Tuol Sleng Prisoner Spared to Paint and Sculpt Pol Pot

  • by Laura MacDonald, Member of the New York Bar and Consultant to the Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law
  • — 29 Jun, 2009

Over 500 observers, including hundreds of villagers from Kandal province, packed the public gallery today to hear the testimony of Vann Nath, one of the few survivors of Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21.

In over four hours of testimony, a powerful story unfolded in which an innocent artist from Battambang had the great misfortune of spending a year at S-21 and only survived because Pol Pot wanted his portrait painted and his likeness sculpted. 63 year old Vann Nath, who is in poor health, was calm and largely unemotional throughout his testimony. He gave the impression of objectivity because he recalled minute details of his personal experiences but did not speculate on matters he did not see or learn about directly. He never seemed to look in the direction of S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch), but Duch could not seem to take his eyes off of him…

Read more: ctm_blog_6-29-2009

Cambodia Tribunal Monitor’s Trial Observer posts are written according to the personal observations and opinions of the writer and do not constitute a transcript of ECCC proceedings or the views of Cambodia Tribunal Monitor and/or its partners. Official court transcripts for the ECCC’s hearings may be accessed at the ECCC website.

To access Trial Observer posts prior to 2013,
please visit our Archived Site.