002/19-09-2007-ECCC-OCIJ ЮŲŠ / No: D427
the prisoners.1880 Apart from cases in which S-21 made arrests as described below, Duch was
notified that prisoners were due to arrive through lists, which were prepared and sent by Son
Sen, Nuon Chea or Ken alias Lin.1881
435.
S-21 personnel themselves sometimes made arrests.1882 According to Him Huy, where S-21
made arrests outside its premises, but within Phnom Penh, there were two possible scenarios:
either his unit made the arrest, or, if the arrest had already been made, his unit was only
responsible for the transfer of the prisoners to S-21.1883 Him Huy states that he was dispatched
from Phnom Penh on several occasions to bring prisoners to S-21, and in each of these cases,
Duch gave him a list of the people to be arrested.1884 Duch states that whenever necessary, a
special S-21 unit left Phnom Penh bearing an order issued by the Central Committee and a
special pass signed by Son Sen, authorising it to bring prisoners back to S-21. However, he
adds that this system was subsequently discontinued.1885 Furthermore, Duch explains that he
was sometimes consulted and was involved in the planning of arrests, particularly when it
involved arresting a large number of people within one unit, or when the persons to be
arrested were prominent members of the Party.1886 Lastly, the arrests of some important
persons, such as Koy Thuon and Pang, took place in Duch’s house.1887
436.
Duch indicates that when the decision to make an arrest was made, secrecy and trickery were
mandatory in order to avoid leaks, and prevent any attempts to resist, especially when a large
number of people had to be arrested in the same location.1888 In such cases, according to
Duch, he asked Hor to speak to the head of the unit and urged him to “calm the staff” and
make sure that he was methodical in making the arrests.1889
Arrest of Vietnamese civilians and soldiers
437.
The Arrest of Vietnamese civilians and soldiers generally took place in the main conflict zone
(along the border with Vietnam) or nearby.1890 Former military commander [REDACTED]
says: “all of the Vietnamese soldiers who were captured along the border near Svay Rieng
and Prey Veng Provinces were sent to Phnom Penh. Initially, they were sent to Rèn At the
decision headquarters, and he decided what was to be done with them … I think this group
was sent to Duch at S-21, but I am not certain, because at that time we seemed to be in a dark
world; many things happened that we did not know about, and movement was extremely
strict”.1891
438.
It appears that at least some, if not all,1892 of the Vietnamese civilians and soldiers arrested in
the main conflict zone were detained at S-21. Duch explains that he was only informed of
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, National Road 4, Choam Chao, Dangkao Phnom Penh
Mailing address: P.O. Box 71, Phnom Penh; Tel: +855(0)23 218914 Fax: +855(0) 23 218941.
113
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents