Detained Khmer Rouge jailer Duch wept yesterday for the victims of Cambodia's 1970s genocide as he re-enacted his alleged crimes for a UN-backed tribunal at the regime's most notorious killing field, a court official said.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last visited the Choeung Ek execution site outside the capital Phnom Penh nearly 30 years ago, while he oversaw the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison.
The 65-year-old former math teacher, who was seized by Cambodian authorities in 1999 and held at a military prison until his transfer to the tribunal on July 31, is charged with crimes against humanity over his role at Tuol Sleng
PHOTO: EPA
The reconstruction of his actions before tribunal judges was a normal part of the genocide tribunal's ongoing investigation, officials said.
"An on-site investigation or `reconstruction' is a normal investigative action, the aim of which is to clarify the declarations by each of the participants by gathering photos, audio-visual recordings and creating material for use in 3D reconstructions," the tribunal said in a statement.
Tuol Sleng was the Khmer Rouge's main torture center, where some 16,000 men, women and children were brutalized under Duch's alleged supervision before being murdered during the regime's repeated purges of its ranks.
Most of those killed at the prison were dumped into mass graves at Choeung Ek, which is now one of Cambodia's most macabre tourist attractions.
Duch, who has not denied his role at Tuol Sleng, walked court officials through the site, "explaining what happened when he was in power," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.
Four former Tuol Sleng guards were also present as witnesses and were able to speak with their one-time boss, who was escorted to Choeung Ek under heavy guard.
"I cannot tell the details of what they said, but it was very significant," Reach Sambath said, adding that Duch broke down twice in tears during the nearly four hours that he was at Choeung Ek.
At one point Duch knelt to pray before a tree whose trunk was reportedly used to bash out the brains of infants.
At the end of the session, Duch -- a born-again Christian -- also prayed before a towering glass-walled stupa containing thousands of skulls dug out of Choeung Ek's burial pits, many of which are still littered with human remains.
"He asked to pray for those victims who had died and you could see from his eyes that he was very emotional ... We could see the tears coming down," Reach Sambath said.
Yesterday's re-enactment and a similar reconstruction of Duch's actions scheduled for today at Tuol Sleng are not open to the public, but are being recorded and could eventually be released, the officials said.
The tribunal, which convened in July 2006, is investigating atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975 to 1979 rule.
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