[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.]
Bou Meng was incarcerated on the top floor of Building C [at S-21]. For months, he slept on the floor, weak with hunger to the point of feeling dizzy. When lizards crawled across the ceiling, he prayed they would fall on him so that he could eat them. Once, to his horror, the guards threatened to skin him alive. And like Vann Nath, like so many other prisoners in so many other prisons in Democratic Kampuchea [Khmer Rouge-controlled Cambodia], he kept asking himself, “What crime have I committed?”
Bou Meng shared the cell with about forty other detainees, including, for a while, a few foreigners. They all had long and dirty hair. They were covered in lice and infected sores. And though the guards tolerated no noise, they sometimes whispered among themselves. They were searched every night. Once a week – or maybe every fortnight, he can’t remember exactly – they were hosed down. The floor flooded, so all the prisoners took off their shorts. Everyone was naked. Sometimes the guards would make fun of their genitals, remembers Bou Meng, apologizing to the court for mentioning it.
They were treated worse than dogs or pigs, he would say.
Source:
Cruvellier, T., and Alex Gilly. “Chapter 4.” The Master of Confessions: The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer. Ecco, 2014. 23. Print.
Further Reading:
សារមន្ទីរឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ទួលស្លែង (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) / Security Prison 21 (S-21)
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