Reconstruction

With this chapter, the book moves from the midpoint of the trial to the closing arguments. The civil parties went first, with lawyers summarizing the testimony of a number of survivors and indirect victims during the trial. Of particular importance was the testimony of the four living survivors of S-21, Vann Nath, Bou Meng, Chum Mey, and Norng Chanphal, all of whom testified during one week at the midpoint of the trial. As the civil parties’ lawyers reminded the court during the closings, these men’s testimony, especially that of Vann Nath, undercut some of Duch’s key claims, including his claims that he rarely visited the prison and did not hear the screams of prisoners, even though he acknowledged visiting the prisoner artisan workshop on occasion. Bou Meng also testified that Duch once ordered another prisoner and Bou Meng to fight. Drawing on these narratives and the stories of indirect victims whose relatives had been killed at S-21, the civil party lawyers made it clear that they thought that Duch, even though he had spoken quite frequently, was not telling the full truth, only what there was already documentary evidence proving.

This chapter provides an overview of the prosecution’s arguments about Duch, whom they characterized as a zealot who fervently carried out orders. As opposed to being a cog in the machine, they argued, he displayed initiative. His handwriting, they reminded the court, was all over the documentary evidence. While this chapter, in keeping with the book’s ethnodramatic style, highlights the testimony of the prosecution, it also explores the production of juridical truth, which is calibrated to accord with a legal frame that matches evidence to components of the law, thereby suggesting criminality and a black-and-white decision of guilt. Behind the scenes, there is a flow of information, much of it on electronic databases, that drives the process.