Cambodian Meo Soknen, 13, stands inside a small shrine full of human bones and skulls, all victims of the Khmer Rouge, near her home in the Kandal Steung district of Kandal province, Cambodia.
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch and a leader of the genocidal Khmer Rouge says he ordered the recruitment of young peasants and trained them to be torturers and killers.
"The initiative to recruit staff was mine. We did not use the word 'killing office', they were invited to do revolutionary work. And what was the revolutionary work at the time? It was killing," Duch told the court.
A reported 15,000 people died in the prison during the three-year rule of the communist Khmers in Cambodia.
The 66-year-old, who faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder, told a hearing at the UN-sponsored Cambodia Tribunal that uneducated young staff were "like a blank piece of paper" whom he could instruct to extract confessions of spying from prisoners under torture and then kill them.
The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 after a five-year civil war with the military-led government, which had in March 1970 launched a successful coup against the then head of state, prince Norodom Sihanouk.
In a bid to transform Cambodia which had been renamed by the regime to Kampuchea into an agrarian heaven, the Khmers forced city dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects.
The Khmers, during their three-year rule, slaughtered over 1.5 million people. Whole families were killed in executions; starvation, disease and overwork also took its toll on the nation.
Despite the enormous amount of suffering caused by the genocide, little action has been taken so far to mete out justice in support of those who have fallen victim to the slaughter.
Courtesy: Press TV
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch and a leader of the genocidal Khmer Rouge says he ordered the recruitment of young peasants and trained them to be torturers and killers."The initiative to recruit staff was mine. We did not use the word 'killing office', they were invited to do revolutionary work. And what was the revolutionary work at the time? It was killing," Duch told the court.
A reported 15,000 people died in the prison during the three-year rule of the communist Khmers in Cambodia.
The 66-year-old, who faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder, told a hearing at the UN-sponsored Cambodia Tribunal that uneducated young staff were "like a blank piece of paper" whom he could instruct to extract confessions of spying from prisoners under torture and then kill them.
The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 after a five-year civil war with the military-led government, which had in March 1970 launched a successful coup against the then head of state, prince Norodom Sihanouk.
In a bid to transform Cambodia which had been renamed by the regime to Kampuchea into an agrarian heaven, the Khmers forced city dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects.
The Khmers, during their three-year rule, slaughtered over 1.5 million people. Whole families were killed in executions; starvation, disease and overwork also took its toll on the nation.Despite the enormous amount of suffering caused by the genocide, little action has been taken so far to mete out justice in support of those who have fallen victim to the slaughter.
Courtesy: Press TV
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