VZCZCXRO4004
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0596/01 2290904
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170904Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1076
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000596 
 
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 16 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 573 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 16th 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. 
 
Former S-21 Staff Testimony Continues, In Varying Forms 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Week 16 featured continuing testimony from former S-21 
staffers, including several guards, a medic, a driver, and a 
messenger.  Prosecutors again tried to establish the circumstances 
in which prisoners were forced to live and the methods used by 
interrogators to extract confessions.  The Defense continued its 
attempts to highlight the culture of S-21, in which Khmer Rouge 
cadres operated out of obedience and fear for their lives.  For two 
days of proceedings, the Court spent the morning hearing live 
testimony from witnesses, and then reviewed written statements in 
the afternoon.  The use of written statements continued to cause 
some friction between the lawyers, this time the Co-Prosecutors 
(rather than the Defense team), and the judges.  Court President Nil 
Nonn had to remind the Co-Prosecutors that all parties had agreed in 
a closed session to hear written statements from less crucial 
witnesses in order to save time.  The live testimony of a survivor 
of the S-24 re-education camp prompted another dramatic admission of 
guilt from Duch, who said that he would accept stoning and ritual 
condemnation by the Cambodian people. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Herewith are observation notes for the week beginning 
August 10, 2009: 
 
Monday, August 10: 
 
Approximately 350 people observed the day's proceedings.  The 
majority were Cambodians from Kandal Province and Phnom Penh.  A few 
foreign tourists were also in the audience. 
 
Confusion Over Witness Testimony 
-------------------------------- 
 
The first witness in the morning was Mr. Chhun Phal, a rice farmer 
and former S-21 guard.  Chhun's testimony was a bit confused; he 
asked a few times to have questions repeated, and at one point he 
contradicted himself.  He claimed in his testimony that he was 
assigned to bury bodies in pits, but in his earlier statement to the 
co-investigating judges in 2008, he had claimed that he had never 
dug pits during his time at S-21.  Chhun consulted with his 
court-appointed attorney, Kong Sam Onn, for several minutes before 
declaring that he stood by his 2008 statement.  Chhun also claimed 
that there were instances of rape at S-21, although he had never 
personally seen evidence. 
 
In his statement Duch acknowledged that he recognized Chhun as a 
former S-21 employee.  The defendant said that because Chhun had 
been a young, uneducated teenager from a poor, rural family, he fit 
the profile of ideal candidates for recruitment.  Duch said that he 
looked for employees who had no ambitions and did not care to know 
business outside of their everyday duties. 
 
In the afternoon, Mr. Soam Meth testified.  He was also a rice 
farmer and former S-21 guard, but he was posted at a special section 
of the prison, where senior officials were detained for 
interrogation purposes.  Mr. Soam seemed to clearly recall his 
experience at S-21. 
 
The translation system was out of order for a few minutes but was 
quickly restored. 
 
Tuesday, August 11: 
 
ECCC on Cambodian Tour Guides' Lists 
------------------------------------ 
 
Approximately 500 observers were in the audience at today's 
proceedings, including primary and high school teachers from Kandal 
Province and a few American tourists who were attending the trial 
with a Cambodian tour guide. 
 
Soam Meth continued his testimony from the previous day regarding 
his experience at S-21.  He said that during his tenure as a 
security guard, he saw Duch personally torturing prisoners but had 
never seen Duch kill anyone.  Soam clearly described the 
interrogation methods used to extract information from prisoners, 
including electrocution and beatings with sticks. 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000596  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
KR Leadership:  "Cut Off Personal Feelings" 
------------------------------------------- 
 
Mr. Soam described a training session in which Duch and other Khmer 
Rouge leaders instructed S-21 comrades to cut off personal feelings 
for their families and to consider all detainees to be enemies.  He 
explained that his brother and brother-in-law had also served as 
Khmer Rouge comrades (i.e., officers), and were arrested and 
executed.  Soam was later transferred from S-21 to the S-24 prison, 
where he was forced to do hard labor. 
 
Soam said that all S-21 guards and interrogators were working in a 
climate of fear and mistrust.  He said that soldiers "disappeared" 
one by one.  No one knew or dared to ask where the missing soldiers 
were taken.  He said that each S-21 employee had to focus on their 
duties; those who abused the rules and regulations were arrested or 
killed. 
 
Duch confessed that most of Soam Meth's testimony was true.  The 
defendant admitted that he had beaten prisoners, but noted that his 
responsibility for the deaths of thousands of people as the Director 
of S-21 was a bigger crime. 
 
Use of Written Statements Continues to Create Friction 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
Soam Meth was the only witness to testify in person during the day. 
Another four written witness statements were read out loud, 
according to a procedure that the judges and attorneys had agreed to 
during a closed meeting.  Court President Nil Nonn briefly repeated 
that all parties had agreed to the process for including written 
witness statements when one of the co-prosecutors tried to insist 
that the day's witnesses should appear in person. 
 
The first written statement contained the testimony of Mak Sithim, a 
former S-21 medic who said that one or two S-21 prisoners died every 
day.  The second statement, by former S-21 security guard Toy Teng, 
described the execution procedures at Cheung Ek (i.e., the "Killing 
Fields").  In the third written statement, former messenger Chet 
Chom described how he saw Duch and Ieng Sary meet; he speculated 
that the two had been discussing prisoner confessions.  In the 
fourth and final statement read before the Court, former driver Meas 
Peng Kry described transporting a group of Vietnamese soldiers 
captured by the Khmer Rouge to S-21. 
 
Duch was given an opportunity to respond to the written testimonies. 
 He said that he recognized some of the arrest, torture, and 
execution procedures described in the statements, but he also 
refuted some of the points.  He said that he did not remember the 
individuals who gave written statements, but that perhaps this was 
because they were working in low-level positions. 
 
The audience paid close attention the day's proceedings and were in 
general very quiet.  Aside from the brief exchange between the 
judges and the co-prosecutors regarding use of written statements 
versus live witnesses, the proceedings seemed to run well. 
 
Wednesday, August 12: 
 
There were nearly 500 observers in attendance at today's 
proceedings.  Most came from the defendant's home province, Kampong 
Thom.  There was also a group of teachers from Kampong Chhnang 
Province. 
 
S-24 Survivor Testimony Prompts Dramatic Reactions 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
Today the Court heard testimony from Mrs. Bou Thon, a survivor of 
the S-24 re-education camp whose husband and children had been 
killed at S-21.  Bou described how her husband had disappeared, and 
how she had been subsequently assigned to work in S-24, where she 
was assigned to haul water, chop firewood, and collect vegetables, 
among other tasks.  Mrs. Bou described being beaten, receiving 
insufficient food supplies, and how others who broke S-24's rules 
were made to disappear. 
 
Mrs. Bou discussed how after the fall of the Khmer Rouge she had 
found a photo of her husband displayed at the Tuol Sleng Museum, 
which meant that he had been held there and ultimately killed.  Duch 
noted that he recognized her husband as a former prisoner, 
acknowledged Mrs. Bou's suffering, and commended her for her 
testimony.  The defendant's statements prompted the witness to begin 
weeping, an objection from the civil party lawyers, and a warning 
from presiding Judge Nil Nonn to Duch to avoid deliberately 
heightening the witnesses' distress during his statements.  Duch 
dramatically concluded by saying that, like some Christian saints, 
he would accept stoning and ritual condemnation by the Cambodian 
people, and that he would not challenge the judgments against him 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000596  003 OF 003 
 
 
made by the ECCC. 
 
In general the trial proceeded smoothly.  The Cambodian observers 
seemed to be frustrated at some points and talked when they were not 
pleased with the proceedings, for example when questions were 
repeated or unclear.  The Khmer to English translation was conducted 
well, but the Khmer to French translation seemed to be slow. 
 
 
RODLEY