CAMBODIA. Kambol (Phnom Penh). 9/04/2009: Testimony of Francois Bizot, author of Le Portail (The Gate), on 7th day of Kaing Guek Eav trial at the ECCC. ©John Vink/ Magnum.Ka-set
By Stéphanie Gée
10-04-2009
he fact that Frenchman François Bizot, who is currently the first witness to come forward at the trial of former Khmer Rouge torturer Duch, became aware of the duality of the S-21 head does not stain the nice image he described about the man who detained him for nearly three months at M-13 in 1971. The EFEO (Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient - French School for East Asian studies, Paris) researcher, however, insisted on Thursday April 9th on clearing any misunderstanding before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and was careful not to set himself up as another lawyer for Duch. After him, a Cambodian survivor from the same detention camp painted a much darker picture of M-13 and its supervisor.
“There is no forgiveness whatsoever”
François Bizot may be approaching the trial with the aim of understanding the complexity of the human soul and, beyond that, of the Khmer Rouge tragedy, but he does not for all that allow himself to claim the status of victim. “Trying to understand is not trying to forgive”, the Frenchman stresses. “It seems to me that there is no forgiveness whatsoever here. Forgiving in the name of whom? Of those who died? I don’t think so. And the horror of what has been done to Cambodia, which is unfortunately not exclusive to this poor country, is unspeakable horror. And the cry of victims must be heard without ever thinking of it as excessive, the hardest words we may use against the accused are words which will never be hard enough. This is not about willing to forgive what was done, but it is about, from my own approach – which has no reason for being that of victims – trying to understand the tragedy which took place in the forests of Cambodia...”
According to the researcher, forgiveness is not accessible, but relief for victims proves as hard to find. “If I try to put myself in the place of survivors and those who died under or after torture [as a Civil Party lawyer asked him to do], I think that the mechanism that might be mine in order to relieve my constant suffering, my hatred, would be to feel even, to be able to see that I get something out of the suffering which is today inflicted on the accused. However, I wonder about the possibility for victims to find any relief today, within the realms of possibility...”
Release was achieved via human bonds
François Bizot owes his life to Duch. And this is here a part of his own tragedy. During the hearing, François Bizot mentions again the process which according to him allowed a happy end for his detention by the Khmer Rouge. “If I myself got from that ordeal of incarceration a shock that I cannot forget, which is to have seen the man behind the executioner, I think that [Duch] did with me what no torturer should do, and in a way, this is also because he was led to see the man behind the spy, the man behind the prisoner. And one of the reasons which led Duch to consider my case with the attention he did not have for other cases of prisoners who were presented to him in the camp might also be that those interrogations lasted for so long that they created a sort of human bond between us. By doing so, sending someone to death became a lot more difficult than sending to death people he did not want to humanise.”
Duch’s room for manoeuvre was “null”
The international co-Lawyer for Duch particularly worked on pointing out in the defendant’s written declarations, quotes which in a certain way minimised the liability of the former director of M-13 and later S-21 supervisor, by presenting him as an element in a machinery which he could not escape. In his book entitle The Gate, as Mr. Roux recalls, François Bizot indicates that “Duch only obeyed orders given by Angkar. Similarly, you told Investigating Judges: ‘I think his room for manoeuvre was absolutely null. His only job was to collect information from people who were arrested and on whom he drafted reports. These people were from then on condemned and the point was to make them talk before executing them, so as to as to show that their arrest was worthwhile.” You also said: ‘the Khmer Rouge regime was a terror regime and it was probably very difficult for those who had a position within it to backtrack’”.
The witness, echoing excerpts from the Statement of Offence, repeated that it was “not his business any more to prove or show that this Khmer Rouge regime was a regime of terror, and as far as I am concerned and about my release, there was not a single moment when I saw that this type of decisions was taken at Duch’s level as he had to refer them to his superiors”.
Cynicism on the part of Duch...
Opposite, for his part, the international co-Prosecutor emphasises extracts in François Bizot’s book which betray the perverse nature of Duch. He quotes two anecdotes from The Gate which are to him an account of the mental torture inflicted on prisoners. In his book, the EFEO researcher recounts that Duch allowed himself to make a tacky joke by announcing him that he had been unmasked as a spy. The Frenchman, distraught and angry, fell down on his knees in front of him and the camp supervisor then told him it was a joke and that he was going to be released soon… Co-Prosecutor Robert Petit then quotes another similar example he found in the book, thus taking François Bizot by surprise and having him say: “I should have read my book again before coming here; I can’t remember what I wrote!”
The second witness is called up. Ouch Son, 72, was detained at M-13 for a year and also describes the cynical trend of Duch. He recounts having once seen Duch beating a female detainee with a whip, slapping her posterior and starting to laugh in front of the sight of the woman lying on the ground, writhing in pain. “I was very scared of Duch”, he later declares, “I did not dare come into contact with him, I did not dare look at him. [...] But I am not scared of him any more today, he is a toothless tiger!”
The 72 year-old, during his moving account, told about the M-13 detention centre, where “not a day went by without prisoners dying”, where dogs dug bodies up – they had not been buried deep enough underground as prisoners were too weak physically to dig deep - , and scattered bones and human remains around the camp, where he witnessed summary executions of prisoners, and particularly that of a woman who suffered blows that were supposed to be deadly. She passed out and was eventually buried alive in a grave dug up especially for that purpose...
Duch, impassive and unshaken
At the beginning, Ouch Son finds it hard to see the accused. The camera zooms on Duch and he recognises him, at last. As for Duch, he does not remember the face of the former detainee. The survivor concludes his testimony by saying he is “very happy that this tribunal tries to establish the truth and the responsibilities of the crimes committed during the era of Democratic Kampuchea”. “I wish justice to be given to Cambodians who survived this horrible tragedy!”
Duch is then invited to confront the testimony of the former detainee. “Of course I did not know him before and I see him for the first time today; I understand his testimony is the reflection of his suffering.” He reckons the witness’ account is “essentially true” generally speaking, but adds that it is not exempt of inaccuracies or mistakes. Thus, he denies having beaten a female detainee, having “spanked” her or having laughed at her pain. “When I beat, I made sure that no detainee could see me. Then, I never hit a woman...” The witness confirms he did see the scene and makes the account of it once again. Duch puts his hands before him and shrugs out of surprise, his face showing wincing incredulity, at which the audience laughs. Dogs digging up bodies? Duch points out that dogs were not very numerous in that area... Is the number of deaths in the camp claimed by the witness correct? Duch assures that figures given by Ouch are excessive...
The trial ends and will only resume on Monday April 20th, as Cambodia will celebrate next week the coming of the Khmer New Year.
The fate of François Bizot’s assistants
François Bizot’s two Cambodian assistants, who were arrested at the same time as him and were also transferred to M-13, did not come back alive from the Khmer Rouge hell. The researcher could not obtain their release when his own was pronounced. Duch explained to him that they were free, but as they were Cambodian, they must stay within the Khmer Rouge area. They died in a camp other than M-13.
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