Victim Families Refuse to Forgive Duch

The first civil party to testify this morning in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch) was Chum Sirath. He lost two of his brothers, his sister-in-law, and her unborn child during the period of Democratic Kampuchea. He was in Europe on April 17, 1975, when Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge. He decided not to return home for fear of being arrested by the Khmer Rouge as an enemy of the regime. Instead he moved to France and was granted French citizenship.

The rest of his family was not so lucky. His family was very poor but they were a very happy family. His parents wanted to educate their children so that their children could lead a better life. Chum Sirath had been awarded a scholarship to study in France from 1960 until 1968. His younger brother, also a bright student, was awarded a similar scholarship during that time, but he decided not to travel to France so that he could take care of his family. As a primary school teacher, he was the breadwinner of the family.

On October 29, 1976, Chum Sirath’s two brothers and sister-in-law were arrested and sent to Tuol Sleng prison (S-21) for allegedly opposing the system of collectivization. His brothers were 28 and 33 years old, and like virtually every other prisoner at S-21, they never made it out alive. Chum Sirath visited S-21 upon his first return to Cambodia in October 1993 and found a record that one of his brothers had been executed on the first of January, 1977. The name of his other brother also appeared in the detention records of S-21 but no date of entry or death was ever recorded…

Read more: ctm_blog_8-20-2009