Duch explains the S-21 org chart

A 1993 photo of a sign at Cambodia's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum purporting to be the rules for prisoners when the compound was the S-21 prison, a torture center for the Khmer Rouge when the communist group held power in 1975-79. The prison's former commander, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, claimed on Monday April 27, 2009, at his trial by a UN-assisted genocide tribunal that the rules were fabricated by Vietnamese forces who overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, though Duch admits overseeing torture and executions. (AP Photo/Grant Peck)

27 April 2009
By A.L.G.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

On Monday 27 April, the questioning turned to the responsibility inside the detention center, meanwhile a debate took place centering of the defense lawyer’s right to communicate with his client.

Inside the ECCC chamber, Duch affirmed that he did not take part directly in the S-21 interrogations, with the exception of one case. Meanwhile, questioning on the S-21 internal organization continued.

Showing two org charts, one after the other, Duch explained that he wanted to take distance from S-21, and he claimed that Hor, his deputy, took the criminal responsibility for the death of the prisoners. “My responsibilities, my crime, were against those who were free [and who were arrested],” Duch added.

Duch also said that “he answered to Uncle Nuon [Chea]” and that the latter prevented him from “taking distance” from the detention center.

Regarding the “procedures” for the interrogators and the prisoners, a sort of internal rule which is currently posted at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, Duch said that they “did not originate from S-21, as it was said during the reconstitution day,” therefore he brought doubt on the authenticity of these procedures.

While Alex Bates, the co-prosecutor, asked the authorization to question Duch on this issue, Nil Nonn, the presiding judge, denied his request without even consulting the other judges present.

Furthermore, Alain Werner, the Swiss lawyer for the civil parties, asked that all details requested by François Roux from his client be made in the tribunal chamber and not outside of the hearings. François Roux protested against such demand, he recalled that this could not be decided in a civil law system where the accused was not under oath.

“I talk to my client in the morning, during breaks and in the evening, and I would betray my oath if I did not do it,” François Roux said.

The tribunal chamber indicated that it would decide on this issue later.

Khmer Rouge jailer: infamous regulations sign fake

2009-04-27
By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

A Khmer Rouge jail chief on trial for the torture and execution of thousands of people said Monday that an infamous sign listing prison regulations was fabricated by Vietnamese who overthrew the late 1970s regime.

Kaing Guek Eav, 66, alias Duch, commanded Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, where as many as 16,000 men, women and children are believed to have been tortured before being sent to their deaths.

He is being tried by a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions.

Duch's prison is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and its exhibits include a sign purporting to show 10 "security regulations" during his time in command. The museum is a major tourist attraction in the Cambodian capital.

"While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all," and "If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge," were among the rules, which have been reproduced in Cambodian and English.

Duch has admitted overseeing torture and execution, but denies the prison had such rules. He freely admits the prison was part of the Khmer Rouge's system of oppression, and said last week that one reason he has admitted to its activities was his anger at an interview the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot gave claiming that the group's atrocities were actually committed by the Vietnamese.

After the xenophobic Khmer Rouge regime began attacks on Vietnamese border villages, Hanoi responded with an invasion in late 1978 and was able to oust the Khmer Rouge regime in early 1979. After discovering S-21, where freshly killed prisoners were found chained to bed frames, they helped establish the museum. Its most striking feature is haunting portraits of many of the victims, discovered among the copious documentation left behind by Duch.

Duch in his testimony Monday said that the rules for prisoners he was alleged to have established never existed and were "fabricated by Vietnamese when they came in."

Duch also said his daily duties were to look after interrogation documents and prisoners' forced confessions although at least once he personally interrogated a very important prisoner.

He said he was appointed to his job in March 1976 because he was much better at interrogation than his predecessor. Previous testimony in his trial described how he headed a jungle prison during the 1970-75 civil war that brought the Khmer Rouge to power.

Another reason he was appointed was because "I was the one who was very faithful and honest" to the Khmer Rouge, he said.

Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial, and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. The other four in custody are likely to be tried in the next year or two.

Vietnam fabricated KRouge prison 'rules': Duch

Monday, April 27, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The former Khmer Rouge prison chief told Cambodia's war crimes trial a list of 10 ruthless rules supposedly posted at his notorious jail was fabricated by Vietnamese agents.

Duch -- whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav -- politely answered questions about the organisation of Tuol Sleng prison but strongly denied he created the list of orders that remains on display at the site, now a genocide museum.

"The discipline of security, which has 10 rules...was fabricated by the Vietnamese when they came in (and toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979)," Duch told the court.

Duch, 66, said he first saw the list of orders last year, when investigators brought him to the prison in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to re-enact his crimes.

A large board displaying the list on how to behave during interrogations, which includes an order that prisoners cannot cry when flogged or subjected to electric shocks, is still posted in the main courtyard at Tuol Sleng.

The list also tells prisoners to sit still and wait for orders, answer questions immediately without waiting for time to reflect, and warns them of further lashes or electric shocks if they fail to comply.

Duch is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and premeditated murder over the extermination of around 15,000 people between 1975 and 1979 at Tuol Sleng and the nearby "Killing Fields".

He apologised last month when his trial started, accepting blame for overseeing the horrors of the prison.

However he has denied prosecutors' claims that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge's iron-fisted rule, and maintains he never personally executed anyone.

He faces life in jail but the court does not have the power to impose the death penalty. Four other senior leaders from the regime are scheduled to be tried within the next year.

Many believe the UN-sponsored tribunal is the last chance to find justice for victims of the regime, which killed up to two million people through starvation, overwork, torture and execution.

The Khmer Rouge were ousted by Hanoi-backed forces in 1979, who discovered Tuol Sleng and established the facility as a museum to display the regime's crimes.