Duch

A darkness will settle on the people of Cambodia. There will be houses but no people in them, roads but no travellers; the land will be ruled by barbarians with no religion; blood will run so deep as to touch the belly of the elephant. Only the deaf and mute will survive.
Ancient Cambodian prophecy

Finally, at long last, the trial of the first of the Khmer Rouge bad guys has begun in PhnomPenh - Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch (pronounced “Doik”). (See earlier post.) Duch is the only one who has pleaded guilty to the charges. The other four (that's all) who are to stand trial claim innocence, whatever that's supposed to mean.

Duch was the head of the Khmer Rouge’s secret police and in charge of the hell on earth torture chamber that was Tuol Sleng prison, code named S-21, where he personally oversaw the torture and murder of over 14,000 people, keeping meticulous records including photographs of everyone. In only four years of the Khmer Rouge rule, from 1975 to 1979 a third of the population perished from starvation, overwork, disease, torture and execution. By the way, this destruction of the people of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge followed the more than a million Cambodians who earlier had been killed or wounded during the bombings by the Americans between 1969 and 1973 in the “sideshow” to the war against the Vietnamese.

In 1979 the Vietnamese, fed up with Cambodian encroachment on their borders, invaded Cambodia to depose the Khmer Rouge regime. When the Vietnamese army entered Phnom Penh, they discovered a ghost town. The Khmer Rouge, when they had taken over in 1975, had forced the entire population of the city to leave to become forced labour in the countryside. The Vietnamese found also that the leaders of the regime who had been based in Phnom Penh had fled in advance of the invading army. Duch himself disappeared.

A Vietnamese journalist and photographer who accompanied the army into Phnom Penh that day describes what they found. Walking through the deserted streets, they came upon an overwhelming stench. Following the smell, they found the prison which had been a school in former days. Peering in the windows, they saw 20 or 30 bodies chained to iron bedsteads in varying states of decomposition. Maggots popped under their feet as they started to photograph the horrific scene. S-21 was to be revealed to the world.

For 20 years no one knew what had become of Comrade Duch. The story of how he was found is one of luck, serendipity and probably fate.

Nic Dunlop is an Irish photojournalist who has been visiting Cambodia since 1989. By the end of the 1990’s, the civil war in Cambodia finally came to an end and the Khmer Rouge was no longer a fighting force. But former members were everywhere, as they still are. Nic Dunlop, armed with an old photo of Duch which he carried everywhere, decided to go looking for him. His personal quest was to find out what had happened and why.

Several years later, Dunlop was traveling with a mine-clearance team in an area near the Thai border. Refugees were returning from camps in Thailand. While he was waiting for the team that was having a meeting with local leaders to discuss the removal of mines in the area, Dunlop strolled over to a group of people to talk to them. Here’s what he says

A short, wiry man appeared wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the initial ARC (American Refugee Committee). Shaking my hand he politely introduced himself in perfect English as Hang Pan. He told me that he had been a schoolteacher specialising in mathematics and that he had originally come from Phnom Penh and had recently worked in a refugee camp on the Thai border. He had worked with American aid organisations since 1997. He took a keen interest in my Leica and, using this opportunity to photograph the people in the group, I caught him in the frame. Large ears, bad teeth, cropped hair – he had aged a little, but the likeness to the photograph tucked in my back pocket was unmistakable. Hang Pan was Comrade Duch.

Eventually Dunlop was to go back to find Duch to interview him. Duch confessed to his real identity and to his actions. Now, 30 years after he fled from S-21 in advance of the Vietnamese army, he stands trial for his crimes of genocide.

Nic Dunlop has written a book about his quest called The Lost Executioner. A compelling read but I have to stop reading it in bed just before sleep.