After Two Days of Questionable Witness Testimony, Duch Lectured His Former Subordinate: “Just Tell the Truth”

Prosecution and Civil Parties Challenge the Veracity of Mam Nai’s Testimony

Yesterday, judges and lawyers implied not so subtly with their words and their tone that former Tuol Sleng prison (S-21) interrogator Mam Nai was not telling the Trial Chamber the whole truth. While the rights to silence and against self-incrimination have been the focus of much discussion and debate in Mam’s presence, he was also reminded of his obligation to tell the truth and told there were consequences for not doing so. Today, falsehoods were not implied. Rather, they were demonstrated with hundreds of pages of documents in Mam’s handwriting – and there was nothing subtle about it.

In brief, yesterday Mam testified that he interrogated prisoners and elicited their confessions in a house near the S-21 complex by “playing politics,” asking questions repeatedly, and giving prisoners time to “reflect” on their mistakes. He said he did not use torture, was never instructed to use torture, and did not know if others used torture. He claimed that prisoners appeared to be in good health and that he was unaware of their detention conditions or their fates after he wrote out their confessions. He claimed not to have knowledge of major aspects of S-21, such as its staff size and structure, because he pretended to be “blind and deaf” to stay out of trouble and spent his time in his interrogation house alone.

Upon further examination, many of these assertions were successfully discredited. While Mam has maintained that he did not personally torture the prisoners he interrogated, at a February 2008 S-21 re-enactment he took part in along with the ECCC investigating judges and the Accused Person, Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch), Mam stated that he had used “whips and electric wire” in his interrogations. When reminded of this today, Mam exercised his right to remain silent…

Read more: ctm_blog_7-15-2009