Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 06/08/2009: Siem Reap residents left their villages at night to arrive on time at Duch’s trial ©John Vink/ Magnum By Chheang Bopha
Ka-sey
It was one in the morning in Bakong district, Siem Reap province. Surprised by the unusual activity, in the middle of the night, a few slightly dazed dogs barked as the villagers walked by. Most of them were already up and hurried to two buses, chartered specially for them by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), in charge of judging former Khmer Rouge leaders. Direction: the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. In total, during that night from August 5th to 6th, nine buses came to pick up the residents of various districts in Siem Reap so they could attend, at least for one day, the trial of Duch, the former director of detention and torture centre S-21. The trip was organised “upon the initiative of a villager,” insisted Dim Sovannarom, the new tribunal’s spokesperson. Story of this visit, which took place on the day U.S. historian and expert on the Khmer Rouge regime, David Chandler, testified.
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