Duch's Week at Tribunal Stirs Anger
Phnom Penh residents said they supported the tribunal, but they want justice as soon as possible. (29 February 2008)
When some residents of Phnom Penh heard Duch was to be taken to Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, on radio and on television, it stirred in them old anger. They said Friday they want Duch tried, along with four other jailed Khmer Rouge leaders, as soon as possible. "We don't want to take revenge against Duch and the other Khmer Rouge leaders, but I support the punishment of the Khmer Rogue leaders, and want them to know what they've done wrong in the past," said Uk Dy, 45, a taxi driver in the capital. This week, Duch toured the Choeung Ek "killing fields" and Tuol Sleng prison--which he directed under the Khmer Rouge--with tribunal judges and witnesses. On Thursday and Friday, witnesses confronted the former prison chief in two days of confidential proceedings. Leang Eng, 47, a cart vendor of sweet cakes, said she shook with anger when she heard Duch was visiting Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng, because she believes her two brothers were executed after imprisonment in Tuol Sleng, and she knows he was in control. "I want the Khmer Rouge tribunal to seriously punish Duch and the other Khmer Rouge leaders for their past crimes," she said. "Seriously. Seriously." "I hate Duch, killing his Cambodian countrymen," said Var Ieng Leang, 56, a housewife. "I am very angry at him, and I can't forget the history of the Khmer Rouge killing fields, because my relatives were killed during that time. I have kept in my deep hatred for the Khmer Rouge leaders, but I cannot do anything against them. But I will let the Khmer Rouge tribunal punish them, in conformity with the law."