Cambodia begins painful look back with Khmer Rouge trials

Moeung Sonn, who survived the Khmer Rouge regime, at the tribunal. A poll found many Cambodians did not know of the trials. (Nicolas Asfouri/Agence France-Presse)



Cambodia begins painful look back with Khmer Rouge trials

By Seth Mydans Published: February 17, 2009
PHNOM PENH: The first trial addressing the Khmer Rouge atrocities of the 1970s opened Tuesday with a vigorous plea on behalf of the judicial rights of the defendant - a man who knows a thing or two about the treatment of prisoners.

After opening formalities before five red-robed justices, a lawyer for the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, raised a strong objection to the inclusion of a last-minute party to the case, arguing that it violated "the human rights of the accused."

Duch - the first of five top Khmer Rouge figures to face trial - was the commandant of Tuol Sleng prison, where at least 14,000 people were tortured and sent to their deaths.

They were among 1.7 million people who died at the hands of the fanatical Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979.

In Tuol Sleng, a prisoner was not only presumed guilty but also was tortured until he offered whatever was demanded - often an admission of simultaneous membership in the CIA, the KGB and sometimes the Vietnamese security service.

It was a prison where Duch's word was final and where an order like "kill them all" was a death sentence or "interrogate four persons, kill the rest" was one day's assignment for his staff.

The issue Tuesday was whether to add a rare child survivor, Norng Chan Phal, now 38, to a list of civil parties in the case although he had missed the filing deadline by two days.

The argument of Duch's lawyer, François Roux, amounted to a passionate rationale for defending people accused of the most terrible crimes and of the primacy of legal principles in even the most emotionally charged cases. It was in effect an indictment of the methods and actions of the man he was defending.

In a judicial proceeding, Roux said, rules are sacrosanct, the final line of defense of impartial justice.

"We are defending a man, and although this man has acknowledged responsibility, he is entitled to a fair trial," he said. "The work we are doing is hard work but essential, and we can only do our work if we respect the rule of law, respect the rights of the accused and respect the principle of an adversarial proceeding."

Duch, 66, a small man in a crisp blue shirt and a new pair of glasses, leaned forward from time to time and conferred earnestly with his lawyers, lifting his simultaneous-translation headphones from his ears.

"I repeat that we respect the victims," Roux said. "We also owe respect to the accused, and we also must respect the rule of law."

The child survivor was just discovered and presented to the press on Monday, adding his name to a very short list of people who through chance or good fortune had evaded the death sentence that was the first step in the judicial process of Tuol Sleng.

The only other three known survivors who are still alive attended the hearing, along with hundreds of diplomats, journalists, human rights workers and victims who had joined the case as civil parties.

"I could not sleep last night," said one of the survivors, Vann Nath, 62. "I was waiting for the sunrise so that I could see Duch in the dock."

He added: "I think he is a very fortunate person, a very lucky person. Because when I was in jail I could get three spoons of porridge a day, and both my legs were put in shackles."

In an attempt to create an agrarian utopia, the Khmer Rouge caused the death of as much as one-fourth of the population through starvation, exhaustion and disease, as well as torture and execution.

Four senior officials of the Khmer Rouge are in custody, waiting to follow Duch into court, perhaps next year. Their supreme leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.