VICTIMS AND PERPETRETORS? TESTIMONY OF YOUNG KHMER ROUGE COMRADES

These photos examine a group of children who became victims of the Khmer Rouge regime between the age of 12 and 18. They are based on interviews with children who had been recruited from Region 31, and ended up working at S-21. Under the Khmer Rouge regime, Kampong Chhnang province was called Region 31; this region lies in the center of Cambodia, some 90 kilometres north of Phnom Penh. The connection between Region 31 and S-21 was verified by a group of children under 18 who were from the region and survived the prison. A large amount of scientific research has been carried out on the psychology of genocide survivors, including some work on survivors of the Cambodian genocide. Psychiatric studies of Cambodian genocide survivors have shown symptoms of serious psychological problems, such as recurring nightmares, trouble concentrating or sleeping, and signs of clinical depression, which can endure for years after the traumatic experience has ended. Recent studies suggest that a significant proportion of the Cambodian population still suffer from these problems, often diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. But as trauma expert, Dr. Judith Lewis Herman noted, "Little is known about the mind of the perpetrator." It seems logical that the effects of trauma would also have an impact on the staff of prison camps and other participating in state terror. But, to date, no studies have been conducted that might confirm whether the effects of trauma appear in young Khmer Rouge cadres who were involved in torture. Mental health professionals and other specialists have argued that children are easily trained owing their innocence. The Khmer Rouge knew this and used it in their attempt to build a new society. Historians have documented this fact. These observations lead to the conclusion that young comrades also became victims fo the revolution.

Heng Sinith: Photographer During the Pol Pot regime, I always dreamed that if I could make myself invisible or escape to other countries, I would bring lots of food for my villagers, so that they would no longer starve. I was born on April 4,1968. 1 had eight siblings: six brothers and two sisters. Before 1975, 1 lived in Prek Takov village, Khsach Kandal district, Kandal province, three kilometer east of Chroy Changva Bridge. My mother is a weaver and my father is a farmer and carpenter. In 1975, people were moved from the village to a refugee camp at Chroy Changva in order to escape the shelling. The only people left in my village were my father, my older brother and I; we stayed behind to tend cattle and catch fish for my mother to sell. Three of my older brothers were in Phnom Penh (two of them and two of my uncles were killed during the regime). On April 17, I was at Chroy Changva with parents. When the Khmer Rouge emptied the city, my family returned to our home village, which was then called the "fighting village." The unmarried children stayed with our parents, while married ones were evacuated far away. My mother was included in a middle aged group of people who tended crops in fields near the village. My father still worked as a carpenter and was told to make rakes and plow blades in the village. My brothers joined mobile units to build dams and irrigation channels. I was seven at the time and was assigned to tend two cows. In addition, I had to get up at sunrise each day to begin collecting cow dung and Siam weed to make fertilizer for the farm. Once every three days I had to sweep the oxcart road in the village. Sometimes, wre were ordered to work far from the village to build classrooms and farmhouses, to study Khmer language, or to build dikes at night. There were .always tasks for us to do. After transporting earth by hand, we would be told to build dikes, and then to pile hay, and so on. We had two meals a day, at noon and in the evening. In the beginning, we had rice with potatoes. Later, we had only a few bowls of thin rice soup. Everyone was hungry. I became bony thin; my knees were bigger than my waist. I picked everything I saw, like raw banana, jack-fruit, potato, corn, coconut, and rice...l stole everything that could be stolen. So, I have been trying to tell the world about the Khmer Rouge regime. I want to meet a most ferocious murderer who will reveal his experience to me. I want to make photographic records about the lives of those perpetrators; I want them to reveal the truth about their hunger to kill people. I do not want to show the history of their murders, but their lives as spouses and villagers. So far, few perpetrators have been brave enough to show their faces.

JUSTICE AND RESPONSIBILITY

Why has it taken over thirty years to bring the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice? One of the initial reasons was geopolitics. Because the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) was supported by Vietnam, an unlikely scenario developed in which China (the main backer of the Khmer Rouge), Thailand (fearful of the Vietnamese troops massed near its borders), and the United States (embroiled in the Cold War and still strung by defeat in Vietnam) and its allies conspired not just to isolate the PRK regime, but to help the Khmer Rouge, who had been routed, regroup and rearm (Etcheson 205; Fawthrop and Jarvis 2004). Remarkably, in 1979 the UN General Assembly voted to give this genocidal regime Cambodia's seat at the UN.

In Cambodia, the PRK took steps to hold some of the Khmer Rouge accountable. On the local level, some former Khmer Rouge were imprisoned or reeducated for a short period of time. The government also tried and convicted Pol Pot and Leng Sary in absentia of genocide in a one week "People's Revolutionary Tribunal" that, while symbolically powerful and including some valuable evidence, failed to meet international standards of justice. For the next decade, the PRK called for an international tribunal, a call that went unheeded as the international community glossed over the "unfortunate events of the past" in supporting the Khmer Rouge.

After the 1993 UN-sponsored election in Cambodia, which the Khmer Rouge ended up boycotting in favour of continued armed struggle, the United States and other members of the international community began to call for a tribunal. Due to a successful defection campaign, the Royal Government of Cambodia demurred in favour of reconciliation. In the late 1990s, a large number of high-ranking Khmer Rouge, including leng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Ke Pauk, and Nuon Chea, were allowed to defect to the government. Two others, the general Ta Mok and Duch, the former head of S-21, were captured and placed under arrest.

After years of negotiation, in 2003 the Cambodian government and the UN finally signed an agreement to establish the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), which is a "mixed tribunal" comprising Cambodian and international legal personnel (Ciorciari 2006). Due to political realities, the ECCC has been given limited temporal and personal jurisdiction: It will only try crimes committed during DK and prosecute those Khmer Rouge who were "senior leaders" and criminally "most responsible." Because of further delays, the ECCC only began operation in July 2006.

The photographs in this section on "Justice and Responsibility" depict some of the key moments in this long road to justice: the 1979 PRK tribunal, the signing of the 2003 agreement establishing the ECCC, and the site of the ECCC itself. Other pictures, such as the pictures of Khmer Rouge leaders and mid-ranking officials "then and now, raise important questions about justice and responsibility. Who, Cambodians are asking, should be held accountable for the violence that took place during DK? Why have the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge been allowed to live freely for so long? And, will they, like Pol Pot (who died in April 1998) and Ta Mok (July 2006), die before they face justice.

The Base People The base people lived in the areas that were "liberated" by the Khmer Rouge before 1975. They generally came from rural areas and remained in the village or district of their birth throughout most of the Democratic Kampuchea regime. However, they were frequently forced to move to work sites within their districts to meet changing agricultural and labor demands. The Khmer Rouge claimed to revere the base people and gave them more privileges than the new people (those evacuated from the cities after 1975). But like other Cambodians, they were subjected to severe deprivation, hard labor, and food shortages during Democratic Kampuchea. Late in the regime, the Khmer Rouge herded them into cooperatives in distant provinces in an effort to stay in control of the population while escaping the Vietnamese Army in January 1979.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUM

In the past "TUOL SLENG "Museum was one of the secondary schools in the capital, called "Tuol Svay Prey" highSchool. After the 11th ,April 1975 Pol Pot clique had transformed it into a prison called "S-21"( Security office 21 ) which was the biggest in Kampuchea Democratic . It was surrounded with the double wall of corrugated iron , surmounted by dense barbed wires.

The classrooms on the ground and the first floors were pierced and divided into individual cells, whereas the ones on the second floor used for mass detention.

Several thousands of victims (peasants, workers, technicians, engineers, doctors, teachers, students buddhist monks, ministers, Pol Pot's Cadres soldiers of all ranks, the Cambodian Diplomatic corps, foreigners, etc..) were imprisoned and exterminated with their wives and their children.

There are a lot of evidences here proving the atrocities of Pol Pot clique.

Cells, instruments of torture; documents, list of prisoner's names, mugshoots of victims, their clothes and their belongings. We founded the mass graves surrounding, and in particular, the most ones situated 15 Km in the southwest of Phnom Penh , in the village of Chhoeung Ek District Dangkor Kandal Province.

Ly Chhun Leng Combatant, Division 920

Told by his sister, An Chhun Y, age 60 Kang hfeas District, Kampong Cham Province

Lon Nod soldiers came to collect Lang in 1970; if he hadn't gone, they would have arrested him. But after 15 days, he ran away to the forest to become a Pol Pot soldier. My parents didn't want him to do this, but Leng thought he would be killed if had stayed in the village. No one could sleep there after 1971 because they were dropping bombs day and night.

The first time Leng visited home was in 1975 after the liberation. There were two bodyguards with him; they came by car and were carrying guns. The second time, he told me he had become the chief of a division in Mondul Kiri province. He said it was difficult in the forest because he had to escape the bombs and a lot of mosquitoes bit him. He also gave me advice: if they told me to work, I had to work hard or they would kill me.

A woman named Sieng who worked with Leng told me that they arrested him around 1978. Her husband was also arrested, and I think they were killed together. The Khmer Rouge told my brother they were sending him to a meeting, but they were lying. After they arrested Leng, the Khmer Rouge accused me of being a high-class person and asked the villagers about my biography. I dared not argue with them.

Later, the fortunetellers told me that my brother was still alive and living on the Thai border. I went there three years ago, but coUldn't find him. They cheated me out of 60,000 riels.

Khoeung BuoySor Deputy Secretary, Company 502 Told by his sister, Khocung Guek Leang, age 36 and mother, Bakk Ly, age 75 Sa-ang District, Kandal Province

Buoy Sor was our village chief before the revolution. But conflicts arose because he wouldn't allow the people here to sell their corn, and another villager accused him of loving his daughter. Because he didn't want to cause a problem for our family, he joined the Khmer Rouge. I don't know what his position was.

Once, before 1975, he came home with a friend. He brought needles and medicine, and was very thin. He didn't say anything about his work; I don't think he wanted us to know. But he did tell us he would be back when the country was peaceful. We never heard from him again.

Before the Khmer Rouge were overthrown, some of their soldiers came to our village to make people write their biographies. The only ones at home were old people in their 80s; they were interrogated and killed. The soldiers also asked some people about my brother what nationality he was, what kind of person he was, and so on.

Later we heard that he was sit to Frey Su prison for re-education and then arrested and sent to S-21 [Tuol Sleng prison]. I think my brother is dead because twenty years have gone by and he still haven't come home. Now we are at peace; if he were still alive, he would have come back. I haven't seen him in all this time, even in my dreams.

Koy Thuon Secretary of the North Zone, Minister of Commerce and Central Committee Member

Im Sakhan Member, Region 42, North Zone Told by Im Sakhan's niece, Sok Rany, age 47 Srey Santhor District, Kampong Cham Province

My aunt met Koy Thuon when she was a student and he was a teacher. Thuon was a very popular man who always smiled. When he visited home, he gave things to our family, like clothes and watches, so that we could have a better standard of diving. Sakhan was the same.

When they arrested Thuon, they accused him of being immoral, saying he had over 100 women. At first I didn't believe them. but Later I didn't know. They also stripped him of his rank and made him resign, saying he was CIA. The Khmer Rouge announced his arrest at a meeting. I heard they wanted to arrest his relatives, too, so I was afraid. After that, the Khmer Rouge asked me how I felt about having an uncle in the CIA. So I blamed Thuon and cursed him. When Thuon's daughter Min heard that her father had been arrested, her face fell and she could not sleep. She said she didnt know if Thuon had betrayed her. After that, they told her she would be moving to another place.

Sakhan was arrested a little later. Because she was pregnant, the Angkar waited to do this until after the baby was born. People said the Khmer Rouge had a one-inch thick dossier on her. All seven of her children were killed.

Name: Nhem Yean, Male Age: 21 (1977) Nhem Yean, 46 years old (2002)

Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 2 September 1973 Position: Combatant Home Village: Thlork Vien Sub-district, District 12, Region 31, Kampong Chhnang Province

When I worked at S-21, I did not have the motivation, but I had to, otherwise I wouldn't live. However, no matter which option I chose, I still feared. There was nothing I could do.

Name: Chhim Theang, Male Age: 18 (1977) Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 16 April 1974 Position: Group Leader Home Village: Prey Moul Sub-district, District 20, Region 31, Kampong

Told By Chhim Theang, 43 years old (2002)

I'll never forget the Khmer Rouge experience. I still think about it. Every time I turn the radio on I hear the Khmer Rouge leaders are to be prosecuted, but why don't we do it now? Why keep them away from being prosecuted? For what?

Name: Suos Thy, Male Age: 26 (1977) 51 years old (2002) Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 3 August 1971 Position: Clerk, Prisoner Lists at S-21 Home Village: Koh Khel Sub-district,District 20, Region 25, Kandal Province

In 1976,I worked in the documentation unit of S-21. In 1981, I was imprisoned in T-3 prison for three years. I feel it is very unjust to be imprisoned while the Khmer Rouge leaders are free. The murderous regime was created by them and they must be prosecuted for this according to the law. This is for justice. I am not trying to defend myself. When I heard that the Khmer Rouge leaders said they were not aware of the existence of Tuol Sleng prison, I laughed in disbelief. This prison was huge, not a simple project, and it's founders had to hold top positions in the revolution. Moreover, prisoners were brought in from all over the country. No one dared to arrest people in regions and bases. Only a fool would believe them. These leaders are definitely lying to us. Not only me but also illiterate people do not believe them.

Name: Prum Set, Male Age: 14 (1974) Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 2 February 1974 Position: Combatant Home Village: Kraing Skea Sub-district, District 20, Region 31, Kampong Chhnang Province

Told by Prum Set, 42 years old (2002)

I am not regret about working for the Khmer Rouge. No, not at all. I want to have a tribunal because it will prevent us from having such a regime again. Those who committed crimes must be prosecuted.

Name: Soam Nim, Female Age: 28 (1975) Joined the [Khmer Rouge] Revolution: 15 May 1974 Position: Group Leader Home Village: Prek Thmei Sub-district, District 18, Region 25, Kandal Province

Told by Soam Nim, 55 Years old (2002) In 1974, they (the Khmer Rouge) began recruiting for the military; I volunteered to joint them, because I thought that doing this was better than being a normal citizen, who was subjected to intense labors like constructing dikes and dams.

Also I would have better food. My father did not want me to do so, but I was determined, for I did not want to be looked down on. My father had been a very strong man, but on the day I departed he cried. The Khmer Rouge destroyed my family. During the regime, we were starved and separated. We rarely met. I did not believe what they taught me, but I could do nothing because all were under their control; to save our lives we had to do what we were told to.