By CHHENG Sambo
Phnom Penh,ECCC–Kaing Guek Eav, a Khmer Rouge torture chief better known as Comrade Duch told the khmer rouge tribunal he denies to recognize Lay Chan, the 6th witness who claims as a victim at S-21, while he and his lawyer have not found any specific evident to be proofed on Jul.07, 2009.
This is the second time that Duch and his lawyer refused not to recognized Lay Chan as a witness at S-21.
Duch’s denying, a head of the Toul Sleng torture center, claimed that he have never heard the name of Mith, friend, Lay Chan even his background was not available at S-21.
He confirmed to the court and added that according to the interrogation from the judge and the criminal plaintiff lawyers Lay Chan said he was also one of the victim at S-21 who was released after the three months detaining and torturing. As a result, Duch rejected Lay Chan’s statement by adding that no-one could survive from S-21 after the interrogation. So Duch briefed that Mith Lay Chan was not a victim at S-21.
However, Ka Savuth, Duch’s lawyer, called Lay Chan’s statement to khmer rough tribunal as a misunderstanding as well as he may had been apprehended somewhere else beside S-21.
The lawyer, Ka Savuth, brought up the cases that Lay Chan confirmed he did heard the guardian talked to each other the place where he was detained in Toul Sleng prison while he was in the dark room. As the word “Toul Sleng prison”, Ka Savuth had the reaction to Lay Chan by saying that during the Pol Pot time most of the people knew Toul Sleng prison as S-21 and those people only called S-21 then when Lay Chan said like that it was not true.
Ka Savuth also rejected one another statement said by Lay Chan that he was detained in a small place with a low height which maked him difficult to stand up. In contrary, Ka Savuth said formerly S-21 detaining was a school building which Pol Pot used as a prison. And he also recognized that the room was small but the height to the room was so hight so to what Lay Chan said was wrong.
In the response to the lawyer, Ka Savuth, Lay Chan just said he could not remember everything well because at that time he was shackled, and blinded fold. However, Lay Chan still confirmed he was really a victim at S-21.
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