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.
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.
3 comments:
The China-Khmer Rough(Pot Pot) is in trail, but the Vietnam-Khmer Rough (Hun Sen & Heng Samrin) became permanant King.
2 million Khmers were killed by only Pol Pot, what's about Vietnamise-Khmer Rough? Keep them be King of Cambodia to when? the rests, you shut up Paris Peace Agreement!, and you go hell, 17 April !
Is this a fair game?
Red-Ant
Khmer like to boast and fight amongst themselves, and side with Thai or Viet to topple each other for centuries. Khmer lacks of nationalism and patriotism, and like to live under foreign protection. Khmer deserve such treatments!!! Thanks heaven that Khmer still have a land to call its own today. Stop talk about fairness, or blame other for our own demise because we are predicable and easy to persuade.
We all shouldn't get too distracted by Hun Sen's Khmer Rouge Show Trial. We should focus on the Viets who are stealing our land. They are getting closer to completing the boarder markings.
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