Stories of Survival: Justice for Victims of Cambodia's Chief Torturer

"My dream has come true now as I have been waiting for the trial for 30 years."

Three decades after the fall of the ultracommunist Khmer Rouge regime, genocide proceedings finally commenced in Cambodia this week with the opening session of the case against Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch.

Duch oversaw the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, and he stands accused of the torture and murder of at least 12,380 Cambodians:

"In one mass execution, he gave his men a ‘kill them all' order, the indictment said. In another incident involving 29 prisoners he told his henchmen to ‘interrogate four persons, kill the rest,' it said."

The full trial is set to begin next month. Follow the link for quotes from survivors, gathered from various news articles this week.

"A very cruel man."

"It is not only me wanting justice today. All Cambodian people have been waiting for 30 years now," said Vann Nath, one of less than 20 survivors of S-21, who attended the hearing. "I look at Duch today and he seems like an old, very gentle man. It was much different 30 years ago."

Vann Nath, who survived by painting and sculpting portraits of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, described Duch as a "very cruel man."

"My anger never stops."

One 69-year-old observer at the trial said the Khmer Rouge executed five members of his family, including his parents, on a single day in 1976 for refusing to hand over a cow to the authorities.

"I'm coming to see the court find justice through the law," said Na Uth, who traveled with 24 others from the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey to watch the proceedings. "My anger never stops. I always think about it. I can't think straight."

"There was only one left."

One guard who testified was Him Huy, 53, Tuol Sleng's deputy head of security. He admitted killing five people, though he has given differing accounts at various times.

In his simple stilted bamboo house in Anlong San village an hour outside Phnom Penh, the quietly spoken farmer recalled killing a man at Choeng Ek as Duch looked on.

"At the time Duch was sitting under a tree while the guards were killing the prisoners," said Him Huy.

"They'd killed most of them and there was only one left. Duch asked me: 'Will you be honest with the government? If you're honest with the government you'll have to kill this prisoner.' I picked up an iron bar and beat the prisoner once on the neck, then threw it down and walked away."

For more background on Duch's trial, check out this post from the Genocide Intervention Network.

For more information on the Cambodian Genocide, check out the lists of resources from my previous post and from the Barclay Blog, from the law library at Syracuse University.

[Photo: An unidentified prisoner of Tuol Sleng.]