PHNOM PENH, July 1 KYODO
A survivor of a Khmer Rouge torture center in Phnom Penh in the late 1970s testified Wednesday that he survived only by painting portraits of then Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Bou Meng, 68, the third victim to testify in the U.N.-backed trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders, said that shortly after his arrest and incarceration at the S-21 torture center in 1977, he offered his painting skills to the center's chief Kaing Guek Ieu, better known as Duch, in exchange for his survival.
Duch, who is now on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, told him he would be killed and used as fertilizer if he failed to paint a good enough portrait of Pol Pot from a small photo presented to him. ''My life is saved until today because of my paintings of Pol Pot portraits,'' he told the presiding judge when asked how he was able to escape the fate of most of those who were incarcerated at the center.
Vann Nath, 63, another victim told the court Monday that he also survived by painting. On Tuesday, Chum Mey, 76, said he was spared because of his usefulness as a mechanic. Bou Meng said he painted four Pol Pot portraits as well as those of a number of other foreign leaders including China 's Mao Zedong. He said Duch also ordered him to paint a caricature of the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.
Bou Meng was arrested along with his wife, who subsequently disappeared and is believed to have been killed. He asked Duch to help him find out where she might be buried so that he could collect some soil from that site to use in praying for the repose of her soul in the Buddhist way.
In response, Duch referred the question to one of his former subordinates who will appear in the court at a later date, saying that person directly handled the movement of prisoners from place to place. Duch wept as he spoke about Bou Meng's wife. Like the other two victims who have already testified in the court, Bou Meng said he was shackled and tortured. He said interrogators accused him of being a CIA or KGB spy.
''I felt such pain at the time and I have had many scars on my back and shoulders as of now,'' he said.
In his concluding statement at the court, Bou Meng said he wants justice rendered to him and all other Khmer Rouge victims.
Duch is the first of five Khmer Rouge leaders to be tried at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. He has admitted that he was responsible for the deaths of at least 12,380 prisoners while S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng, was under his command. The Khmer Rouge are blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.
Kyodo July 01, 2009
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