CHUM Mey, alias Mei
Pseudonym: 2-TCCP-243
Cases: Case 002/02
Category: Civil Party
Background and role
Chum Mey was a mechanic repairing tractors and vehicles in Phnom Penh before April 1975.
1
Because of his knowledge and skills to repair vehicles, around 15 days after the evacuation in 1975, he came back to work in Phnom Penh as a mechanic.
2
He initially worked at Ruessei Keo, and in late 1976, moved to Ou Ruessei market to train people to repair sewing machines.
3
He was brought in and detained at S-21 from October 1978 to 7 January 1979.
4
Chum Mey testified as a Civil Party before the Trial Chamber in Case 002/02 on the S-21 Security Centre.
S-21 Security Centre
Chum Mey testified that, at the end of October 1978, he was brought to S-21 on a Lambretta with two other people from the sewing unit at Ou Ruessei market by a female comrade named “Vann” and an individual named “Lin” under the pretence that he would be sent to go to repair vehicles in Vietnam.
5
The Trial Chamber concluded that, despite the absence of his photograph among the S-21 detainees and the fact that he did not know the names of other people who were brought to S-21 from his unit, Chum Mey’s testimony was credible and reliable, and that he was detained at S-21 and survived.
6
The Trial Chamber cited his testimony and other evidence to find that detainees were arrested and transferred to S-21 from a number of locations and zones across Cambodia.
7
Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch) was the S-21 chief.
8
Upon Chum Mey’s arrival, Lin, an S-21 guard, came to handcuff him.
9
He was pulled by the ear, handcuffed, blindfolded with a scarf, and forced to walk.
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When asking the guards to look after his family, he was kicked, pulled up by his hair, cursed at and asked if he had any last wishes, because Angkar would smash all those who were considered to be traitors.
11
He had his height measured and was sent to another room to be photographed.
12
He was asked about his biography, his birthplace and family, by a person named Seng.
13
Chum Mey stated that he was initially detained in Room 022 in Building A that was about 1.5 by 2 metres and completely closed, and was interrogated and beaten up separately in Cell 4, on a higher floor.
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When the interrogation was over, he was detained in a big room located in Building C where there were about 40 detainees.
15
The Trial Chamber found that while Building A was typically reserved for the interrogation of important or foreign prisoners, this did not undermine Chum Mey’s credible testimony that he was interrogated and beaten in Building A and was later detained in Building C.
16
He testified that he was interrogated for 12 days, lasting up to 12 hours each day.
17
Some cadres named Seng, Tith, and Hor interrogated and beat him up.
18
He was asked about his involvement with CIA and KGB networks, even if he did not know what they were.
19
During the interrogations, he was cursed at and called a traitor,
20
and that he was beaten and lashed for extended periods of time while his legs were shackled.
21
He suffered broken fingers and lost consciousness after being subjected to electric shocks twice.
22
Two of his toenails were removed which caused him pain so intense that he “almost passed out”.
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As a result of the mistreatments, he had difficulty seeing out of one of his eyes and hearing from one of his ears.
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Seng (one of his interrogators) sat on his head and hit his kneecaps with a stick.
25
He was insulted and lashed for not confessing earlier.
26
He confessed his involvement with the CIA or KGB because he could not endure the mistreatment and gave the interrogators the answers they wanted by confessing and implicating other people.
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He was required to put his thumbprint on the confessions that were not read out to him.
28
The Trial Chamber cited his testimony and other evidence to find that Chum Mey and other prisoners were subjected to physical and psychological pressure or mistreatment to secure confessions about their supposed traitorous networks.
29
After the interrogation, he was detained for over four months and was only washed once.
30
According to him, detainees were provided with a small bullet container in order to relieve themselves in the same place where they ate and slept.
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They were instructed not to speak with others and to keep quiet.
32
Chum Mey was considered a traitor, and treated like an animal in terms of rights to speak and to eat, and had no freedom.
33
He had no strength or energy as a result of lack of food and of sleeping directly on the floor.
34
There were no medics to treat prisoners or medical treatment for the injuries sustained during beatings.
35
Citing his testimony and other evidence, the Trial Chamber found that detainees at S-21 lived in fear and suffered psychologically given that they did not know their fate and could not contact their family, expecting to be killed, and that they were too scared to look their guards in the face.
36
However, based on other evidence, the Trial Chamber found that medics treated prisoners who had open wounds as a result of beatings.
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Chum Mey was told by Vann Nath that there were Vietnamese and Cham prisoners there.
38
When the Vietnamese troops arrived in Phnom Penh on 7 January 1979, the remaining prisoners at S-21 were gathered in the painting hall and walked out of the facility in order to flee toward Amleang.
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Seven of them survived the regime.
40
He heard that 14 prisoners had their throats slashed in their beds on that day.
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He survived because of his knowledge and skill repairing sewing machines, typewriters and the water pump at S-21.
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The detention conditions improved after he started working there.
43
After being taken back from the workshop at night, he remained sleeping in the same room with the other prisoners.
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The Trial Chamber found that the conditions in which individuals were detained at S-21, the lack of freedom of movement, the interrogations and executions created a pervasive atmosphere of fear in which the provision of genuine consent to work was impossible.
45
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