responding that I didn't know anything about the CIA and KGB, but they used a pliers and twisted off my toenail," he said. After extracting one big toenail, torturers shifted to the other foot. "They tried to twist the other one off with the pliers but the nail didn't come out so they pulled it out with their hands."

"I confessed that I had joined the CIA and KGB but it was a lie. I said it because I was so badly beaten," he said.

Some 16,000 men, women and children were detained and tortured at S-21 before being sent for execution at the "Killing Fields" on the outskirts of the capital where thousands were killed and their bodies dumped. Chum Mey is thought to be one of only seven survivors, and one of three still alive today.

Chum Mey's torture stopped once his captors realized he had a useful skill. He was put to work fixing his jailers' cars, tractors, sewing machines and typewriters.

"When I was tortured, I no longer felt like a human being. I felt like an animal," he said. Prisoners were kept shackled in cramped cells, and ate, slept and relieved themselves in the same spot.

A fellow survivor, Vann Nath, 63, testified Monday that he ate his meager meals - three teaspoons of porridge twice a day - next to corpses and was so hungry that he considered eating human flesh. Vann Nath escaped execution because he was an artist who took the job of painting portraits of the Khmer Rouge's late leader, Pol Pot.

Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. Senior leaders Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Sary's wife, Ieng Thirith, are all detained and likely to face trial in the next year or two.

Duch has previously testified that being sent to S-21 was tantamount to a death sentence and that he was only following orders to save his own life. He is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and murder.

Khmer Rouge jail survivor 'tortured'

Chum Mey

June 30, 2009
AFP

A rare survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime's main jail says torturers ripped out his toenails and gave him electric shocks to try to make him confess to being a CIA agent.

Former mechanic Chum Mey told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal how he pleaded for his life as he was tortured for 12 days and nights at the 1975-1979 communist movement's Tuol Sleng detention centre.

The 63-year-old is the second survivor to give evidence at the trial of prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the facility.

Chum Mey said he had been working at a sewing machine factory in 1978 when he was brought to Tuol Sleng to be tortured on suspicion of espionage.

"While I was walking inside I said (to a guard), 'Brother, please look after my family.' Then the person kicked me on to the ground," Chum Mey said, adding the man swore at him and told him he would be "smashed".

Chum Mey told judges he was photographed, stripped, handcuffed and yanked by his earlobes to interrogators.

"They asked me to tell them the truth - how many of us joined the KGB and CIA," Chum Mey said, referring to the Soviet and US intelligence agencies.

"I told them I did not know any CIA or KGB. Truly, I did not know those terms."

He went on to describe how interrogators beat him as he pleaded for his life, and proceeded to torture him for 12 days and nights.

He trembled in pain after they removed his toenails and heard "some sort of sound" after they electrocuted him, he said.

"The method used was always hot. It was never cold, as Duch has said," Chum Mey said, describing degrees of torture.

Earlier in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the 66-year-old Duch begged forgiveness from the victims after accepting responsibility for his role in governing the jail.

But he has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he had a central role in the Khmer Rouge's iron-fisted rule and says he never personally executed anyone.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and many believe the tribunal is the last chance to find justice for victims of the communist regime, which killed up to two million people.