002/19-09-2007-ECCC-OCIJ ЮŲŠ / No: D427 watch by armed guards1918 and received very strict instructions to avoid any escape attempts.1919 Although a number of former guards have stated that they were not allowed to strike detainees,1920 this rule was not always followed.1921 443. Prisoners were not allowed to talk amongst themselves1922 or to the guards.1923 Upon arrival at S-21, they were forced to strip to their underwear.1924 They were prohibited from exercising, or from leaving their cells.1925 The prisoners had no beds,1926 and most of them had to sleep on the bare concrete floor.1927 Many detainees suffered greatly from mosquito bites.1928 The detainees were not authorized to wash themselves under adequate conditions of hygiene,1929 and “washing up” consisted of spraying the room with water, using a hosepipe from the doorway.1930 Confined to their cells, detainees urinated and defecated in the jerry-cans and ammunition boxes provided.1931 444. Food was insufficient and inadequate,1932 and the prisoners were malnourished.1933 Only guards and important prisoners were better fed than the others.1934 These conditions caused significant physical deterioration1935 and a number of prisoners died as a result.1936 Duch explains that decisions regarding food were made by the “higher echelon” and that he was not allowed to change the set rations. According to him, the practice of denying the detainees food was based on deliberate CPK policy.1937 445. Many of the prisoners suffered from illnesses and wounds. Basic medical care1938 was provided by a small “medical” team,1939 which had not studied medicine, and worked without the supervision of doctors.1940 Many prisoners who needed urgent medical assistance were left uncared for, or were given inadequate treatment.1941 Medicine stocks were extremely limited, and when there were any at all, the medicines were manufactured locally by unqualified persons.1942 S-21 employees also conducted medical experiments on prisoners.1943 446. A small number of detainees were forced to work within the S-21 premises. They were employed in the mechanics’ and artists’ workshops, working long hours, under the constant watch of guards, without freedom of movement and under the threat of punishment if they failed to produce what was considered satisfactory work.1944 Witnesses state that there was a slight improvement in their food, and their general detention conditions, once they began to work.1945 447. Prisoners lived in constant fear of being punished, taken away, beaten, interrogated and executed.1946 The living conditions described above led to the death of detainees in many 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. 115