Former S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav told the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Wednesday that he removed Khieu Samphan’s name from a prisoner confession after being scolded by Nuon Chea for allowing the head of state to be implicated in an alleged “hidden network” of traitors.
Better known by his revolutionary alias Duch, the former prison chief was questioned by Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne for the entirety of his sixth day of testimony. Duch explained how Nuon Chea, Pol Pot’s second-in-command, became angry after learning that Khieu Samphan’s name had appeared in a prisoner’s confession.
Duch said the prisoner had implicated Khieu Samphan, who is on trial with Nuon Chea for crimes including genocide.
“I raised the matter and I was scolded by Uncle Nuon. He said: ‘Maybe in Cambodia, only Pol [Pot] and you were not involved, as everyone else was implicated in the CIA,’” Duch said.
“So you withdrew the name of Brother Hem from the confession, is that correct?” Judge Lavergne asked, using the revolutionary alias for the Democratic Kampuchea head of state.
“That was the party’s discipline. When the party did not want any names to be included, of course, I removed the name,” Duch replied.
The former prison chief said Nuon Chea also instructed him to remove the name of Foreign Minister Ieng Sary’s son-in-law from another confession.
Duch, who became the first Khmer Rouge official to be found guilty for crimes against humanity in 2010, told the court how Nuon Chea demanded photos of executed prisoners.
“I did not do it arbitrarily,” Duch said. “Allow me to say about my feelings at the time, [when] the upper echelons demanded the photos. In fact, I said if they don’t trust me, how could they use me to carry out my work? If I am ordered to kill them, then I’ll kill them.”
Asked about the presence of Thai prisoners at S-21, where more than 15,000 people in all are thought to have been sent to their deaths, Duch explained that around 600 were executed in Preah Sihanouk province before he was promoted to prison chief.
“On the list of S-21 prisoners, there were Thai prisoners, and there were about 600 of them who entered S-21,” Duch said.
He said Khim Vat, known as Hor, who was later his deputy at S-21, oversaw the executions.
“At the time I was deputy chairman and Hor was sent to smash those 600 or so Thai people at Kompong Som,” he said, using the former name of Preah Sihanouk province. “I did not deny that crime. It was a crime committed by S-21.”
