KRT-Khmer Rouge Trial Portal

Tuol Sleng victim recalls abuse

KRTrial — 2009-07-02T02:08:46+01:00

CHUM Mey, a former mechanic, spent the first years of the Khmer Rouge regime repairing boats and sewing the black pajamas worn by cadre of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). In 1978, he was asked, along with two others, to take on a different assignment: to travel to Vietnam to "repair vehicles" in preparation for a CPK-led military assault. "The three of us did not object, and we volunteered to go," Chum Mey, 79, told Cambodia's war crimes court Tuesday "However, we were told that we did not need to bring the tools." ...

Artist recounts S-21 ordeal

KRTrial — 2009-07-01T00:47:22+01:00

RENOWNED artist Vann Nath wept from the dock at the Khmer Rouge tribunal Monday as he recalled in vivid detail the hellish living conditions at Tuol Sleng prison, where, he said, detainees routinely fell asleep to the sound of screaming and the smell of decomposing bodies. Vann Nath avoided becoming one of the more than 12,000 Tuol Sleng detainees who were executed by painting portraits of Khmer Rouge regime leaders. In the first survivor testimony heard during the trial of prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, Vann Nath described for the court a facility in which victims were treated as subhuman ...

Tuol Sleng prison survivor testifies first time

KRTrial — 2009-06-30T20:02:14+01:00

A Tuol Sleng prison or S-21 torture center survivor on 29 June 2009 testified for the first time before Cambodia’s war crimes court in trial of former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Geuk Eav, alias Duch. Vann Nath, 63, artist and former Tuol Sleng prisoner of Khmer Rouge regime, participated as witness and the first person amongst other Tuol Sleng survivors to appear in the court...

Duch releases feeling after confession

KRTrial — 2009-06-30T17:53:28+01:00

Trial of former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, has proceeding for three months. Now defense lawyer Kar Savuth representing Duch told Rasmei Kampuchea about Duch’s condition and reason why his client admits crimes before Cambodia’s war crimes court...

UN official to seek meeting with Hun Sen to resolve Duch dispute

KRTrial — 2009-06-30T00:43:37+01:00

THE UN human rights representative for Cambodia said Sunday that he would request a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen to resolve a misunderstanding about a meeting with former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, that occurred 10 years ago. Hun Sen said last week during the first visit of Surya Subedi, the UN's new rights envoy, that Christophe Peschoux, country representative for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, attempted to help the former Khmer Rouge leader escape prosecution in Cambodia and instead serve a prison sentence in Europe shortly after his 1999 arrest ...

The KRT Trial Monitor

KRTrial — 2009-06-29T20:16:05+01:00

This week, the Chamber and Parties proceeded to question the Accused on “The Implementation of CPK Policy at S-21” and the “Armed Conflict Between Vietnam and Cambodia” – two topic areas directly related to the charges Duch faces in the Closing Order. The Accused Person’s testimony on the former has been extensively explored with witnesses during previous weeks, and as such, did not appear to reveal any novel evidence. Consistent with his prior testimony, Duch further maintained that any active role he took to ensure the effective operation of S-21 was motivated by his fear of reprisal from the upper echelons of the command structure ...

Words masked truth of torture centre's operations: Duch

KRTrial — 2009-06-29T18:17:28+01:00

STAFF at Tuol Sleng prison deluded themselves and their bosses by writing "released'' on the confessions of prisoners who had been sent to their deaths, prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, told Cambodia's war crimes court Thursday. In what Duch described as a "trick of the mind", staff used the "released" notation to gloss over the grisly reality of how the prison treated - and disposed of - its detainees. "It's a lie to say the detainees were released," Duch told judges from the dock. "It was a trick used by [Comrade] Nat ... he wrote ‘release', but really they were just smashed," he said ...

Most Prey Sar victims smashed

KRTrial — 2009-06-29T18:09:19+01:00

TO DESCRIBE the Prey Sar prison farm as a Khmer Rouge re-education centre would be misleading, as most detainees sent there during the regime had no hope of being released, Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav told Cambodia's war crimes court Wednesday. "In practice, re-education aimed towards the final stage, which was to smash," said Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who was in charge of Prey Sar, or S-24, during his tenure as head of Tuol Sleng. The detainee population consisted of Khmer Rouge cadre from in and around Phnom Penh who had committed minor offences that were not seen as grounds for immediate execution, Duch said ...

Leadership woes dismissed

KRTrial — 2009-06-29T18:04:19+01:00

HE international co-prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge tribunal said Wednesday that his forthcoming departure would not detract from the work of the prosecutors' office, dismissing as unfounded concerns raised by civil society groups that the office would suffer from an "absence of leadership". Robert Petit announced Tuesday that he would leave the tribunal in September for personal reasons.He said Wednesday that the office would have no trouble operating without him, noting that "a team of people working together" had been involved in gathering evidence and making legal and strategic decisions ...

Duch: Prey Sar prisoners smashed

KRTrial — 2009-06-29T17:31:06+01:00

Duch’s hearing has entered into establishment and operation of Prey Sar prison or S-24 security center. According to Duch, S-24 was simultaneously established with S-21 security center. Prey Sar prison was partly under S-21’s supervision. Prey Sar detainees were combatants of Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), including Tuol Sleng prison staff and other organizations’ combatants in suspicion of mental problem or betraying Angkar [Khmer Rouge’s organization]...

Tribunal prosecutor to resign

KRTrial — 2009-06-25T02:14:29+01:00

THE international co-prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge tribunal announced his resignation Tuesday, prompting concerns that the work of the prosecutors' office could be disrupted before the court's first trial is completed. Robert Petit said in a statement that he would leave the court September 1 "for personal and family reasons". "I am confident that the work of my office shall continue with the same vigor during and after this transition period," he said. ...

Lawyers ramp up defence for former S-21 chairman

KRTrial — 2009-06-25T02:02:29+01:00

DEFENCE lawyers at Cambodia's war crimes court played footage Tuesday of their client, former S-21 chief Kaing Guek Eav, breaking down in tears during a 2008 speech to Khmer Rouge victims, prompting the former prison chief to declare that he prays for forgiveness from the prison's victims "all the time". After prosecutors argued Monday that the born-again Christian, known as Duch, ...

Saving Khmer heritage takes commitment

KRTrial — 2009-06-25T01:26:14+01:00

The threatened closure, or even downsizing, of the Centre for Khmer Studies in Siem Reap must be a matter of considerable concern to anyone seriously interested in historical research in Southeast Asia. The "Heritage Industry" in Cambodia is alive and thriving and is a key driver to the economy. But, as everywhere, the tourist is usually presented with a potted and sanitised view of the past ...

K Rouge tribunal’s int’l co-prosecutor to quit

KRTrial — 2009-06-24T17:45:32+01:00

Khmer Rouge tribunal’s international co-prosecutor Robert Petit will quit effective 1 September 2009 for personal and family reasons, according to the international co-prosecutor’s press release dated Tuesday. Robert Petit urged additional prosecutions of other Khmer Rouge suspects and those most responsible. But the request was rejected by national co-prosecutor Chea Leang. The rejection was also made by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Robert and Chea Leang made a report attached with respective submissions filed to the pre-trial chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal in which a result is to be announced...

Prosecutors challenge Duch

KRTrial — 2009-06-24T01:15:26+01:00

PROSECUTORS at the Khmer Rouge tribunal attempted on Monday to identify inconsistencies in the testimony of Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, while at the same time challenge the claim that, as a manager who delegated most day-to-day tasks, he learned the particulars of abuses perpetrated at the facility only after it closed. In testifying about the operations of Tuol Sleng, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, has in the past week repeatedly said that he had little firsthand knowledge of how torture was applied, how interrogations were carried out ...

Promotion expected for ECCC official

KRTrial — 2009-06-24T00:46:29+01:00

DEPUTY prosecutor at the Court of Appeal Chea Leang, who is also at the war crimes court, is expected to be promoted as general prosecutor of the Supreme Court, the top judicial position in the Kingdom, however officials remained tight-lipped about the appointment Monday. Hanrot Raken, general prosecutor at the Court of Appeal said that Chea Leang, who serves as a co-prosecutor at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), will replace Ouk Vithun as general prosecutor when he retires ....

Witnesses, Tuol Sleng prison victims to testify next week

KRTrial — 2009-06-23T18:22:26+01:00

The trial chamber of Cambodia’s war crimes court clearly stated that Tuol Sleng prison or S-21 security center’s surviving witnesses and victims would testify during Duch’s hearing early next week. As Duch’s trial continued on 22 June, Judge Nil Nonn, trial chamber president, announced that from 30 June to 14 July, the court would hear S-21 torture center’s individual survivors. The witnesses and victims use their pseudonyms as KW-01 D-25/3 D25/1 CP-1/6 E-2/61 E-2/23 E2/33 E-2/80 and E-2/32...

Dr. Hun Chhunly was evacuated second time on 18 August 1978

KRTrial — 2009-06-23T16:53:43+01:00

In Khmer Rouge regime during 1975-1978, some citizens came across bad fortunes, being evacuated for second or third times from city to rural area then to long distant mountain area. Thus, they had nothing besides torn clothing on their bodies which the Khmer Rouges called an ‘appropriate ownership’. Residing rural areas, they subsequently lost family members from murder, lack of medicine, or starvation. In the first evacuation, they had properties and family members left...

Duch’s trial should not be prolonged, many criticize

KRTrial — 2009-06-22T18:22:00+01:00

Civil society officials, citizens, and independent observers expressed their concerns as Khmer Rouge tribunal stated that Duch trial would be prolonged until October 2009. Civil society officials and independent observers said Duch’s trial should not be delayed because it could impact on trial duration of former Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, and Ieng Thirith, having been detained at Cambodia’s war crimes court since 2007, awaiting trials...

Khmer Krom survivors find relief in visit to Khmer Rouge tribunal

KRTrial — 2009-06-20T02:48:15+01:00

WHEN Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav began to cry Tuesday morning while testifying about torture methods used at the detention centre, Uth Em, a farmer who lost both parents, five siblings and 20 other relatives to the Khmer Rouge felt something he was not expecting: pity. "I pitied him. It made me feel a bit of a release and reduced my anger," Uth Em, 53, said in an interview on the grounds of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, which he was visiting for the first time...