CIVIL PARTIES REMINDED TO FOCUS TESTIMONY ON RELEVANT FACTS

August 24, 2009

By Michael Saliba, J.D. (Northwestern Law ’09), Consultant to the Center for
International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law

The court began by acknowledging the progress it has made in the past week
in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch). Accordingly, the chamber
announced that it planned to hear the final civil party testimonies today,
followed by expert witness testimony tomorrow on the issue of civil party
claims for reparation. The chamber will then spend approximately two days to
hear the defense challenges of civil party applications. Finally, it will
receive testimony relating to the character of the accused before scheduling
closing statements.

Today’s proceedings did not progress as quickly as anticipated due in large
part to civil parties straying from relevant facts during their testimonies.
Pursuant to the Internal Rules, they were instructed to testify to specific
physical, material, or psychological injury sustained as a direct
consequence of the crimes of the accused. This typically involves
establishing a family link between the civil party and a victim of Tuol
Sleng prison (S-21). The judges as well as the attorneys are cognizant of
the fact that a major purpose of civil party participation in these
proceedings is to help them deal with their tragic losses. Therefore, the
judges have refrained from interrupting civil party testimonies throughout
the past week even when they ran longer than the time allotted. While civil
parties in the past week have certainly strayed from relevant facts on
occasion, today they did so over prolonged periods. This prompted numerous
requests from the President that the civil parties refocus their testimony
and it slowed down the overall progress of today’s session.

The chamber also informed the public that civil party lawyer Silke
Studzinsky was hospitalized this weekend and likely will be absent from the
courtroom for an extended period. The other civil party lawyers will
cooperate and coordinate as much as possible to enable to the trial to
proceed expeditiously.

Civil Party Testimony Continues

Chum Neou resumed her testimony this morning by describing the final period
of her detention at Prey Sar (S-24). After her baby died, she was put to
work full-time as a laborer in the fields until Vietnamese troops captured
Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979. During her evacuation she met Duch in the
forest where the group had taken refuge. As she approached him, Duch removed
his pistol from its holster and pointed it directly at her temple. (Duch
later disputed the accuracy of this account.) He told her that he was
surprised that she had remained at S-24 for two years and stayed in good
health. Their meeting was cut short by gunfire in the distance which forced
the group to continue its evacuation.

Judge Lavergne inquired further about her meeting with Duch. He noted that
even though the meeting occurred after the events for which the court has
jurisdiction, her account was nonetheless relevant to the issue of Duch’s
character. She explained that she had seen Duch two times prior to their
meeting in the forest. On those days, she was warned to be careful because
the chief was coming to monitor the work. She saw Duch walking alone with no
bodyguards and according to her, he looked happy and worry-free. It did not
appear as if he cared about the hardship or suffering at S-24. Duch also
disputed this aspect of her testimony, stating that he never appeared at
S-24 when detainees would be able to see him.

The afternoon session began with the testimony of Chhin Navy whose husband
perished at S-21. Chhin Navy was separated from her husband after Phnom Penh
was evacuated on April 17, 1975. Her husband had to stay behind but before
they separated he asked his wife to promise to take care of herself and to
take care of the kids. She described a feeling of despair, thinking that her
husband would not return and that they would be separated forever.

Later, Khmer Rouge officials came to her house to question her about her
husband. During that meeting, her sister-in-law accused him of being part of
the CIA. Chhin Navy never understood why her sister-in-law would betray the
family with such lies and broke down into tears when recounting this
specific event. Later, she and her children were sent to re-education camps
where they were put to work and warned that if they did not do as they were
told then they would not survive.

After the liberation of Phnom Penh, Chhin Navy returned to the city in hopes
of reuniting with her husband. She received no news about him until 1980
when she visited S-21. While there, she saw many of the detention cells and
was told of some of the horrors that occurred in the prison. She fainted
when she found a photograph of her husband and documents showing that he had
been arrested and “smashed” at S-21. She still does not have the courage to
return to the prison. She tried to remain strong for her children but
raising them without a father was an extreme struggle. She explained that
nothing can cure her suffering because she cannot escape the image of her
husband being tortured and executed at S-21. After a long and emotional
testimony, the President intervened by thanking her and noting that the
chamber had heard sufficient testimony.

The civil party Touch Monin took the stand late in the afternoon. He began
to describe in detail the events surrounding his forced evacuation from
Phnom Penh. Several minutes into his testimony, the defense counsel
objected, noting that while the facts relating to the evacuation of Phnom
Penh were historically important, they were outside of the scope of Touch
Monin’s testimony. The court sustained the defense objection and reiterated
its previous instructions that the civil party remain focused on the
relevant facts. Touch Monin resumed his testimony by explaining that he was
there to pay homage to his cousin and to keep his cousin’s memory alive. His
cousin had received his engineering degree in Russia and was abroad when
Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, but returned about three months later.
Like many others, he was arrested when he returned to Cambodia and sent to
S-21 where he was eventually executed.