[The following is in regards to the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known as Comrade Duch, who was the head of the Khmer Rouge’s internal security branch, in which he oversaw the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp where thousands were held for interrogation and torture. While the trial itself takes place in the early 2000s, I still felt it appropriate, as the trial only covered events taking place between the years 1975-1979. Every testimony is from that time period, and everything depicted by the author, who was present at the trial, are essentially reactions to this gruesome period of history by contemporaries who were present or had participated. In that sense, I feel this fits well for our purposes, and I do not believe it breaks the 20 Year Rule.]
Vann Nath speaks with his eyes almost closed and glued to the ground. He continually massages his stomach. Even though he has told it countless times over the past thirty years, emotion overcomes Vann Nath almost as soon as he begins to tell his story. Like Bou Meng, he raises his hand to his forehead, grabs a handkerchief, and pulls himself together before continuing.
Vann Nath spent his first night of detention bound in leg irons in a pagoda-turned-prison. Then he was taken away on a motorcycle. Upon reaching his destination, he was interrogated for the first time. “You’re a traitor,” they told him. How many secret meetings had he held? “You’d better remember. The Angkar never makes mistakes.”
To help convince him, his interrogators pulled out electrical wires. Vann Nath saw bloodstains and plastic bags hanging on the wall. So, how many meetings? They gave him his first shock. He passed out. Someone threw water in his face. He came to. Then a second shock. He passed out again. Then another, and another after that.
Afterward, he couldn’t remember what answers he had given his torturers. He was ordered to get into a truck, where he was bound to six other men. There were eighteen prisoners in total. At around midnight, the truck pulled up somewhere. (They were on Street 360 in Phnom Penh, but Vann Nath didn’t know that.)
The prisoners were weak and exhausted. They couldn’t stand. They were made to sit on the ground in two rows. Then they were roped together by their necks, blindfolded, and, despite exhaustion, ordered to march single-file. Voices taunted them as they walked blindly, each man with his hand on the shoulder of the man in front. A question barreled around Vann Nath’s head: what had he done wrong?
It was January 7, 1978. He had just entered S-21.
Source:
Cruvellier, T., and Alex Gilly. “Chapter 3.” The Master of Confessions: The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer. Ecco, 2014. 16-17. Print.
Further Reading:
សារមន្ទីរឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ទួលស្លែង (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) / Security Prison 21 (S-21)
No comments, yet...