Tuol Sleng jail: The guards would beat the prisoners before they were sent to Cambodia's killing fields (NIC DUNLOP/ PANOS)More than 30 years after Pol Pot's brutal regime fell, the first of its senior figures will learn his fate tomorrow. Andrew Buncombe reports from Phnom Penh
Sunday, 25 July 2010
The Independent (UK)
It has been more than 30 years since Khmer Rouge torturers pulled out Chum Mey's toenails and attached electrodes to his head. Barely a day has passed without him thinking of the dark, awful days he spent inside a notorious jail in which thousands of people were interrogated, beaten and then dispatched for execution.
Often he wonders why he survived when so many died. "For all these years, the suffering and pain of the victims and myself has rung in my ears," he told The Independent on Sunday.
But Mr Mey is poised to take what he believes will be a vital step towards healing. Tomorrow, a court in Cambodia will deliver its verdict on the man who ran Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng jail, the extraordinary establishment from which some 16,000 people were sent to be bludgeoned to death at killing fields on the edge of the city. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The 67-year-old ex-teacher, the first of five former Khmer Rouge officials to be tried, will almost certainly receive a lengthy sentence.
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Often he wonders why he survived when so many died. "For all these years, the suffering and pain of the victims and myself has rung in my ears," he told The Independent on Sunday.
But Mr Mey is poised to take what he believes will be a vital step towards healing. Tomorrow, a court in Cambodia will deliver its verdict on the man who ran Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng jail, the extraordinary establishment from which some 16,000 people were sent to be bludgeoned to death at killing fields on the edge of the city. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The 67-year-old ex-teacher, the first of five former Khmer Rouge officials to be tried, will almost certainly receive a lengthy sentence.
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