Duch fails to ID Westerners imprisoned in S-21

The above photographs, of two unidentified men, were found with a cache of recently donated photographs of S-21 prison victims. Photograph: Documentation Center of Cambodia

Thursday, 30 August 2012
Joseph Freeman
The Phnom Penh Post

As part of an ongoing search to confirm the identities of two Westerners whose faces emerged in a recent anonymous donation of photos featuring inmates from the notorious S-21 prison, researchers yesterday turned to a man they believed might have special insight into the duo’s fate – their jailer.

Sitting in a small room outside his detention cell at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, where he is currently serving a life sentence for his crimes as the former chairman of the Phnom Penh detention and interrogation centre, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, briefly studied the faces of the men, put them aside and began to talk.

There would be, however, no great revelations.

“He said there were only four Western prisoners at S-21, and he didn’t really remember the faces of those people,” the Documentation Center of Cambodia’s Savina Sirik told the Post. Sirik, and her colleague Kok-Thay Eng, interviewed Duch for two hours yesterday to try and solve the mystery of the two mens’ identities.

Mysterious identity of two S-21 victims still pending

Monday, 20 August 2012
Joseph Freeman
The Phnom Penh Post

The Documentation Center of Cambodia is trying to confirm the identities of two unnamed Westerners who died at the torture and prison centre S-21 and whose visages surfaced in a collection of recently donated photographs.

The new photos are believed to be the first ever of Westerners to emerge from S-21, said Youk Chhang, head of the documentation center.

Beforehand, there were only confessions that lacked accompanying images. Some 14,000 people were tortured and executed at the Phnom Penh prison, though estimates vary and it’s virtually impossible to pinpoint an exact count, as many documents were destroyed.

Out of all the dead, however, there are seven known survivors. Only two of them are still living. Confirmation of the identities is still pending, but after an initial review that involved ruling out other victims, Chhang said the men in the photos could be Christopher Edward DeLance, who was seized while sailing off the Cambodian coast in 1978, and Andre Gaston Courtigne, a former employee of the French Embassy, arrested more than two years earlier in 1976.

KRouge jailer says ex-leader called him 'very bad'

A photo taken and released by the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) shows former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav -- better known as Duch -- in the courtroom in Phnom Penh last month. Duch told a Cambodian war crimes court Monday that a top leader accused him three decades ago of being "very bad" for failing to destroy evidence at a torture prison.

2/04/2012
AFP

A convicted ex-Khmer Rouge jailer told a Cambodian war crimes court Monday that a top leader accused him three decades ago of being "very bad" for failing to destroy evidence at a torture prison.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, was in February sentenced on appeal to life in jail by the UN-backed court for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people at the notorious S-21 torture prison in Phnom Penh.

The former maths teacher is back on the stand this week to give evidence in the trial of three ex-leaders of the 1975-1979 regime, including his former boss "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea.

Duch told the judges that he informed Nuon Chea in the early 1980s that he had been forced to leave the S-21 documents behind during the chaotic final days of the regime, when Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge.

Duch Concedes to Beating Prisoners

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
11 August 2009

The former Khmer Rouge prison chief known as Duch on Tuesday confessed to beating a prisoner himself, following testimony from a former guard at his Tuol Sleng prison Monday.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, told the UN-backed court he did not deny the testimony of Saom Met, who told judges he had seen Duch beating a prisoner with a rattan stick.

Duch said he “risked a heavy crime” by his admission, but said, “I do not hesitate at all, and I recognize all my crimes.”

Duch is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder for his role as the administrator of the notorious prison, where prosecutors say 12,380 people were sent to their deaths.

He has admitted to sending people to their deaths, but in the past has sought not to implicate himself in murder by his own hands.

Duch said Monday he had abused the prisoner, but not seriously, and said the “most serious” crimes for him had been passing communist doctrine to his staff the prison, known the Khmer Rouge as S-21.

“In my capacity as director of S-21, the crime that seems the most serious for me is the policy lectures I gave to them,” he said. “For instance, [that] those where were arrested by the party must be considered enemies.”

If interrogators did not recognize the inmates as enemies, they would not have gotten “confessions” from them, he said.

“This is the most serious crime, that I am responsible for more than 10,000 lives,” he said.

The former guard, Saom Met, told the court Tuesday the rule on torture as Tuol Sleng was to exact answers from prisoners, even if it meant torturing them to death.

Child Guard Recalls Burials Under Duch

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 August 2009

A former child guard at Duch’s Khmer Rouge prison told a UN-backed court Monday he had been ordered to bury prisoners after he was recruited form Kampong Chhnang province.

Chhun Phal, now 47, said he was ordered to dig a mass grave for dead Cambodians, including one who still wore shackles from the prison.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, for his role as head of Tuol Sleng prison, where prosecutors say 12,380 were sent to the their deaths.

Chhun Phal told the court he was ordered to dig a hole 2 meters by 3 meters that was as deep as his neck, but he could not remember how many bodies were buried in it.

His other duties including caring for prisoners by giving them baths, which he did sometimes while they remained shackled.

He also said he saw Duch beat a prisoner with a rattan stick.

Khmer Rouge prison chief 'beat inmate'

Monday, August 10, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH — A former guard at the Khmer Rouge's main jail said Monday that he saw his boss beat an inmate with a stick -- the first testimony by an ex-colleague that Duch personally tortured prisoners.

Witness Saom Meth was giving evidence to Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal in the trial of prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of about 15,000 people at Tuol Sleng detention centre.

"I saw Brother Duch sitting right in the villa (at the jail) with a rattan stick in his hand and the guards were outside at the door," Saom Meth told the court.

"Duch actually used the rattan stick to beat the detainee, he did not beat him much before I left. He beat him on the back," the 51-year-old said.

Saom Meth also described various torture techniques used at the jail including the insertion of electric wires into the ears and the ripping out of prisoners' fingernails.

"I could see their nails were removed and their backs sustained some wound," Saom Meth added.

The 66-year-old Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has previously accepted responsibility for his role in governing the jail under the 1975-1979 communist regime and begged forgiveness.

The prison in the capital Phnom Penh was at the centre of the Khmer Rouge's brutal campaign of repression and was turned into a genocide museum after forces backed by neighbouring Vietnam overthrew the movement.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

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.

Mam Nay, Duch’s former deputy: amnesia and serious accommodation with truth

Tuol Sleng / S-21 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). A “simple interrogator,” Mam Nay allegedly saw or heard nothing of the crimes committed in S-21 against prisoners he found “neither too thin or too fat”… Words that stirred heated reactions in the audience (John Vink/ Magnum/file picture)

15-07-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

Mam Nay, former head of the interrogation unit at S-21 – the equivalent in this structure of the political commissioner dear to communist regimes –, returned before the Chamber on Tuesday July 14th, duly assisted by a lawyer this time, as recommended by the defence on the previous day. All throughout the day, the witness in Duch’s trial was assailed with questions by the judges – for good reason, as his answers were quite often terse, alternating between “I don’t know” and “I don’t remember,” when he was not ostensibly lying. His testimony prompted much outcry and out loud comments in the public gallery, as the audience was exasperated by such bad faith. The ten seats reserved for civil parties in the courtroom were all occupied for once.

Where should the witness’ lawyer be placed?

The tribunal managed to find a lawyer for Mam Nay but, at the start of the hearing, the defence expressed “the strongest reservations” regarding the place he was given: on the same bench as Duch’s defence counsels. “This leads to granting, by anticipation, the request of the Prosecutor to consider Mr. Mam Nay as an accused today. […] It seems to me that is not correct,” François Roux, Duch’s international co-lawyer, argued. The international co-Prosecutor, who said the situation did not offend him, added he regretted that the defence worried, on the previous day, about “whether the witness was fully aware of his rights.” William Smith stressed that the remark should not have been made in front of the witness, but before his testimony and in camera.

President Nil Nonn announced that the Chamber would not change the seat it assigned the lawyer called to assist Mam Nay, which “does not mean in any way that the witness is guilty.” He took the opportunity to recall the parties that “the trial management came under the sole authority of the Chamber.”

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Third Survivor Takes Stand in Duch Trial

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
02 July 2009

Continuing a week of survivor testimony at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, Bou Meng, who lived through Duch’s infamous Tuol Sleng killing machine, described to the court Wednesday suffering and torture as an inmate.

Bou Meng and his wife were taken as they planted vegetables at Talay village, in Kandal province in mid-1977 and sent to Tuol Sleng.

Bou Meng told the court that Khmer Rouge security guards arrived in a car, telling them they were needed to teach students at the School of Fine Arts.

“I felt much satisfaction with that news,” he recalled.

That satisfaction soon turned to suffering, as the two were brought to Tuol Sleng.

Bou Meng, now 68, choked with tears in the court on Wednesday, recalling his time in the prison, where prosecutors say Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, sent 12,380 people to their deaths, following confessions coerced through torture.

Bou Meng and his wife were handcuffed and blindfolded and taken to a cell within the prison, where Bou Meng was then beaten with a cane, made perhaps of rattan or bamboo, and was electrocuted.

“Each of the five interrogators beat me until he was exhausted,” Bou Meng said.

Bou Meng developed gangrene on his back, which hurt worse than his beatings and left behind scars he showed tribunal judges. “The treatment of my gangrene was without medicine,” he said. “Only salt water covered my gangrene.”

Guards at the prison, known to the Khmer Rogue as S-21, would beat the inmates and interrogate them twice a day, from 7 am to noon or 1 pm, and again from 2 pm to 7 pm, he said.

“All the inmates in S-21 prison looked like ghosts, because they had long hair, deep-set eyes and were very thin,” he said. “They looked like ghosts in the real world.”

Duch, who is now 66 and faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, for his role at the prison, sat silently through Bou Meng’s testimony.

He has already admitted to orchestrating torture and killings, and has apologized to victims and their families. Now a Christian, he has sought forgiveness, and he has never admitted to doing any killing himself.

Bou Meng said Wednesday he hoped the tribunal could find at least some justice for him.

“If I cannot receive 100 percent justice, I can receive between 50 percent and 60 percent,” he said.

Where is my wife? Khmer Rouge survivor begs tormentor

Jul 1, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - A survivor of a notorious Khmer Rouge torture prison on Wednesday begged his former jailer to reveal where and when his wife was executed during the Maoist group's bloody rule more than 30 years ago.

Bou Meng, 68, who is one of only a handful of survivors from the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal that he had not seen his wife since the couple was imprisoned in 1977.

He then addressed his testimony to the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, who is known by his revolutionary alias Duch and is the former chief of S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng.

'I would like to ask him if she was smashed at Tuol Sleng or at Choeng Ek,' Bou Meng asked, referring to a 'killing field' on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. 'If he can tell me, then I can go there and collect her ashes and pray for her soul.'

Duch, who faces charges of crimes against humanity and breeches of the Geneva Conventions, said he had never heard of Bou Meng's wife but apologized for her death.

'It would have been done by my subordinates, and it probably would have been done at Choeng Ek,' he said. 'Emotionally, I am responsible for all these crimes, but they were ordered by people higher up.'

Bou Meng told the court he was tortured at S-21 but escaped death by painting portraits of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. However, he said his wife suffered the same fate as more than 15,000 people who were murdered after being detained at the torture facility.

'They regularly beat me, and one day, they used an electrical wire to electrocute me, and I immediately fell unconscious,' Bou Meng said. 'They also poured water over my face, and then I also fell unconscious.'

Duch is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders facing trial for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the group's 1975-1979 rule.

He has admitted guilt and apologized for his crimes, but his lawyers have sought to prove his role in the torture and executions was minimal because, they said, he was only acting on orders.

But Bou Meng told the court he had witnessed Duch instruct guards to beat prisoners and recounted the horrific scenes he saw when he first arrived at the prison.

'I arrived in the group cell, and everyone in there looked like hell,' he said. 'I was dizzy when I entered the room and so scared.'

The artist and teacher said Khmer Rouge soldiers fooled him and his wife into travelling to the prison by telling them they had been given jobs at a college of fine arts.

'I was planting vegetables and digging canals, so I was happy that I would teach students at the college of fine arts because I thought then I would be working in my profession,' he said.

When they arrived in Phnom Penh, the two were handcuffed and blindfolded and, like all prisoners sent to S-21, taken to be photographed, interrogated and forced to sign confessions, Bou Meng said.

'That photograph is the only photograph I have of my wife,' he said. 'The others were destroyed after the Khmer Rouge came to power.'

He said interrogators beat him with sticks and whips, asked him when he joined the CIA, the US intelligence agency, and how many people he had recruited as well as interrogated him about the Soviet intelligence agency.

'They asked me all about the KGB and the CIA but did not even know what they were,' he said.

Like fellow S-21 survivor Vann Nath, Bou Meng was eventually taken to a separate part of the facility and forced to paint portraits of Pol Pot, who eventually died in 1998 without being brought before a court.

Bou Meng never saw his wife again.

'I survived because I could paint the perfect portrait of Pol Pot,' he said. 'I am here because I do not know what happened to my wife and why she is gone and why she was tortured.'

The tribunal was established in 2006 after a decade of negotiations between the Cambodian government and the United Nations.

Duch is so far the only one of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders to be indicted on war crimes charges, and if convicted, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Khmer Rouge survivor tells how painting saved his life

One of only three remaining survivors of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison has testified how his life was saved because of his skill at painting.

01 Jul 2009
By Thomas Bell, South East Asia Correspondent
The Telegraph (UK)

Over 14,000 men, women and children were sent to the S-21 torture centre, also known as Toul Sleng, housed in a disused Phnom Penh high school.

Only seven prisoners are known to have survived of whom only three are alive today. They have become the first victims of the Khmer Rouge to confront their persecutor in court as the commandant of S-21, known as Duch, goes on trial for crimes against humanity.

"I survived because I could paint exact portraits of Pol Pot," said Bou Meng, 68, referring to the Khmer Rouge leader described as "Brother Number One".

Bou Meng also painted other propaganda pictures, including attacks on the regime's enemies in neighbouring Vietnam. "I was ordered to paint a picture of Ho Chi Minh's head on the body of a dog," he testified.

Up to two million Cambodians were executed or died of starvation and overwork in little over three years of the Khmer Rouge's ultra-Maoist rule between 1975-79. It has taken 30 years of negotiation and procedural wrangling for the first trial of a senior commander to begin in a court jointly run by Cambodia and the United Nations.

Another witness, Bou May, was sent to S-21 with his wife in 1977.

"There is a question I would like to ask to Mr Kaing Guek Eav," he told the court, using Duch's full name.

"I want to know if he asked his subordinates to smash my wife at [S-21] or Choeung Ek [the so-called killing field where prisoners were executed] so I can collect her ashes to make her soul rest in peace."

Duch replied calmly: "I expect she was killed by my subordinates."

Duch (pronounced Doik) was a senior official but not one of the leaders of the regime.

Some leaders, including Pol Pot, have already died but the four most senior survivors are all in custody awaiting trial.

However they are in failing health and many observers fear that continuing delays effecting the court will make Duch the only man to stand trial for the Khmer Rouge's crimes. In that case the three S-21 survivors will be the only victims to have their day in court.

KRouge survivor begs jail boss over wife's fate

Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By Patrick Falby

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A distraught survivor of the Khmer Rouge's main prison has urged his former jailer to reveal the truth about his wife's execution three decades ago so he could finally collect her ashes.

Bou Meng was asked by the judge at Cambodia's war crimes court to compose himself as he testified against prison chief Duch, accused of overseeing the extermination of 15,000 people at the communist regime's Tuol Sleng prison.

The 68-year-old also described how his torturers beat him bloody to make him confess to being a CIA spy, but said that he escaped his wife's fate after he was put to work painting pictures of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

"There is a question I would like to ask to Mr. Kaing Guek Eav," Bou Meng said, using Duch's full name.

"I want to know if he asked his subordinates to smash my wife at (Tuol Sleng) or Choeung Ek (the so-called killing field where prisoners were executed) so I can collect her ashes to make her soul rest in peace."

Bou Meng said that under the regime he first worked at a technical school, then was made to build dams and canals and finally planted vegetables before he and his wife were taken in 1977 to Tuol Sleng.

"My wife and I put our hands behind our backs, and then they cut our hands. Then my wife cried and said, 'What did we do wrong? We are both orphans,'" said Bou Meng, the third survivor to testify this week.

The couple were then blindfolded with black cloth, Bou Meng said, and he realised they were being sent to prison as they were taken to be photographed.

"That (Tuol Sleng photo) is the only photograph I have of my wife with me today," Bou Meng said.

The court was shown the photo of his wife, Ma Yoeun, who Bou Meng said was about 25 at the time. With the number 331 pinned to her black shirt, she looks directly from the frame with a worried, pleading expression.

Bou Meng said that during torture sessions blood flowed to the floor.

"(My torturer) asked me to count the lashes. And when I got to 10 lashes he said, 'How can you get to 10 lashes? You've only had one lash,'" he recalled, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.

"Every time they beat me up, they asked me questions. When did I join the CIA and who introduced me to the CIA network? I did not know what a CIA agent or network was, so how could I respond?" he added.

As Bou Meng wept, the presiding judge at the UN-backed tribunal, Nil Nonn, asked him to "be strong" so he could deliver testimony.

"If your emotion overwhelms you, it is unlikely we'll get another time to hear your account," Nil Nonn said. "This is a day you have been waiting for for so long. I know you are feeling emotional."

Bou Meng recovered and told the court how in late 1977 or early 1978 he was spared because of his artistic ability painting three-metre-high (10 feet) canvasses of the secretive Khmer Rouge "Brother Number One".

"I survived because I could paint an exact portrait of Pol Pot," he said, adding that Duch often visited the workshop and gave instructions -- including to omit an apparent lump on Pol Pot's neck.

"He ordered me: 'You should adjust the throat. It's not a tumour -- it's just fat," Bou Meng said.

But he contradicted testimony by fellow artist and prisoner Van Nath, who said that Duch once kicked Bou Meng in the head. Duch, however, did one day order him and another prisoner to fight each other with black plastic tubing.

"He sat there watching us beat each other up. After a while, he ordered us to stop," Bou Meng said. "He did not treat me like a human being."

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 was a central figure in the hierarchy of the Khmer Rouge -- under which up to two million people died -- and says he never personally executed anyone.

Former Khmer Rouge prisoner describes torture at S-21

July 1, 2009
Anne Barrowclough in Sydney
The Times Online (UK)

One of the last four survivors of the Khmer Rouge's most infamous jail wept today as he told a Cambodian war crimes tribunal how he lost his wife at Tuol Sleng prison after the couple were arrested by the regime.

Bou Meng, 68, never saw his wife again after the couple were taken to Tuol Sleng, accused of being CIA spies.

He told the UN backed tribunal that he was whipped for hours every day as his torturers tried to force him to confess to being a spy, although he did not even know what the CIA was.

He had to stop several times to compose himself as he described the torture sessions to the court on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, the capital.

"(My torturer) asked me to count the lashes. And when I got to 10 lashes he said, 'How can you get to 10 lashes? You've only had one lash,'" Bou Meng said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.

"Every time they beat me up, they asked me questions. When did I join the CIA and who introduced me to the CIA network?... I did not know what a CIA agent or network was, so how could I respond?" he added.

Mr Bou was testifying at the trial of Duch, the notorious director of Tuol Sleng who is accused of crimes against humanity, torture and the murder of 15000 people. Mr Bou was one of only 14 adult prisoners who walked out of Tuol Sleng alive when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979, bringing to an end Pol Pot's four year long genocidal regime.

He had survived the horror of Tuol Sleng - where prisoners were brought to be tortured to death - because he was able to paint Khmer Rouge propoganda. He told the court that before his and his wife's arrest in 1977 he had worked at a technical school, was forced to the limit of his physical abilities building dams and canals, and finally planted vegetables.

"My wife and I put our hands behind our backs, and then they cut our hands. Then my wife cried and said, 'What did we do wrong? We are both orphans,'" Bou Meng told the court.

The couple were blindfolded with black cloth, Bou Meng said, and he realised they were being sent to prison as they were taken to be photographed.

"That (Tuol Sleng photo) is the only photograph I have of my wife with me today," he said.

He is the third former prisoner to give evidence at the trial of Duch, who has begged forgiveness from his victims despite refusing to accept full responsibility for the atrocities committed under his rule.

Although he admits culpability for the atrocities carried out atTuol Sleng in general, Duch has denied personally executing or torturing any prisoners.

Earlier this week another former prisoner, artist Vann Nath, told the court that the prisoners were given so little to eat that: "I even thought eating human flesh would be a good meal."

Duch is the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders to be tried for crimes committed as they presided over the obliteration of their people from 1975 - 79.

Last week the tribunal's Canadian co-prosecutor announced his intention to stand down, denying reports that he was standing down over his Cambodian counter-part's refusal to extend the prosecution to more former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Robert Petit, a highly respected prosecutor who has presided over some of the most notorious war crimes tribunals of recent years including Sierra Leone and the Balkans, was reported to have collated enough evidence to prosecute another six members of Pol Pot's regime.

However Cambodian prosecutors argued that extending the tribunal to include more cases would make it unnecessarily complicated and drawn out.

Mr Petit said he was resigning from the tribunal for family reasons.

Khmer Rouge victim weeps over torture

July 1, 2009
AAP

A distraught survivor of the Khmer Rouge's main prison has told Cambodia's war crimes court how torturers beat him bloody in an attempt to make him confess to being a CIA spy.

Bou Meng, 68, one of only a handful of people to live through the communist regime's Tuol Sleng jail, stopped several times to compose himself as he told the UN-backed tribunal that blood from his many lashes flowed to the floor.

"(My torturer) asked me to count the lashes. And when I got to 10 lashes he said, 'How can you get to 10 lashes? You've only had one lash,'" Bou Meng said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.

Bou Meng, who escaped death when put to work painting Khmer Rouge propaganda, is the third survivor to testify at the trial of Tuol Sleng chief Duch, accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people.

"Every time they beat me up, they asked me questions. When did I join the CIA and who introduced me to the CIA network? ... I did not know what a CIA agent or network was, so how could I respond?" he added.

Bou Meng said under the regime he had worked at a technical school, was forced to the limit of his physical abilities building dams and canals, and finally planted vegetables before he and his wife were taken in 1977 to Tuol Sleng.

"My wife and I put our hands behind our backs, and then they cut our hands. Then my wife cried and said, 'What did we do wrong? We are both orphans,'" Bou Meng told the court.

The couple were then blindfolded with black cloth, Bou Meng said, and he realised they were being sent to prison as they were taken to be photographed.

"That (Tuol Sleng photo) is the only photograph I have of my wife with me today," Bou Meng said.

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 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.

Khmer Rouge jail survivor weeps over lost wife

File photo of Bou Meng, a survivor of Toul Sleng prison (S21), revisits the former school used by the Khmer Rouge as a torture centre. The distraught survivor of the Khmer Rouge's main prison told Cambodia's war crimes court how he lost his wife and torturers beat him bloody in an attempt to make him confess to being a CIA spy. (AFP/Cambodge Soir/File/Khem Sovannara)

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A distraught survivor of the Khmer Rouge's main prison told Cambodia's war crimes court how he lost his wife and torturers beat him bloody in an attempt to make him confess to being a CIA spy.

Bou Meng, 68, one of only a handful of people to live through the communist regime's Tuol Sleng jail, stopped several times to compose himself as he told the UN-backed tribunal that blood from his many lashes flowed to the floor.

"(My torturer) asked me to count the lashes. And when I got to 10 lashes he said, 'How can you get to 10 lashes? You've only had one lash,'" Bou Meng said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.

Bou Meng, who escaped death when put to work painting Khmer Rouge propaganda, is the third survivor to testify at the trial of Tuol Sleng chief Duch, accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people.

"Everytime they beat me up, they asked me questions. When did I join the CIA and who introduced me to the CIA network?... I did not know what a CIA agent or network was, so how could I respond?" he added.

Bou Meng said under the regime he had worked at a technical school, was forced to the limit of his physical abilities building dams and canals, and finally planted vegetables before he and his wife were taken in 1977 to Tuol Sleng.

"My wife and I put our hands behind our backs, and then they cut our hands. Then my wife cried and said, 'What did we do wrong? We are both orphans,'" Bou Meng told the court.

The couple were then blindfolded with black cloth, Bou Meng said, and he realised they were being sent to prison as they were taken to be photographed.

"That (Tuol Sleng photo) is the only photograph I have of my wife with me today," Bou Meng said.

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 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.

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.