Brutal Horrors of Communism come to light: Trial of Cambodian Mass Murderer Comrade Duch

"I had to implement the policies of the Communist Party"

Libertarian-Conservative journalist Paul Chesser is reporting on the trial of the Khmer Rouge's Chief Prison-Keeper, Kaing Guek Eav. 30 years later, the top lieutenants of Pol Pot's murderous regime are finally going to trial. And Guek Eav, known as "Comarade Duch," is the first.

Chesser quotes from an AP story two days ago:

Duch, the first of five senior cadres to face trial for the 1975-79 reign of terror in which 1.7 million Cambodians died, said he accepted responsibility for the children's deaths but was following orders.

"When children arrived at the center I gave the order to kill them because we were afraid those children would take revenge," the 66-year-old told the court.

"I had to implement the policy of the Communist party," said the former chief of the S-21 interrogation center where more than 14,000 men, women and children were killed.

Duch, 66, is being tried by a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions.

Curiously, references to the Communist Party were taken out of later versions of the AP story. And then this grissly account:

"I am criminally responsible for killing babies, young children and teenagers," Duch told the tribunal, never mentioning if he had personally carried out such killings. He referred to photographs he was shown by the tribunal of a technique executioners used to kill child victims by bashing their heads against tree trunks."

Note - Photos from the Tuol Seng Genocide Museum outside of Phnom Penh. Photo - Left is of the actual execution site.