Duch Denies Much of Interrogator Testimony

By VOA Khmer Reporters
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 July 2009

Jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch told tribunal judges on Wednesday he did not need his subordinates to face trial for the deaths of thousands of inmates, as he refuted some testimony of a former interrogator at his prison.

Duch addressed the court following testimony of Prak Khorn, 58, who took the stand Tuesday and Wednesday, alleging he had seen an infant tossed to its death from the second story of Tuol Sleng prison, among other atrocities.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is facing charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, for administering the Khmer Rouge prison, where prosecutors say 12,380 were sent to their deaths.

Duch said Wednesday the testimony of Prak Khorn was mostly untrue, but some of his testimony was not supported by documentary evidence. He denied his staff killed an 8-month-old infant at the prison, known to the Khmer Rogue as S-21.

“The majority of the testimony is not true,” Duch said. “It comes from fear. During that time, you feared I would arrest you. And at this time, you fear facing the court as I do. I do not demand that any of my subordinates come here to face the court. I have taken all the responsibility before the law, with my heart alone, for the framework of S-21.”

Prak Khorn also told the judges he had seen blood drained from prisoners, to resupply military hospitals, testimony that Duch conceded to. Duch said blood was taken from 100 prisoners at the order of his superior, Son Sen.

On Tuesday, Prak Khorn said he watched as a fellow interrogator at the prison took an infant from its mother “and threw it off the building.” Prak Khorn was then ordered to bury the child, he said. He was unsure the child had been killed under orders by Duch.

However, he said, torture was only performed on prisoner after Duch’s orders. This included beatings, electrocution and suffocation with plastic bags.

'Consider them animals'

July 22, 2009
AFP
KHMER ROUGE TRIALS

PHNOM PENH - A FORMER Khmer Rouge interrogator told Cambodia's war crimes court on Wednesday that his boss at the regime's main torture centre indoctrinated staff to consider their prisoners as animals.

Prak Khan, 58, was testifying at the UN-backed court against prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people held at Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21, in the late 1970s.

'At S-21, it was only Duch who indoctrinated our stance, our absolute stance against the enemies (prisoners) and that we had to take it seriously. We had to consider the enemies as animals,' he told the tribunal.

Prak Khan's statements represent some of the trial's most damning testimony against Duch, whom he described as an enthusiastic leader who terrified staff.

But the witness also admitted his own involvement in the crimes at S-21, after the prosecution showed a video in which he told prison survivor Vann Nath that he beat a young female prisoner with branches until she urinated herself.

In testimony Tuesday, Prak Khan had told the court that Duch taught staff to torture by using electric shocks, suffocation and inserting needles under prisoners' nails.

The 66-year-old Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has accepted responsibility for his role governing the jail and begged forgiveness for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But the defendant has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he held a central leadership role in the Khmer Rouge, and says he never personally killed anyone.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia. Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and torture or were executed during the 1975-1979 regime.

Four other former Khmer Rouge leaders are in detention and are expected to face trial next year at the court, which was formed in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the United Nations and the Cambodian government.

Ex-KRouge interrogator recounts torture techniques

Former Khmer Rouge interrogator, Prak Khan, gives evidence at the Cambodian war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH — A former interrogator at the main Khmer Rouge prison told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal Tuesday how staff were taught to torture prisoners using electric shocks and suffocation.

Prak Khan, 58, was testifying against Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people held at Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, in the late 1970s.

"We were taught how to torture the prisoners and to avoid the prisoners dying; otherwise the confession would be broken and we would be punished," Prak Khan told the court.

The witness, who was assigned to be an interrogator in late 1976 after being initially hired as a prison guard, said Duch and other high-ranking Khmer Rouge cadres often taught torture methods.

"We were trained how to whip the prisoners with the sticks, on how to electrocute, (and) on how to use the plastic bag to suffocate them," Prak Khan said.

"Detainees would be told not to make loud noises, not to curse or exchange swear words, or to shout slogans. And they were also warned not to scream while being tortured," he added.

Prak Khan said interrogators would torture prisoners until they confessed to spying on the Khmer Rouge regime and provided names of others in so-called espionage networks.

In earlier testimony, Duch admitted he did not believe that confessions obtained through torture were accurate.

The 66-year-old Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has accepted responsibility for his role governing the jail and begged forgiveness near the start of his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But the defendant has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he held a central leadership role in the Khmer Rouge, and says he never personally killed anyone.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia. Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and torture or were executed during the 1975-1979 regime.