What Does It Take To Be A Mass-Murderer?
By: Tom Stevenson
Tags: Genocide, War, Murder, History, Cambodia

Duch’s story is a remarkable one, the maths teacher turned brutal prison commandant responsible for the deaths of an estimated 12,000 people.

His evasion of Cambodian and international authorities for twenty years, before being brought to justice for his part in one of the most harrowing episodes of the twentieth century is a tale of justice finally being served.

Ironically, the former maths teacher was in charge of the most notorious prison, S-21, before the rise of the Khmer Rouge when it had been a school.

Within the confined walls of S-21, Duch wielded all the power and was in charge of the prisoner’s lives. He had the final say over whether they would be executed or whether they would remain in their cramped cells.

Though Duch was not a high-ranking official within the Khmer Rouge, he was single-handedly responsible for the loss of thousands of lives. The licence that he was permitted within the S-21 prison was terrifying.

Numerous torture techniques were perfected by Duch’s men, including the horrific ordeal of waterboarding, where the prisoner was immobilised with their heads facing downwards. Water was then poured over their head causing the prisoner to feel as if they were drowning.

The levels of Duch’s scrupulousness were absurd; he set aside days for killing specific types of people. One day he would kill the wives of enemies, the next children and another for factory workers.

Not only was Duch’s brutality astounding, but so was his documentation of the atrocities that took place within the prison. Every prisoner who entered S-21 was photographed, and this was also the case before they died. When the Khmer Rouge fell in 1979, Duch was ordered to destroy his documentation of the prisoners; he forgot and was subsequently demoted.

The photographs of the victims now adorn the walls of the prison, which is a memorial to the atrocities that occurred there.

Such was the brutal nature of S-21 that there are only thought to be seven known survivors of the prison, from the estimated 15,000 that perished there. This minuscule number highlights the brutality and viciousness that Duch and his men orchestrated within the walls of the S-21 prison.

During the early years of the prison, corpses were buried, however, due to the profligacy of the prison in exterminating its prisoners, they had to be transported to the Choeung Ek extermination centre by the end of 1979.

When the Khmer Rouge collapsed in 1979, Duch and his men fled S-21 and the capital Phnom Penh and retreated to the border with Thailand. Duch managed to avoid the authorities for twenty years taking on different aliases and even returning to teaching.

He was eventually tracked down in 1999 and he handed himself over to the authorities after his discovery.

Following the death of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in captivity in 1998, Duch became the first perpetrator to be tried for his part in the Cambodian genocide. He was charged with “personally overseeing the systematic torture of more than 15,000 prisoners.”

Throughout his trial, Duch constantly pled for forgiveness, stating that he felt “heartfelt sorrow” for the crimes he had committed and was willing to co-operate fully with the tribunal. He was also taken to the scene of his crimes where he broke down in tears.

Duch’s trial was significant as he was the first person connected to the genocide to be tried and subsequently charged for his part in the genocide. The fact it took nearly thirty years for him to be tried was not ideal, but it’s a sign that you can’t run from your past.