THIRTY YEARS AGO, DUCH TOOK HIS TOENAILS; TODAY, HE TOOK IT TO DUCH

June 30, 2009

By Laura MacDonald, Member of the New York Bar and Consultant to the Center
for International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law

In some respects, today was a lot like yesterday as a packed public gallery
again listened to the testimony of an aging male survivor of Tuol Sleng
prison (S-21) spared only because of a useful skill. However, mechanic Chum
Mey’s testimony was much, much more than a repeat of artist Vann Nath’s
testimony yesterday. With Chum Mey’s testimony, finally, the passion and
anger of an S-21 victim has been properly injected into the trial of prison
chief Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch).

Chum Mey’s Story

When the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, 79-year-old civil party Chum Mey
was a mechanic working in Phnom Penh. Chum Mey and his family were forced to
evacuate the city, but a series of tragedies and events brought him back to
Phnom Penh to fix sewing machines and other equipment in a Khmer Rouge
factory where the black clothes worn by the soldiers were produced. After
over three years there, Chum Mey was called away from the factory under the
pretext of fixing a Khmer Rouge vehicle. He was delivered to a place he
later learned was S-21 where he was arrested, accused of being CIA or KGB,
handcuffed, blindfolded, photographed, and stripped to his underwear.

Chum Mey was shackled in a two meter by one meter individual cell containing
only an ammunition box for feces and a plastic jug for urine. Any movement
without permission resulted in 100 or 200 lashes and he was fed only “very
thin gruel.” He was interrogated for 12 days and nights. He had heard the
terms CIA and KGB before, but he had no idea what those organizations did.
This truth did not satisfy the S-21 staff, however, so he was tortured by
three different men with several different techniques until he eventually
confessed to joining the CIA and KGB and named other people in his supposed
network.

In a room filled with fresh blood containing only a typewriter on a table
and tools of torture, Chum Mey was beaten with sticks so hard they broke. He
once tried to block the beating with his hands and as a result broke several
of his fingers. He was electrocuted at least twice with a 220 volt wire
running from the wall socket to his ear. His toenails were ripped out with
pliers over a two-day period after which he could hardly walk for a month.
The judges had the camera zoom in on his toes which are still deformed
thirty years later. Afterwards, he received no medical attention and was
sent back to his cell where he wept silently because he did not have the
right to make any noise.

Chum Mey refuted Duch’s claim that interrogation was most often “cold,”
meaning torture was not used. Chum Mey said treatment of prisoners was
“always hot.”

When asked if Duch beat him personally, Chum Mey passionately answered that
if he had seen Duch’s face at the time Duch would not be alive today,
implying he would have killed Duch. President Nil Nonn sharply instructed
Chum Mey to “refrain from being abusive” or “insulting” Duch, insisting it
was not “appropriate.”

After giving his confession to the S-21 guards, rather than being smashed in
the normal course, Chum Mey was forced to work as a mechanic. Thereafter, he
spent four months fixing sewing machines, typewriters, cooking materials,
and plumbing equipment in a workshop just west of the S-21 compound next to
a kitchen, a pig pen, and a huge pile of clothes taken from prisoners killed
at Choeung Ek. From there he could hear guards laughing, prisoners being
tortured, and children crying. Chum Mey adamantly insisted that in Duch’s
visits to S-21 he could not have escaped hearing those same sounds. At
night, Chum Mey was shackled in a common cell with around 40 other
prisoners, unable to speak or move.

When the Vietnamese seized Phnom Penh on January 6, 1979, Chum Mey was
forced to flee S-21 at gunpoint with a group of more than 10 prisoners. Near
the Prey Sar reeducation camp (S-24) also run by Duch, Chum Mey had a chance
reunion with his wife who had apparently been detained at S-24 during which
time she had given birth to Chum Mey’s son. Chum Mey got to hold his two
month old son for a few hours while they continued to dodge gunfire and flee
Phnom Penh; however, at one point, his wife took back the baby and they were
both shot and killed by “militia.” As Chum Mey’s two daughters and other son
had perished earlier in the Khmer Rouge period, he was now completely alone
and fled to his home village.

Chum Mey, who is one of the few civil parties in attendance every day, says
he still cries every night after the proceedings because he cannot hear the
words “Khmer Rouge” without thinking of his wife and children. When asked
what he thinks when he hears the words “Tuol Sleng,” Chum Mey said, “My
tears just keep flowing…no matter how hard I try.” He said he will not
forget his suffering until the day he dies, but that he will feel better
once justice is done by the judges. He said he was happy and excited to
testify before the court and welcomed the opportunity to shed light on the
past.

In response to a question from the defense, Chum Mey confirmed that it made
him happy to hear Duch’s apology and see him shed tears at an S-21
reenactment in 2008 because he had waited thirty years for it. However, he
said that a few tear drops could not wash away the suffering of millions who
died. He said, “Only the court can help to wash away the suffering.”

Contrast with Yesterday

As reported yesterday, Vann Nath’s testimony was very powerful and moving.
He was calm and collected giving the appearance of objectivity. Chum Mey’s
testimony was a great contrast because he was animated, emotional, and
angry – even aggressive – at times. Given that Chum Mey is an adorable
little man who sits silently in the corner each day hanging on every word,
this testimony had even more impact. While Vann Nath experienced torture at
the hands of the Khmer Rouge, Chum Mey described the torture that occurred
directly under Duch’s command – and he did so vividly.

While Vann Nath’s testimony was very clear, unfortunately, Chum Mey’s
testimony was plagued by translation issues and misunderstandings. It was
very frustrating because much seemed to be lost. Apparently, Chum Mey used a
lot of slang, which likely contributed to the problem.

Given that Vann Nath is not a civil party, he was not prepared as a witness
by any of the parties. While leading questions are standard operating
procedure in this trial, they do not always yield the desired response and
yesterday was no exception. Both the prosecution and the civil party lawyers
seemed to ask Vann Nath more questions he could not answer or did not answer
in a manner helpful to them, rather than the other way around. Thus, they
failed to maximize their short time to question this key witness. One civil
party lawyer even argued that he had contradicted himself regarding two
facts, pointing out his alleged inconsistent statements. I was baffled.
Given the situation yesterday, I had high expectations today that Chum Mey,
a civil party available everyday, would be well-prepared to respond to
questions from his civil party lawyers. The questioning from the civil
parties went relatively smoothly, but Chum Mey still was unable to
understand the question or provide the answer sought in some cases.

While certain aspects of the proceedings today could have gone getter, it
was still the most powerful day of trial to date. After hearing the same
sort of facts day after day in a somewhat dry manner, the Trial Chamber and
the regular observer are bound to get desensitized a little bit. But today,
after three months on the courtroom sidelines and thirty years of suffering,
Chum Mey passionately shared his story with the world and put a face on the
torture at S-21 – a very familiar face. He stood confidently at the end of
his testimony as if to announce that although the Khmer Rouge had taken his
four children, his wife, and his toenails, he had his day in court and no
one could ever take that away from him. Even testimony plagued by
communication problems can send a strong message.