Khmer Rouge Child Survivor Speaks Out
Norng Chan Phal, now a 38-year-old father of two, was eight when the Vietnamese stormed into Phnom Penh to end the Khmer Rouge reign of
On the eve of the first ever trial for crimes committed under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, a previously unknown survivor from a notorious torture camp has emerged, 30 years on, to tell his story. "Because they (the S-21 guards) were in a rush one Khmer Rouge soldier came back to find us but because he was in a rush he could not find us. I hid there and hoped my mum would come and find us there." Norng Chan Phal was one of five children found by a Vietnamese camera team who stumbled upon the abandoned S-21 prison in January 1979, following the Vietnamese invasion that overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Ho Van Tay, was the Vietnamese cameraman who discovered the torture camp. "We were really shocked when we entered some of the cells. We saw women's bodies which were still shackled to a very large iron pole. This showed the brutality of the Khmer Rouge." At a news conference in Phnom Penh on Monday (February 16 2009) he wept as he recalled seeing his mother kicked and pushed by the camp guards- he did not see her again. "Whenever I go to Tuol Sleng I think of my mum and I am shocked because I see the place where she was kicked. The guard kicked her from behind and pushed her hard. Whenver I remember I am still so shocked." Duch, who converted to Christianity, has asked for forgiveness from his victims. His trial is expected to last up to 4 months.