Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center. Photos by ŠJazz Edition/LightMediation
On February 17,2009, Duch, 66, will be the first leader of Cambodia's brutal 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime to stand trial at the UN-backed genocide tribunal. Duch headed Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison and torture center, known as S-21. Also in detention awaiting trial are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who was the minister of social affairs.
Contact - Thierry Tinacci LightMediation Photo Agency thierry@lightmediation.com
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-01: Left: Duch (also Douch), head of S-21 Tuol Sleng prison. Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 1975/1979. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-02: Excerpt of a photo album belonging to a Khmer Rouge Cadre. Left page is the body of a chained prisoner in S-21 prison and torture center (Tuol Sleng). He commited suicide after grabing the gard's gun. Right: Some communist "brothers" from East-Timor visit their Khmer Rouge comrades in Phnom Penh. 1976. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-03: Comrade Duch (also written Douch, standing second from right) was overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 men, women and children when he headed Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21, during the Khmer Rouge Regime between April 1975 and January 1979. On this photograph, he is surrounded by his team of torturers and their family. Cambodia. 1977. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-04: Skulls of prisoners executed by the Khmer Rouge in S-21 Tuol Sleng prison, PhnomPenh. Cambodia. 1979. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-05: Duch (or Deuch, or Douch), Khmer Rouge director of Tuol Sleng S21 prison. Phnom Penh.
1977 / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-06: A prisoner struggles to get up after he was tortured in Tuol Sleng, Phnom Penh. 1978. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-07: Excerpt of a photo album belonging to a Khmer Rouge cadre. Top: Photo of confiscated objects in Tuol Sleng S-21 prison. Middle, right:The man on the left is Duch (or Douch), the director of Tuol Sleng S-21 prison. The children of Khmer Rouge officers pose in a school very similar to Tuol Sleng, the one turned into a jail. Phnom Penh, Cambodia. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-08: Young girl killed by Khmer Rouge in Tuol sleng S-21 jail, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 1977. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-09: Princess Monique, wife of prince Norodom Sihanouk, takes pictures of Sihanouk (with a polo shirt) and all Khmer Rouge leaders in front of Phnom Kulen waterfall, near Angkor, during a visit in the "liberated zones " of Cambodia in 1973. Pol Pot (with a cap) is third from right. Ieng Sary is first from left and Khieu Samphan second. 1973. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-10: A dead prisoner in Tuol Sleng prison, Phnom Penh. At one point, he was treated by khmer Rouge medical doctor to be able to endure more torture. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-11: Prince Norodom Sihanouk (right) chairs a meeting with Khmer Rouge leaders near Angkor. From left to right: Ieng Sary, Hou Youn, Saloth Sar (Pol Pot), Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan. 1973. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-12: Rare photo of the forced evacuation of Phnom-Penh by the Khmer Rouge. April 1975. Cambodia. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-13: Khmer Rouge cadres in a train between Phnom Penh and Sihanouk Ville. Pol Pot is extreme left. Behind him is Nuon Chea, "brother n째2. Ta Mok is second from right. Ieng Sary is extreme right. Cambodia. 1975. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-14: Forced labor under Pol Pot regime, Cambodia. 1976. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-15: An abandonned residential area in Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge regime. All residents had been evacuated after Pol Pot took over in April 75. Cambodia. January 1979. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-16: From left to right: Former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary prays with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and minister of defence Tea Banh. 1997. Cambodia. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-17: A Khmer Rouge soldier in a "liberated zone" near the temples of Angkor. Cambodia. 1973. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-18: Khmer Rouge soldiers near Angkor. Cambodia. 1973. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-19: Khmer Rouge soldiers in front od the Bayon temple, at the center of the old city of Angkor. Cambodia. 1973. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center / 2263-20: Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot (left)and Ieng Sary (right) in China. 1987. / Cambodia /
Khmer Rouge Trial starts with Head of S-21 Torture Center. The hearing for former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav - better known as Duch, or Douch -will be for crimes against humanity as well as premeditated murder and torture. Duch was indicted for allegedly overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 men, women and children when he headed Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21. A mathematics teacher who became the Khmer Rouge's torturer-in-chief, Duch has been in prison since 1999. The indictment last August gave a detailed breakdown of the horrific conditions at Tuol Sleng and Duch's alleged role in the atrocities, saying that every prisoner who arrived there was destined for execution. "Duch personally tortured or mistreated detainees at S-21 on a number of separate occasions and through a variety of means," the indictment said. Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation and overwork as the regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge a communist utopia. After Phnom Penh's "liberation" on April 17, 1975, Pol Pot and Angkar, the Khmer Rouge's supreme organization, decided that from then on Kampuchea was composed of two kinds of people: the Old and the New. The Old were those who lived before this date in the zones "freed" by the revolutionary forces. They were the good
guys. Everyone else - especially the townsmen - were labelled "New". They would be treated as malicious, treacherous, sub-humans. Men, women, children, the elderly, and the sick were forcibly evacuated from the cities to the countryside to work like beasts of burden. Out of a population of seven million Kampucheans, more than a million and half would lose their lives in the rice fields. S-21 The Khmer Rouge established a secret prison to interrogate and ultimately exterminate their suspected "enemies". This prison, known as S-21 ("Security Office 21") or Tuol Sleng, was the most secret organ of the KR regime. Historically, the buildings at S-21 had been part of a high school. Houses around the four school buildings were used as administration, interrogation and torture offices, while the high school classrooms were converted into prison cells. Initially, the interrogations were conducted in the houses around the prison. However, because women taken to the interrogation rooms were often raped by the interrogators, in 1978 the chief of the S-21, a former mathematic teacher named comrade Duch decided to convert Building B into an interrogation office, since this made it easier to control the interrogation process. Children were trained by the KR regime to work as guards at S-21. Most of them were exceptionally brutal. The prisoners came from all walks of life, though many were former Khmer Rouge cadre and soldiers accused of treason. While the vast majority of the victims were Cambodian, the prison population included members of other nationalities, including Vietnamese, Laotians, Thai, Indians, Pakistanis, British, Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders, and
Australians. Moreover, the entire family of a prisoner, including their new born babies, were often brought to Tuol Sleng en masse to be exterminated. The rules at S-21 Upon their arrival at S-21, the prisoners were photographed and required to give detailed biographical information - from their childhood until the date of their arrest. Then they were then required to strip to their underwear, at which point all of their possessions taken away. After being read a list of prison regulations, the prisoners were taken to their cells. The prisoners who were kept in the smaller cells were shackled with chains fixed to the walls or the concrete floors. Those who were being held in the large mass cells had one or both of their legs shackled to pieces of iron bar. Prisoners were fixed to the iron bar on alternating sides, so they had to sleep with their heads in opposite directions. The prisoners slept directly on the floors without any mats, mosquito nets or blankets. Every morning at 4:30 am, all prisoners were told to drop their shorts down to their ankles for an inspection. Then they were told to "exercise" by moving their hands and legs up and down for half an hour, even though their legs remained restrained by the iron bars. The prisoners had to defecate into small iron buckets and urinate into small plastic buckets kept in their cells. They were required to ask permission from a guard before relieving themselves; otherwise, they were beaten or received 20 to 60 strokes with a whip as punishment. In each cell, the following regulations were posted on small pieces of black board: 1. You must answer accordingly to my questions. Do not turn them away. 2. Do not try to hide the facts by
making pretexts of this and that. You are strictly prohibited to contest me. 3. Do not be a fool for you are a chap who dares to thwart the revolution. 4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect. 5. Do not tell me either about your immoralities or the revolution. 6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all. 7. Do nothing. Sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no orders, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something. You must do it right away without protesting. 8. Do not make pretexts about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your jaw of traitor. 9. If you don't follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire. 10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.