S-21 called worst prison

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, during his trial at Cambodia's war crimes tribunal in this file photo. (Photo by: AFP/ECCC pool)

Friday, 29 May 2009
Written by Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Expert tells court 'techniques' more brutal than other centres.

AMERICAN specialist Craig Etcheson sought to dispute defence arguments that Duch was a scapegoat for the wrongs of the Khmer Rouge regime, telling the UN-backed war crimes court Thursday that the torture techniques used at S-21 were more horrendous than those at other security offices throughout the country.

Speaking at the trial of former S-21 chief Kaing Guek Eav, Etcheson, who is currently an investigator with the co-prosecutors, said that at zone-level security offices and the security offices situated in the regime's lower echelons, the main torture techniques were "whipping, suffocation with a plastic bag and electrocution".

However at S-21, methods such as "burning, removing fingernails and toenails, putting salt or saltwater on wounds, tormenting people with poisonous insects", were used.

"There was a difference in the torture practices at S-21 and the torture practices at other security offices," Craig Etcheson told the chamber.

Etcheson, who is the author of The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea, was called on to provide expert testimony on the implementation of regime policy at S-21 prison.

Answering questions put by civil party lawyer Alain Werner about the policy of "smashing" cadres, Etcheson emphasised that the policy meant more than just a bullet to the head.

"Smash means something more than killing," Etcheson explained. "It was to smash into little pieces."

He said that starvation could also be considered a form of smashing.

"Starvation of prisoners in the security offices appeared to be a very widespread policy throughout Democratic Kampuchea."

Cambodian defence lawyer Kar Savuth disputed claims made by Etcheson that the S-21 prison was the regime's largest torture facility.

Dr. Etcheson: the creativity and zeal of Pol Pot's cadres contributed to the scope of the disaster

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 28/05/2009: Alain Werner, civil party lawyer, on day 23 of Duch's trial at the ECCC (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

28-05-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

Following a pertinent review of torture and the practice of confessions, among others, with expert Craig Etcheson, the hearing of May 28th gave rise to an intense exchange between the international lawyer of Duch and the U.S. expert. During the whole afternoon, François Roux put forth his arguments with method, sketching the main characteristics of the Khmer Rouge regime and making sure to request Craig Etcheson's agreement on each new point raised: Democratic Kampuchea was a “regime of terror” that relied on the obligation of secrecy, an extremely centralised power, the systematic indoctrination of party members, a vertical communication system, a policy of spying and denunciation, a police State that practised mass purges... The lawyer thus pulled the expert towards his conclusions...

The practice of torture, an “oral tradition” that was encouraged

Returning to the meaning to give to the Khmer word “smashing”, which often featured in the Khmer Rouge terminology, expert Craig Etcheson, following the accused, recognised that it meant more than killing and was often translated by “crushing.” He explained this was in line with a long process aimed not only to smash physically but also psychologically. He said that the practice in S-21 was ideally adapted to the dehumanisation of the individual psyche. Alain Werner, co-lawyer for civil party group 1, then asked him if a torture policy was clearly formulated. “I have never seen an order or directive of the Central Committee that explicitly ordered torture,” the American replied, stressing, on the basis of various statements, that the Khmer Rouge explicitly leaders wanted great sufferings to be inflicted upon their enemies.

“Who designed these torture techniques?”, the lawyer asked him. “That is something we wondered about for a long time. Most of the time, they were developed through practice and were inherited from those used by the Vietnamese communists. It was like some kind of oral tradition.” For the expert, Duch was the main trainer in those techniques. “In security centres at the zone, sector and district levels, the range of torture practices seemed to be limited to beating, whipping, suffocation by plastic bag and electrocution. In S-21, there were supplementary techniques, like burning, ripping off fingernails, […], pouring salt on open wounds, using poisonous insects, various forms of water torture and hanging by the hands tied in the back until the shoulders dislocated, etc.”

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Duch Expert Describes Khmer Rouge Disarray

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 May 2009

A US Khmer Rouge researcher told tribunal judges Wednesday the regime’s ministries were not well organized and decisions were made instead by the standing committee of the communist party.

Craig Etcheson, the first foreign expert to be called in the trial of Duch, head of the regime’s notorious Tuol Sleng prison, described an administrative organization in disarray, saying the ministries “were not really ministries.”

Tribunal judges are trying to form a picture of the organization, under which up to 2 million people died. Prosecutors say Duch was responsible for the torture and execution of more than 12,000 of them.

“The ministries did not work as they were,” said Etcheson, author of “The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea. “

Etcheson went on to say that power was in the hands of individuals who had positions in the regime’s communist party. He did not elaborate.

Duch has said all power was in the hands of the standing committee, telling judges that there was no law except that of the party. He has sought to portray himself as a victim of the regime and dedicated revolutionary. But he has also said that those who did not follow the regime perished.

Now 66, Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, began his atrocity crimes trial March 30. He is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, for his role as the head of Tuol Sleng, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21, and other facilities.

Judge says will quit KRouge court if can't work

Judge Marcel Lemonde (Photo: AP)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The French investigating judge at Cambodia's troubled Khmer Rouge war crimes court told reporters Wednesday he would quit his post if he sensed interference in his work.

The UN-backed tribunal, which is trying the regime's former prison chief Duch, has been plagued by allegations of political interference by the government and claims that Cambodian staff had to pay kickbacks for jobs.

"I came here to work as a judge... The day I will not be able to work anymore, I will leave," said investigating judge Marcel Lemonde at a press conference.

The UN has withheld funds to Cambodian operations at the court in absence of an agreement to stop the alleged corruption, however the global body's talks with senior government officials have ended without a deal.

Lemonde and co-investigating judge You Bunleng said their office had so far interviewed more than 450 witnesses but their work on the court's second case against four senior leaders would not be completed before the end of the year.

"We are very aware of the necessity to complete the investigation as soon as possible. Our goal is to complete it by the end of 2009," Lemonde said.

However he added "this goal is a very ambitious one, given the complexity of the file".

Two investigators have also been in France since last week to interview witnesses, court officials said.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 before facing justice, and fears over the health of ageing suspects hang over the court.

Former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith are in detention awaiting the court's second trial.

The long-awaited first trial has heard Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, acknowledge responsibility and beg forgiveness for overseeing the torture and execution of more than 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison.

Testifying on Wednesday, American Khmer Rouge expert Craig Etcheson said that among the network of regime prisons around the country, Tuol Sleng was the only one that worked directly for the regime's leaders.

"S-21 was unique. It was... considered an organ of the government or the communist committee," Etcheson said.

The widespread purges during the 1975 to 1979 regime were probably due to senior leaders' paranoia and a result of indiscriminate methods of weeding out Khmer Rouge enemies, Etcheson said.

Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation, disease and overwork as the Khmer Rouge movement emptied cities and enslaved the population on collective farms in its bid to create a communist utopia.

Overview of the Khmer Rouge regime by Craig Etcheson, whose examination is postponed sine die

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 26/11/2008: Curtains used for proceedings in camera, shown during a mock trial organised by the ECCC defence section for law students (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

21-05-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

Yet another morning with no hearing for the audience at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on Thursday May 21st. From the outset, the Trial Chamber announced its intention to hold a trial management meeting between the parties, to which neither the public nor the civil parties were admitted. Before lunch break, the curtains opened and the president of the court announced that the defence recognised as an expert American Craig Etcheson, who was on the stand since Monday, and did not contest his report, “Overview of the Hierarchy of Democratic Kampuchea”, which provides the basis for his testimony. On the previous days, the international co-lawyer of Duch had disturbed the substantial debate by contesting the amount of documents in connection with the expert's testimony that had been produced in the hearing as well as his current professional status...

The president concluded that “consequently, it [was] not necessary to read each annexed document,” as the international co-Prosecutor had started doing on the previous day. The Chamber considered the documents in annexes as being integral parts of the expert's report. When the debate resumed at 1.30pm, François Roux, French co-lawyer for the accused, specified the defence's position on the issue, saying he “indeed agreed to consider that all these documents come in support of the report and that these documents and report will be debated and added to the case file.”

However, Roux continued, “the defence insists on the fact that after July 2007, Craig Etcheson was directly involved in the prosecution against the accused and in these conditions, his testimony as expert must not deal with the period after July 2007” or the documents he had hold of beyond that date, when his report was written but also when Duch was indicted. He recalled that the American then already worked as an investigator with the office of the co-Prosecutors of the tribunal and was therefore a party to the trial.

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Discontent of Roux, Duch's co-lawyer: debates disrupted and finical prosecutors scathed

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 19/05/2009: Public consulting information leaflets on the ECCC, during the 17th day of hearing at Duch's trial (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

19-05-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

Expert witness Craig Etcheson, called to testify at Duch's trial regarding the implementation of the policy of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) at the S-21 detention centre, only had little say in court on Tuesday May 19th. The defence complained they were “taken by surprise” that the investigator with the office of the co-Prosecutors of the court moved away from the topics planned for his testimony. The intervention fazed the judges of the Trial Chamber, who suspended the hearing for three hours to examine the issue.

The role of S-21 in the purges

At the start of the day, responding to questions from New Zealand judge Silvia Cartwright, American expert Craig Etcheson had time to confirm, in light of the many documents he compiled and studied, that the Angkar had carried out widespread purges in the military. He specified that part of the military personnel who were purged, accused of plotting against the regime, were sent to S-21 and several documents from the period illustrated that division commanders were not only aware of the existence of the centre directed by Duch, but were also actively sending prisoners to S-21.

A similar situation was observed in government ministries, where civil servants were no less spared by purges, to such an extent that, the academic recalled, some ministries complained about the difficulty to carry out their responsibilities because so many of their staff were seized by security forces. Craig Etcheson thus confirmed the specificity of S-21, which “received detainees from virtually every unit of organisation in Democratic Kampuchea across the entire country.” To illustrate his point, the expert started to give examples, quoting handwritten notes by Duch or a report made by the accused himself in 1977, drawn from the case file. He would not go any further, as François Roux, Duch's international co-lawyer, intervened because he had “a small problem.”

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Duch Lawyers Want Expert Research Put on Web

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
20 May 2009

Defense lawyers for the jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch have asked that the UN-backed tribunal post on its Web site documents prepared by a US researcher.

Craig Etcheson, a Khmer Rouge expert and author of “The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea,” is employed by the prosecution section of the tribunal and is the first foreign expert to testify at Duch’s trial.

Etcheson collected information related to Tuol Sleng, the prison run by Duch, including testimony about former Khmer Rouge cadre from different zones and ministries.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is facing a battery of atrocity charges for his role as director of Tuol Sleng, a former high school, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21.

During his testimony on Tuesday, Etcheson described widespread purges of the Khmer Rouge’s own government and military officials.

Tuol Sleng at one time held 532 people from the Public Works Ministry, or 15 percent of its workforce, 386 officials from the Commerce Ministry, 286 from the Energy Ministry and 251 from the Railway Ministry, Etcheson told the court.

Defense lawyer Francois Roux told judges Wednesday the research provided by Etcheson should be posted on the tribunal’s Web site “as quickly as possible” to help Cambodians understand the regime.

Questions over the documents took up the entire hearing Wednesday, as Duch remained silent throughout.

Purges were widespread, specialist tells KR tribunal

Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Written by Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

On his second day of testimony, Khmer Rouge specialist Craig Etcheson details purges at all levels of regime.

AN American genocide expert told the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal Tuesday that purges of the Khmer Rouge's own government and military officials was "widespread".

Craig Etcheson, who is currently an investigator with the co-prosecutors and an expert in the regime's structure, said purges occurred at all levels.

"There were widespread purges throughout Democratic Kampuchea ... the revolutionary army of Kampuchea," Etcheson told the court. "Some purged military personnel were executed within their own unit of organisation; others were sent to force labour camps or S-21."

Etcheson, who is the author of The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea, is the first foreign expert called for testimony about the regime's treatment of prisoners at S-21, the prison camp directed by Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch.

He told the court that more than 1,000 cadres from the eastern zone and more than 1,000 from the northwest zone were sent to S-21 during the purges. More than 1,400 people from at least four of the regime's ministries were also arrested and sent to S-21.

"There were widespread arrests throughout all of the government's ministries. The purging was quite extensive," he said, adding that S-21 received detainees from virtually every unit of organisation across the country.

During the hearing, defence council Francois Roux objected to a report used in Etcheson's testimony that described the military and communications networks.

"In the report, there are only a few words about S-21.... Now, the expert witness is giving us a specific analysis of S-21. So we are no longer accepting any context here," Roux argued.

But the objection was rejected by the tribunal judges after a three-hour recess.