Duch visiting the “sites”

Today Cambodia made it to the headlines. Just saw a report on the BBC about the site visits made by Duch at the Tuol Seng prison and at the mass grave at Choeung Ek. The report talks about Comrade Duch being emotional, saying a prayer and weeping at both sites.

I am really sorry, but weeping and being “emotional” just simply is not enough. The man run the Tuol Seng where more than 15,000 person were tortured and killed. Barely anyone escaped the killing/torturing machine masterminded by Duch. Head of children were smashed to tree trunk at Choeung Ek and don’t really want to go into more details about torture methods used in Tuol Seng. And Duch’s best is weeping.

I still remember his “portrait” in Nic Dunlop’s book, which by the way is one of the best written on the topic. Maybe working for humanitarian agencies was Duch idea of penitence?

I really and truly wonder what he must feel now. Standing there in the box, being photographed and written about, soon to stand trial. On the TV he just had a stone face. Does he feel remorse at all? Does he remember any prisoners? Does he still hear the screams when he awakes at night? Does he have any nightmares? I hope yes. Probably that is not much consolation for the survivors and families of the victims, but it is still something.

The confession of Hu Nim (a former senior figure in the Khmer government) obtained after torture ended with the following words: “I am not a human being, I’m an animal”. I wonder who is the “animal” here? No need to answer, this was just a rhetorical question.