VZCZCXRO2746
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0539/01 2150158
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030158Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1004
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000539 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, P, D, DRL, S/WCI 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS PREL EAID CB
SUBJECT:  Khmer Rouge Tribunal:  The Trial of S-21 
Interrogation Center Head Kaing Guek Eav, Week 14 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 513 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Embassy staff routinely observes the proceedings 
of the trial against the notorious Khmer Rouge torture center head, 
widely known as Duch, at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of 
Cambodia (ECCC) (Reftel).  This report summarizes the fourteenth 
week of activities inside the court at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. 
More technical accounts of the proceedings can be found at: 
www.csdcambodia.org; www.kidcambodia.org and at 
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~warcrime/. END SUMMARY. 
 
Local Staff at the Court 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) This week marks the first time that the Embassy's locally 
employed staff (LES) have attended and reported on the trial. 
Several LES have noted a keen interest in observing the trial live, 
as many of their families suffered under the Khmer Rouge regime. 
LES attendees complete observation sheets in English or Khmer, and 
they can fill out an optional section on their personal views of the 
ECCC. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) This week featured only two days of courtroom proceedings, 
focused on two former S-21 staffers' accounts of working conditions 
and procedures at S-21.  The first witness drew skepticism from some 
of the judges and much of the audience when he was unable to answer 
seemingly simple questions regarding his time at S-21, while the 
second witness' testimony prompted the defendant Duch to again state 
his guilt, noting that he was the "top criminal" responsible for all 
crimes committed at S-21.  The defense focused its questioning of 
the second witness on why he chose to remain in his job if he did 
not enjoy it, attempting to link the witness' fear of his supervisor 
to Duch's fear of the Khmer Rouge leadership. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Herewith are observation notes for the week beginning July 
27, 2009: 
 
Monday, July 27: 
 
There were approximately 500 people observing the trial, a slight 
increase from past weeks and near to the full capacity of the ECCC 
auditorium.  Ninety percent of the audience was Cambodian, and most 
audience members were men. There were about 50 students from the 
Royal University of Phnom Penh. 
 
Two former staff members of Tuol Sleng Prison testified in today's 
hearing.  The first, Kok Sros, claimed to have been a security guard 
at S-21.  He said that his duties rotated on a monthly basis, and 
that he worked both inside and outside the campus.  He claimed that 
he was assigned to guard Building D inside S-21.  However, he 
repeatedly stated that he couldn't remember specific details about 
his time at S-21.  For example, he could not remember the name of 
the head of his security guard unit.  The Cambodian audience members 
seemed to become frustrated by Kok Sros' inability to answer the 
judges' questions and frequently reacted audibly when he said he 
couldn't remember something.  Duch later told the judges that he was 
not convinced that Kok Sros was actually a guard at S-21. 
 
Registrar:  Only Duch Could "Smash" 
----------------------------------- 
 
The second witness, Sous Thy, was the prisoner registrar at S-21 
from late 1975 to January 1979.  He told the court he was asked to 
be on-call 24 hours a day to register incoming prisoners, who were 
handcuffed and blindfolded when brought to the prison.  He said he 
was also ordered to list outgoing prisoners as they were taken from 
Tuol Sleng to be executed.  He added that only Duch had the 
authority to order anyone to be "smashed" (i.e., executed). 
 
Overall the court proceedings seemed to run well.  All attorneys 
stayed within the mandated timeframes for questioning.  The civil 
party lawyers agreed to allow one representative question the 
witnesses.  Deputy co-prosecutor Anees Ahmed caught a small 
mistranslation of the number of young detainees described by Sous 
Thy.  Head Judge Nil Nonn intervened to clarify the prisoner count 
for the record. 
 
Tuesday, July 28: 
 
The trial chamber opened with a civil party lawyer requesting 
additional time to question the witness, as the forty minutes 
allotted to all civil parties is not sufficient to represent their 
clients appropriately.  President Nonn responded that the time 
allocation was distributed amongst the co-prosecutors, civil 
parties, and defense proportionally to the original time allotted. 
Nonn directed the civil parties to talk amongst themselves to divide 
up their now sixty minutes and to focus on the main facts before the 
chamber and to not waste time. 
 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000539  002 OF 003 
 
 
Judges on Lists, Children, Documentation 
---------------------------------------- 
 
President Nonn continued to interview the Suos Thy, a middle-echelon 
S21 staff member whose primary function was to keep prisoner lists 
and biographies.  It appeared that President Nonn was seeking to 
establish/verify exactly what role Suos Thy held at S21, and Suos 
Thy was very consistent and repetitive in saying all he did was 
verify his lists and biographies and he did not pay attention to the 
prisoners or what other offices (specifically interrogation and 
medical) did. 
 
Judge Cartwright questioned Thy on the children that were processed 
through S-21.  Thy maintained that he did not have records 
pertaining to children or totals of the number of children killed, 
and that he knew nothing about what happened to the children 
although he assumed they were also killed. 
 
Judge Lavergne was the final judge to question Suos Thy.  Lavergne 
asked about the archiving of documents and the drafting of 
confessions, if the detainees were allowed to keep any objects, and 
if the arrival of Vietnamese troops was a great surprise and if 
there was plan in place to destroy documents.  Thy testified that 
they did not know about the situation outside of S21 or of the 
Vietnamese troops reaching Phnom Penh, and that there was no plan in 
place to destroy documents.  Thy steadfastly testified that he only 
paid attention to his duties maintaining the detainee lists and 
biographies. 
 
Chain of Command 
---------------- 
 
The Co-Prosecutors asked about specific names listed on documents 
and specific people shown in photos, prisoners who died at S21, and 
the chain of command at S21.  Thy repeatedly testified that he did 
not pay attention to other units and he was constantly busy with his 
own duties.  He said that all decisions were ultimately made by Duch 
and carried out through his chain of command.  He also testified 
that there was no maximum capacity and detainees were constantly 
moving in and out of S21 and that he also could not calculate the 
total number of prisoners as he was busy with his duties. 
 
Each civil party group took the same amount of time in questioning 
Suos Thy.  Civil party groups four, three, and two asked questions 
that had already been answered previously, with Thy consistently and 
repeatedly testifying that he did not remember specific individuals, 
he was not closely associated with the interrogation unit, and that 
Duch was the ultimate decision maker at S-21. 
 
Attitude Toward S-21 Work 
------------------------- 
 
Defense Counsel Kar Savuth was the final person to question Suos 
Thy.  Savuth began with questions again establishing hierarchy at 
S21, followed by questions about torture.  His final line of 
questioning garnered the strongest reaction from the court 
observers.  Savuth asked if Thy enjoyed his work.  Thy responded 
that he did not like his work, but under the Khmer Rouge, if you 
were assigned to a job, you could not object.  Savuth then asked why 
Thy did not leave his job if he disliked it.  Thy responded that 
during the regime, there were no private citizens and he would have 
been arrested, so he had to force himself to do the tasks as there 
was nowhere to go or to stay.  Savuth asked if all of the staff 
disliked their jobs.  Thy responded that all staff disliked the 
regime.  Savuth asked if he was scared working at S21.  Thy said 
that fear was always with him because of what he saw, and he knew 
that once an individual was arrested, that person would be killed. 
He testified that his work was under the orders of the upper 
echelon, and if he didn't do it he would be punished.  He said he 
regretted what he had done. 
 
President Nonn gave Duch the opportunity to speak.  Duch clarified a 
few names/situations that had come up in Suos Thy's testimony and 
then stated that Suos Thy's testimony reflected the truth.  He 
closed by saying that he understood the psychological impacts on and 
fear of Thy, that he appreciated Thy's testimony, noting that he 
(Duch) was the top criminal responsible for all acts, and that no 
one should suffer in his place. 
 
Remorse-filled, Fearful Witness 
------------------------------- 
 
Throughout the session, Suos Thy never looked away from the computer 
monitor on the witness stand desk directly in front of him.  He did 
not make eye contact with anyone who was questioning him and never 
looked at Duch.  It was clear he was filled with remorse and fear. 
His eyes were closed for half of his testimony.  Duch was calm 
throughout the session and followed the proceedings and testimony 
very carefully.  When he spoke at the end of the day he spoke to the 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000539  003 OF 003 
 
 
witness and was looking at him the entire time he was speaking. 
 
The crowd did not react much until the final series of questions 
from the Defense. 
 
 
 
RODLEY