Guard at S-21 and Gravedigger at Choeng Ek Testifies

by Socheat Nhean, Documentation Center of Cambodia, Graduate Student of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University
— 10 Aug, 2009

Chhun Phal, age 47, looked simple, innocent, and relaxed as he testified with a smile in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch). After initially giving a statement to the Co-Investigating Judges (CIJs) in early 2008, Chhun Phal, appeared before the ECCC on August 10, 2009, to testify about his experiences as a guard at S-21 and his brief time spent at Choeung Ek, the notorious execution camp colloquially known as “the Killing Fields.”

During the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era, the witness spent most of his time working as a guard at S-21. However, in 1978 before the Vietnamese arrived in Phnom Penh, he was sent to Prey Sar and Choeung Ek where he grew vegetables and worked on the irrigation system. At Choeung Ek the witness was assigned to bury dead prisoners.

In 1975, Duch requested that youth below the age of sixteen from Kampong Chhnang be recruited to work as guards at S-21. Duch wanted young men from poor backgrounds who had no prior contact with political doctrines. However, Chhun Phal did not know that he was recruited as an S-21 guard due a request by Duch. The witness also never met Duch, even while assigned to work at S-21. Today, thirty years after being dismissed from his position as a guard, the witness had a chance to testify in front of his former boss…

Read more: ctm_blog_8-10-2009

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.