Duch is being tried for crimes against humanity, premeditated murder, torture, breaches of the Geneva Convention and breaches of international laws. After his apology on the first day of the trial, Duch’s lawyer argued his for bail.
In fact, his French lawyer, Francois Roux, said that because Duch was detained for ten years before the start of the trial, the courts violated international laws and the Cambodian Constitution. Roux said “his detention should have only lasted three years.”
On April 1, the day after Duch begged for forgiveness, Roux argued in the court chambers that Duch should be granted bail for the rest of the trial. If bail is allowed, Duch would be placed in a safe-house until the end of the trial, which is scheduled to conclude by mid-summer.
Prosecution lawyers revealed their argument, when they showed worry that letting Duch have bail “because his personal safety would be at risk and social order would be jeopardized.”
Angkor Wat
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Trial Begins with an Apology: March 30, 2009
On Monday March 30, 2009, a trial began that marked the first trial of a Khmer Rouge officer and the end of thirty years with out justice for the people who survived the brutality of Pol Pot’s infamous regime and their children.
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch under the 1970s regime, claims he is guilty to the charges brought against him in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and United Nations backed trial for crimes against humanity.
Now at age 66, Duch profoundly regrets his actions taken as the leader of the S-21 torture school and as an agent of the Khmer Rouge.
The trial began with Duch’s confession of guilt and extensive apology. He asked for the victims, their families, and the people of Cambodia to consider accepting his apology.
However, Duch claims that he “was taken hostage and served merely as a performer in a criminal regime.”
The former torturer, who was responsible for over 17,000 deaths, said that the communist Khmer Rouge had a hold of his life and that of his family.
The court transcripts, as translated by Lim Phalla, of part his apology is as follows:
“I would like to begin by saying that between April 17, 1975, and January 6, 1979, the Cambodian Communist Party was the only one responsible for the crimes committed in Cambodia. As evidence of this, I refer to Cambodia's 1976 Constitution, the first page of which reads in part: "After leading the national revolution that fully and completely obtained democracy on April 17, 1975, the Cambodian Communist Party continues to lead the nationalist revolution and to build the nation emphatically and with a monopoly on all its parts".
This is the evidence I want to show to the nation and to the people through this tribunal.
First, I would like to evaluate the crimes committed throughout the country from April 17, 1975, to January 6, 1979. After April 17, Pol Pot became greedy by enacting policies that claimed the lives of so many people.
This was because Pol Pot controlled everything, especially a party whose members numbered in the tens of thousands. Our crimes at that time were many.
More than 1 million lives were lost under the Cambodian Communist Party, of which I was a member. I admit that I am responsible for my role in these crimes.
Let me express my profound regret for the atrocities committed by the Cambodian Communist Party between April 17, 1975 and January 6, 1979. Secondly, I would like to clarify the crimes committed at the S-21 prison.
I admit my legal responsibility for everything that took place there, especially the torture and killing, as I have already expressed when the co-investigating judges requested the acting out of events in order to assist in recalling what happened at the Cheung Ek killing fields and at the [current] Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
I would like to apologise to all surviving victims and their families who were mercilessly killed at S-21. I say that I am sorry now, and I beg all of you to consider this wish.
I wish that you would forgive me for the taking of lives, especially women and children, which I know is too serious to be excused. It is my hope, however, that you would at least leave the door open for forgiveness. Thirdly, my feelings of guilt cause me great suffering whenever I am reminded of the past.
I feel shock whenever I think of the actions I took and the orders I gave to others, which claimed so many innocent lives. Though I was following the orders of Angkar, I still must take responsibility for these crimes.
I have already told the co-investigating judges that I was taken hostage and served merely as a performer in a criminal regime. I am certain that everyone will think that I am a coward, that I am inhuman.
I am willing to accept these words honestly and respectfully. In S-21, I considered my own life and the lives of my family as more important than those of the prisoners, and I could not defy the orders of my superiors. Even though I knew these orders were criminal, I dared not think this way at the time. It was a life-and-death problem for me and my family.
As the head of S-21, I never considered any other alternative to carrying out all orders from my seniors, even though I knew that to do so would mean the loss of thousands of lives.
Now, I feel a deep guilt, regret and shame, as I know that I have made so many enormous mistakes against my nation, against the whole Cambodian population, against the families of all the victims who lost their lives at S-21 and against members of my own family, as well, some of whom have already passed away.
To resolve these mistakes, I have decided to cooperate with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as this is the only way to share the great sorrow over the crimes of S-21 and those committed against the Cambodian community as a whole, and to account for what I have done to my people.
I would like to say, further, that the horrible tragedies of S-21 occurred as a practical phenomenon, which compels me to tender myself honestly to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to be tried under the law.
I promise to continue my cooperation with the Extraordinary Chambers by answering all questions from the judges, from prosecutors and from civil complainants, on the basis of what I can remember and what evidentiary documents show.”
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch under the 1970s regime, claims he is guilty to the charges brought against him in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and United Nations backed trial for crimes against humanity.
Now at age 66, Duch profoundly regrets his actions taken as the leader of the S-21 torture school and as an agent of the Khmer Rouge.
The trial began with Duch’s confession of guilt and extensive apology. He asked for the victims, their families, and the people of Cambodia to consider accepting his apology.
However, Duch claims that he “was taken hostage and served merely as a performer in a criminal regime.”
The former torturer, who was responsible for over 17,000 deaths, said that the communist Khmer Rouge had a hold of his life and that of his family.
The court transcripts, as translated by Lim Phalla, of part his apology is as follows:
“I would like to begin by saying that between April 17, 1975, and January 6, 1979, the Cambodian Communist Party was the only one responsible for the crimes committed in Cambodia. As evidence of this, I refer to Cambodia's 1976 Constitution, the first page of which reads in part: "After leading the national revolution that fully and completely obtained democracy on April 17, 1975, the Cambodian Communist Party continues to lead the nationalist revolution and to build the nation emphatically and with a monopoly on all its parts".
This is the evidence I want to show to the nation and to the people through this tribunal.
First, I would like to evaluate the crimes committed throughout the country from April 17, 1975, to January 6, 1979. After April 17, Pol Pot became greedy by enacting policies that claimed the lives of so many people.
This was because Pol Pot controlled everything, especially a party whose members numbered in the tens of thousands. Our crimes at that time were many.
More than 1 million lives were lost under the Cambodian Communist Party, of which I was a member. I admit that I am responsible for my role in these crimes.
Let me express my profound regret for the atrocities committed by the Cambodian Communist Party between April 17, 1975 and January 6, 1979. Secondly, I would like to clarify the crimes committed at the S-21 prison.
I admit my legal responsibility for everything that took place there, especially the torture and killing, as I have already expressed when the co-investigating judges requested the acting out of events in order to assist in recalling what happened at the Cheung Ek killing fields and at the [current] Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
I would like to apologise to all surviving victims and their families who were mercilessly killed at S-21. I say that I am sorry now, and I beg all of you to consider this wish.
I wish that you would forgive me for the taking of lives, especially women and children, which I know is too serious to be excused. It is my hope, however, that you would at least leave the door open for forgiveness. Thirdly, my feelings of guilt cause me great suffering whenever I am reminded of the past.
I feel shock whenever I think of the actions I took and the orders I gave to others, which claimed so many innocent lives. Though I was following the orders of Angkar, I still must take responsibility for these crimes.
I have already told the co-investigating judges that I was taken hostage and served merely as a performer in a criminal regime. I am certain that everyone will think that I am a coward, that I am inhuman.
I am willing to accept these words honestly and respectfully. In S-21, I considered my own life and the lives of my family as more important than those of the prisoners, and I could not defy the orders of my superiors. Even though I knew these orders were criminal, I dared not think this way at the time. It was a life-and-death problem for me and my family.
As the head of S-21, I never considered any other alternative to carrying out all orders from my seniors, even though I knew that to do so would mean the loss of thousands of lives.
Now, I feel a deep guilt, regret and shame, as I know that I have made so many enormous mistakes against my nation, against the whole Cambodian population, against the families of all the victims who lost their lives at S-21 and against members of my own family, as well, some of whom have already passed away.
To resolve these mistakes, I have decided to cooperate with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as this is the only way to share the great sorrow over the crimes of S-21 and those committed against the Cambodian community as a whole, and to account for what I have done to my people.
I would like to say, further, that the horrible tragedies of S-21 occurred as a practical phenomenon, which compels me to tender myself honestly to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to be tried under the law.
I promise to continue my cooperation with the Extraordinary Chambers by answering all questions from the judges, from prosecutors and from civil complainants, on the basis of what I can remember and what evidentiary documents show.”
Friday, March 6, 2009
A Daughter of Cambodia Speaks Up
Loung Ung, a native of Cambodia, speaks of her return to Cambodia for the beginning of the Trial of Duch. She experienced the brutality of Duch's rule under the Khmer Rouge as she watched her family dissipate. She knows first hand that Polpot and his comrades did everything in their power to eliminate suspicions, in fact, anyone who could read, related to someone who could read was killed. But, Ung was also forced in to child combat. In her quest for survival, she used her rage and determination to fight the Khmer Rouge by fighting for them. Dressed in black pajamas, Ung, who was no older than seven, trained for war against her own people.
Surviving war and devastation, makes someones view point so different than anyone elses. And on February 17, 2009, Ung sat amongst the people whose families and friends lost lives were attributed to Duch, who ran the torture school, Tuol Sleng. All these people, like her, sat as victims of war, yet sill managed to hold back against the man who helped to destroy the over 2 million people in Cambodia. Ung said she wanted to scream at him, but like all her country men and women, she sat in silence in the courtroom. From Ung's words one could hear vengeance, but she was composed, as surely she was in that court room last month. The people of Cambodia still wait with baited breath as Duch remains on Trial. But, the people of Cambodia do not seek to kill him or attack him, they simply want for the law and order of the international justice.
Ung also said that she was lucky, even in when she was torn from her family at age five, because, as she pointedly said, she experienced the best and the worst of humanity before she was even ten and now she is able to witness the best of humanity everyday wholeheartedly
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