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Prak Khan and interrogation at S-21
By Osman Ysa
Fifty-three confessions of Tuol Sleng prisoners held at the
Documentation Center of Cambodia contain the signature of Prak
Khan. Fifty-one documents bear statements by Prak Khan
demonstrating his position as “interrogator”, while the
remaining two indicate “re-writer”. All confessions hold exact
dates of interrogation. In 1976, Prak Khan interrogated five
people. In 1977, he interrogated ten inmates and re-wrote a
prisoner’s confession. In 1978, Prak Khan interrogated 35
prisoners and re-wrote a prisoner’s confession. In early 1979,
before he fled to Thailand, Prak Khan interrogated another
inmate.
The 51
people brought to S-21 for Prak Khan’s interrogation were
arrested in different places and at different times.
Twenty-three of them were Khmer Rouge high-ranking cadre working
in various units, ministries and offices; fifteen were taken
from military ranks; eleven were secretaries of districts and
regions; and the other two were accused of espionage. The
fifty-one people were of different national- ities: forty-two
were Khmer, five were Phnong ethnicity, two were Chinese, one
was Muslim, and one was Vietnamese.
Among
the 53 confessions, two show that Prak Khan started his
interrogation work on September 3, 1976 and finished on January
4, 1979. These dates are possibly valid, albeit they must be
cross-checked against the two-page-long history of Prak Khan
himself. The history reads: “In July 1976, I entered S-21”. In
addition, there are three other confession documents of
significance as they were examined by high-ranking leaders of
Democratic Kampuchea. The three confession documents are: 1)
Thou Hai, sawmill A-5, state-run industry, with a note reading:
“To Comrade Mok”, secretary of Southwest Zone and member of
Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in charge
of the General Staff; 2) Em Min, member of Baray District,
Region 42, Kampong Thom, with a note “To Comrade Pauk”,
secretary of Northern Zone and member of Central Committee and
Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea; 3)
confession document of a prisoner named Eng Meng Heang alias
Chhon, chief of Power Committee Th-28, on which is a note:
“Important. Quickly send it for examination by the ministry so
that no-good elements can be swept cleanly away before we go to
grasp the Ministry of Commerce.”
On each
confession document, Prak Khan made a brief note about
traitorous activities of the confessor. For example, on one he
came to the conclusion that the individual’s “activities and
partisans’ activities were not completely honest. Some high
ranking individuals are still hidden. Systematic account of his
partisans from beginning to end are not clear, for example he
did not mention much about the plots of those whose names appear
above.” Four confessions had been written by Prak Khan for the
prisoners.
That
Prak Khan was involved in torture with the aim of extracting
confessions from inmates is proved by his note: “For these
people I could question them based on principles from the
beginning to end. I didn’t need to beat them”. A “list of
Santebal S-21”, used for political education also evidences his
use of torture: “Interrogation is an insistent issue for those
who want to learn the enemy’s secrets, who try to use tricks so
that they can hide their traitorous activities and their ring
leaders. This is a duty of defending the country with absolute
and boiling class struggle. Torture is a measure to be taken to
suppress the enemy and force them to confess.” Similarly, an
interrogator of Muslim ethnicity in S-21 named “Sim Meil alias
Man’ also used to beat inmates for confession, which resulted in
the deaths of at least four people.
El Him,
currently living in Cham Kraom Village, Prek Thmei Sub-district,
Koh Thom District, Kandal Province, became deaf as a consequence
of a blow from a bamboo stick wielded by a Khmer Rouge
interrogator at Office 18. He recalled: “The interrogator made
me admit my traitorous activities. I replied I had done nothing.
Then they took a bamboo stick to beat me to the point that I
became unconsciousness. Once I woke up, I could not hear. Then
they stopped asking me and asked me to work as office guard
there. Since then, I have been able to hear nothing.” Van Nathh,
a former inmate of S-21 who survived due to his expertise as an
artist, recounted: “I was questioned in a prison in Region 4
before being brought to Tuol Sleng. I did nothing treasonable.
So I had nothing to admit. Then they tortured me with
electricity. The first time I was sitting in a chair, but later
I fell out of the chair and went unconscious. When I regained
consciousness, they threw water on my face so that they could go
on with their interrogation.”
When
asked “Do you think all Khmer Rouge interrogators are vicious?”,
Van Nathh replied: “It’s hard to say. We don’t know their
characteristics. But most of them were young and had no
education.” Van Nath went on to say, “I saw prisoners lying dead
in the room where I was being kept at Tuol Sleng and young
people were kicking the heads of the corpses frivolously for
fun.” Sok Ra and Neou Kantha, interrogators at S-21 like Prak
Khan (later arrested), recalled their unexpected immoral acts
against female inmates.
The
two-paged biography of Prak Khan held in the archive of the
Documentation Center of Cambodia helped me to find Prak Khan.
Many arguments concerning the Khmer Rouge interrogators’
characteristics seem to be no difference. It was almost
unbelievable to meet the former Khmer Rouge interrogator. He is
rather polite and as friendly as other people. Prak Khan gave me
a warm welcome. He invited me to go upstairs and sit on a nice
red carpet. After introducing myself, I showed him his recorded
history and read it in front of him. He admitted that it was
true and that he had written it himself when he first assumed
his position at S-21. Prak Khan detailed his experiences at the
prison. However, he denied his position as an “interrogator”,
despite the document. He recounted, “Before April 17, 1975, I
worked in artillery unit 138 of Division 12 (later known as
Division 703) headed by Ta Nat. After Phnom Penh was captured,
the divisional forces had no more duty to attack enemies. So,
they had to do rice farming. First, I grew rice in the vicinity
of Kra Beou River, Kra Att Ach Kok, maybe in Kandal Stung
District. Then Angkar took me to remove houses along Boeng Tum
Pun Dam. In the rainy season of 1975, Angkar brought me to Prey
Sar (S-12 Kh or Office 24) for rice farming. There I did not do
anything contrary to their principles. One year later, I was
transferred to S-21.”
In his
research on the history of Khmer Rouge cadre at S-21, Ie Meng
Try noted that all Khmer Rouge cadre were thoroughly trained in
political affairs and strategy at military units in Ta Khmao,
Boeng Tum Pun, and Prey Sar. Prak Khan never mentioned anything
about any political sessions or strategy indoctrinations. He did
recount; “I worked as security guard in the compound of S-21 for
five or six months. I suffered an infection from my old,
poorly-healed wound received during the fighting with Lon Nol
soldiers. I then suffered half-body beriberi, could not see
clearly with one eye, and could not breath properly with both
lungs. Angkar took me to be hospitalized in Ketomelea Hospital
and Monivong Hospital, where I was treated by Chinese doctors. I
did not leave the hospital until the arrival of Vietnamese
troops in 1979.” Prak Khan insisted repeatedly: “I worked as
security guard of S-21 for only five or six month and then
sometime in 1977 I was hospitalized.” When showed a prisoner’s
confession, Khan uttered with surprise, “Oh, I can remember now.
Some prisoners’ scripts were very elegant, but some other’s were
not. I was asked to rewrite the confessions, while for others
they used a typewriter. Then I just put my name as interrogator
and sent it to others. That’s it.” However, the script in the
confession documents are not the same as his.
When
asked whether there were any Muslim ethnicity working at Tuol
Sleng, he replied, “I knew Man (Sim Mel alias Man), who was a
Muslim. The contemptible Man beat prisoners to death, which
resulted in his own arrest and death as he could not get the
complete responses from the beaten prisoners.” Based on the
‘list of smashing’, Man was smashed on April 30, 1978. Prak Khan
said, “I left S-21 in 1977, so I did not know any more.”
However, Khan learned about the date of Man’s execution on April
30, 1978. “I also was in S-21 when I heard Man was killed,”
asserted Khan.
The
fifty-one confession documents (dated from September 3, 1976 to
January 4, 1979) bear the name and signature of Prak Khan as
“Interrogator”. Prak Khan’s wife sitting next to him stated, “I
have never known what he did in Pol Pot’s time as we got married
after 1979. Since then he has never told me about this.”
Prak Khan has never admitted his
wrongdoing directly, but he expressed his remorse; “I have
experienced bitterness. Since then I have never committed such
evil activities. I do acts of merit. At that time their rule
required me to do so. Now I realize my mistakes. I will never
commit such acts again. I know it is a big thing, so big that I
cannot say even a word. Now I hate guns so much. I will not
accept it although some people may give me.”
Currently, Prak Khan is 44. He is head of a big household with
five children. The whole family lives in a remote village in
Takeo province. He does both business and farming. The family is
now living at an average standard. Prak Khan and his wife are
very friendly and villagers are fond of them. No one has learned
of the bitter history of Prak Khan or his past. In conclusion,
Prak Khan affirmed, “One day I will be a witness in case that a
tribunal is held. There is nothing to be afraid of, as it is
true. I will say what I have seen.”
So what
is justice for Prak Khan?
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