Khmer Rouge survivor testifies

[Coventina]

Source: BBC

One of the few survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime's notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre has testified at a UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia.

Van Nath described how hunger had driven him to eat insects, and said he had also eaten the food beside corpses of starved fellow prisoners.

He was appearing at the trial of the man who ran the prison, Comrade Duch.

About 15,000 people were detained at Tuol Sleng in the late 1970s, but only seven are thought to have survived.

Van Nath has been waiting for his day in court for 30 years.

The tribunal has already heard plenty from Comrade Duch himself - as well as a number of expert witnesses.

But according to the BBC's Guy DeLauney in Phnom Penh, Van Nath can provide a unique perspective, as one of only three men still alive who know what it is like to have been a prisoner at Tuol Sleng.

"The conditions were so inhumane and the food was so little," Van Nath told the tribunal, as he broke down in tears. "I even thought eating human flesh would be a good meal."





Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8123541.stm

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Pleae read the entire article.

Thank you.

[endless october]

1. i worked with a guy who grew up in Cambodia.

he had some pretty intense stories about living in an agrarian village. told me about how multiple families were forced to share a couple dishes. slave labor, even for the children.

nice guy, very happy, but he would get very angry when speaking of pol pot. with good reason. i can't even imagine.

[Stuart G]

2. K and R thanks for posting this.

[Stuart G]

3. Such a Sad Story in the History of Humans..Will it ever stop? nt