Duch describes purges of cadres as 'evil eating evil'

Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Written by Neth Pheaktra
The Phnom Penh Post

Former prison chief addresses killings of regime officials under his command as trial continues to explore S-21.

FORMER Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav told the UN-backed war crimes court Tuesday he knew the actions of the regime were "unjust" when it began turning on its own people, referring to the purification of Khmer Rouge cadres inside the S-21 security centre as "evil eating evil".

"The work [of S-21] expanded, people were arrested illegally, right or wrong.... S-21 smashed members of the party including permanent committee members.... I consider it evil eating evil," the former cadre, known as Duch, said.

"I knew that the security work to arrest people was unjust, but I was obliged to do it by my superiors and the party.... I was an absolute instrument of [the communist party]. That's why I admit my responsibilities in front of the ECCC," said

On day 13 of his trial, the former jailer continued to flit between regretting his alleged crimes and defending them, saying that he was not only an "instrument" of the regime, but like a "Berger [dog], very loyal to the superiors".

"Since I became chief of S-21, I received orders to purify the internal cadres of the party," he said.

"We could not protest against the decision ... If we protested, we would have been sentenced," Duch added.

Duch told the court on Tuesday that he was trained by his superior Son Sen, as well as Vorn Vet, Lon Nol and the colonial French police, to interrogate prisoners.

In response to questions from co-prosecutors, he admitted to also reading books about interrogation techniques, including former CIA director Allen Dulles's The Craft of Intelligence and others by the KGB.

But he told the court that he had not read the books in full because of language difficulties. "I only read some of the pages ... after, I sent them to Son Sen because of time and language difficulties," Duch said.

Regarding the Tuol Sleng prison, which was part of the wider S-21 security complex, he said that he now believed the transformation of a school into a torture centre was a "mistreatment of the culture and civilisation of humanity".

Duch Outlines Role at Tuol Sleng

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2009

In response to Khmer Rouge tribunal judges Thursday, jailed prison chief Duch outlined his role at Tuol Sleng, the chief torture center for the regime, claiming he was in charge of verifying confessions of inmates and investigating enemies of Angkar, the Organization, based on the confessions.

“As I was director, I had an important role, and in this hierarchy was deeply rooted in criminality” compared to other prisons, he said.

Prosecutors say more than 12,000 Cambodians were forced into confessions through torture before being sent to their deaths at Tuol Sleng.

Duch’s testimony on Thursday highlighted his other roles at the prison, giving a picture of how the regime turned in on itself and became a killing machine.

“And then, the records of confession that I submitted to [superiors] would have to have links with several people” not yet arrested, or allow for the arrests of new people, he said. “We made links to people who had been in liberty.”

“All reports and confessions of victims obtained through torture, I underlined and submitted to my chief,” he said, referring to Son Sen, the head of the Khmer Rouge secret police.

Duch, 66, who is facing atrocity crimes charges for his role as chief of Tuol Sleng, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21, was appointed in March 1976 to run the site.

He told judges he was also in charge of training young cadre in the interrogation of prisoners.

“My men who had the proper mind, we educated them and made them decisive in torturing and decisive in interrogation,” he said. “This was my job.”

All Khmer Rouge prisons had a role to detain, torture, interrogate and “to destroy” people, he said.

Khmer Rouge jailer says ordered to "smash" prisoners

Pictured is a live feed of former Khmer Rouge chief torturer Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, during his trial on the outskirts of Phnom Penh April 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia)

Thu Apr 23, 2009
By Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Pol Pot's chief jailer told a U.N.-backed tribunal on Thursday thousands of Cambodians were tortured and killed at his notorious S-21 prison under orders from the top Khmer Rouge leadership.

Duch, the first of five Pol Pot cadres to face trial for the 1975-79 reign of terror in which 1.7 million Cambodians died, said the fate of S-21's prisoners was sealed at a meeting of the top leadership chaired by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot.

"The principle was that whoever was arrested and interrogated had to be smashed. That meant be killed," Duch said, quoting from what he said were minutes from the October 9, 1975 meeting.

The 66-year-old former maths teacher, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, was chief of the prison also known as Tuol Sleng where more than 14,000 enemies of the revolution were tortured and killed.

With no death penalty in Cambodia, Duch faces life in prison if convicted by the joint U.N.-Cambodian tribunal on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and homicide.

Duch, who became a born-again Christian years after the Khmer Rouge were ousted by a Vietnamese invasion, has accepted blame for the deaths at S-21 but said he was only following orders.

Duch described on Thursday how S-21 was structured. He reported to then Defense Minister Son Sen, who was killed in 1997 under orders from Pol Pot, who died the following year.

"Pol Pot initiated the policy and Son Sen was there to implement it," Duch said.

Most of the S-21 victims were tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned to death in the "Killing Fields" outside the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

Duch said he forwarded interrogation reports up the chain of command to Son Sen, and later "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea after he replaced Son Sen as Duch's supervisor.

Nuon Chea and the other cadres to face trial -- former president Khieu Samphan, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife -- have denied knowledge of any atrocities.

Duch's trial, which began in earnest last month, is expected to run until July.

(Editing by Darren Schuettler and Dean Yates)