The testimony of S-21 child survivor Norng Chanphal sinks into confusion

Ta Long, Kampong Speu (Cambodia). 24/02/2009: Norng Chanphal, one of the four S-21 child survivors (Photo: Vandy Rattana)

03-07-2009
By Stéphanie Gée
Ka-set

Norng Chanphal, who came to testify Thursday July 2nd at Duch’s trial, had stepped into the media spotlight at the beginning of the year, shortly before the initial hearing opened. Presented as one of the “children from S-21” and discovered in January 1979 in the gloomy Phnom Penh security centre by the Vietnamese troops, the now 39-year-old man tried to join as a civil party. But since his application was submitted after the deadline, he was allowed to come and testify as a witness only. Nervous in the box, the bulldozer driver only retained very few memories of his short stay in S-21, during its last days of existence. His hearing took the whole day – instead of the half-day announced on the eve – like the survivors who came to the stand before him.

The co-Prosecutors and the S-21 footage shot by the Vietnamese

From the outset, international co-Prosecutor William Smith intervened to request the addition to the case file of a testimony of Norn Chanphal, interviewed last February 13th by the NGO Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam), as well as two videos shot in early 1979 by the Vietnamese and entrusted by their government to DC-Cam in late 2008 – but the nature of which is contested by the defence –, in order to allow the witness to comment on their authenticity. The Trial Chamber decided to recess for 45 minutes to make their decision. “This has nothing to do with the witness’ character and I hope he will understand,” the president apologised.

On their return, the judges announced they denied the prosecution’s first request, on the grounds that the document was filed too late as it was done so on that very day. As for the second request, unresolved since the initial hearing on February 17th and 18th, the Chamber said they had not reached a decision yet. The office of the co-Prosecutors deemed the footage to be relevant as far as it corroborated the statements of several witnesses – who reported that children of cadres were also arrested and taken to S-21 – and it presented detainees in ill-health, which illustrated the inhumane detention conditions that prevailed in the interrogation centre directed by Duch, judge Cartwright recapitulated. William Smith added it was the best contemporary footage available on the facts being judged.

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Khmer Rouge child survivor weeps for mother

Thursday, July 02, 2009
By Suy Se

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A former child survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime's main torture centre sobbed Thursday as he told Cambodia's war crimes court of his harrowing separation from his mother at the jail.

Norng Chan Phal, who was around nine years old at the time, also described seeing bodies when Tuol Sleng prison was finally liberated after invading Vietnamese-backed forces toppled the 1975-1979 movement.

He was testifying at the trial of jail chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people who passed through Tuol Sleng.

"I could see my mother on the second floor with her hands on the bars of the window looking at me and she did not say even a single word to us," Norng Chan Phal said of the last time he and his younger brother saw her.

Norng Chan Phal, now 39, said they had been promised they were going to meet his Khmer Rouge cadre father, but they were locked in a room on their first night at Tuol Sleng and would never see him.

Asked by judges to respond to the testimony, Duch admitted the witness' father died at the hands of his staff.

"I would like to acknowledge... the suffering and the separation of Mr. Norng Chan Phal," Duch said.

But he told the court there was no record of Norng Chan Phal's mother at Tuol Sleng, and suggested they were more likely jailed at another security centre.

"Yes, children were detained there (at Tuol Sleng). But none survived," Duch said.

Norng Chan Phal, however, provided vivid testimony about his terror as Tuol Sleng guards threatened, beat and photographed his mother.

"When my jeep took us to that location, I and my brother were happy because we could ride on a jeep. But then we were threatened and my mother was forced to get off the jeep and she was not very well," he told the court.

"They (Khmer Rouge cadres) slapped her and she was kicked and she fell down on the floor before she could stand up to be photographed," he said, wiping his tears with a tissue.

He and his brother were then separated from his mother the next day, he said.

Vietnamese-backed troops have stated they found the two brothers hiding along with three other children in 1979 at the prison, a former high school.

Norng Chan Phal said the youngsters at Tuol Sleng were placed under the care of an old woman at a workshop and usually given two meals per day, but they remained "very hungry," never bathed and were not permitted to wander.

In April 1979, when the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed, the back entrance of the prison was flung wide open and "there seemed to be a rush" of people leaving Tuol Sleng, he said.

He remembered that the old woman insisted he leave through the back gate, but he hid near a pile of clothes instead.

"I was behind the building. I was looking and waiting to see my mother," he said. "I saw an opened door and climbed upstairs to the second floor to look through the opened door, but I could not find my mother."

Norng Chan Phal said he then ran to the adjacent building and stumbled on a gruesome scene.

"I saw people lying inside the room and maybe they already died, although they were not swollen. I could see them lying on the beds and there was blood and I was scared," he told the court.

The 66-year-old Duch begged forgiveness from the victims near the start of his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity after accepting responsibility for his role in governing the jail.

But Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he was a central figure in the hierarchy of the Khmer Rouge and says he never personally executed 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, torture and execution during the regime.

Four other former Khmer Rouge leaders are in detention and are expected to face trial next year.

Khmer Rouge child prisoner describes last time he saw his mother

Thu, 07/02/2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - A former child prisoner at a notorious Khmer Rouge torture facility wept Thursday as he described to Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal the last time he saw his mother before she was murdered by the Maoist regime.

Norng Chan Phal, 39, who is one of just a handful of survivors from the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, told the court he was separated from his mother shortly after they arrived with his brother at the school-turned-torture facility in 1978.

"Then one day when we were in the yard, I could see her on the second floor holding on to the bars and looking," he said. "She did not say a single word to us."

His testimony came in the trial of former S-21 torture facility chief Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary alias Duch, who faces charges of crimes against humanity, premeditated murder and breeches of the Geneva Conventions.

At least 15,000 men, women and children were imprisoned and tortured at S-21 before being sent to be murdered at the Choeng Ek "killing field" on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

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 defence lawyers have sought to prove he was merely acting on the orders of his superiors.

Norng Chan Phal, said he was imprisoned with his mother and brother after Khmer Rouge soldiers arrested his father and took him from their village.

He said he did not know what happened to his father after they were taken to the prison but he never saw him again.

"We slept on the floor in the workshop and were forced to eat gruel," he said of his few months of imprisonment at S-21. "I knew that if I had stayed there long, I would have become sick and died."

The father of two wept as he recalled seeing guards pushing and beating his mother, saying he was "terrified of them."

Presiding Judge Nil Nonn interrupted the testimony and told the witness to compose himself.

"This is your opportunity to tell your story, so please use the time you have to do this," he said.

Norng Chan Phal described the chaotic scene at the prison on the day the Vietnamese invaded in January 1979 and guards fled, leaving tortured bodies strapped to beds and no food for the surviving prisoners.

"I tried to find my mother, and I looked for her on the second floor where I saw her, but I could not find her anywhere," he said.

Duch sat impassively through the testimony, occasionally taking notes.

Three other S-21 survivors have appeared before the tribunal this week, and judges have allowed them to directly question their former jailer.

Bou Meng, a 68-year-old artist who survived S-21 after being ordered to paint portraits of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, on Wednesday begged Duch to tell him were his wife had been murdered so he could "collect her ashes and pray for her soul."

Duch replied that he did not know where she was murdered, but it was probably at the Choeng Ek killing field.

Khmer Rouge child survivor testifies

Norng Chan Phal weeping during a press conference

02 July 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH: A former child survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime's main torture centre wept Thursday as he told Cambodia's war crimes court of his harrowing separation from his mother as they arrived at the jail.

Norng Chan Phal, 39, was testifying at the trial of jail chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people who passed through Tuol Sleng prison during the 1975-79 regime.

"When my jeep took us to that location, I and my brother were happy because we could ride on a jeep. But then we were threatened and my mother was forced to get off the jeep and she was not very well," he told the court.

"They (Khmer Rouge cadres) shouted and threatened her and I was also terrified," Norng Chan Phal said, adding he and his younger brother were separated from his mother a night after arriving at Tuol Sleng.

Norng Chan Pal was just eight or nine years old when Vietnamese-backed forces invaded Phnom Penh in January 1979 to topple the communist Khmer Rouge, finding him with his younger brother and three other children at the prison.

The 66-year-old Duch begged forgiveness from the victims near the start of his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity 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 and says he never personally executed 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, torture and execution during the 1975-79 regime.

Four other former Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in detention and are expected to face trial next year.