KA Sunbaunat
Pseudonym: KW-34
Cases: Case 001
Category: Expert
Background and Role
Ka Sunbaunat was a professor in psychiatry, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Phnom Penh University of Health Sciences, and Director of the National Program for Mental Health of the Ministry of Health.
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In 2008, the Co-Investigating Judges requested Ka Sunbaunat and Francoise Sironi-Guilbaud to jointly present a psychological report on Duch and to assess his capability to reintegrate or rehabilitate into society.
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Ka Sunbaunat and Francoise Sironi-Guilbaud (“the experts”) testified together as expert witnesses before the Trial Chamber in Case 001 about Duch’s character based on the social and revolutionary context from during the Democratic Kampuchea period until the time of trial.
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Although Ka was one of the victims of the regime, he claimed that he was a neutral expert throughout his 13 interviews with Duch and his psychological assessment.
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Psychological Assessment of Duch
The Experts evaluated Duch’s personal and psychological characteristics by drawing on their clinical experience and scientific research, as well as on cultural, religious, and social factors relevant to Duch.
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They adopted the “clinical geopolitical psychology” approach,
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which analyses the articulation of both collective and individual history.
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It was applied by Sironi-Guilbaud for over 20 years to victims of torture, genocide, rape and massacre as well as authors of collective violence.
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In their assessment, Duch was very cooperative, attentive, and open during the whole course of the psychological investigations.
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They noticed a net difference between the first series of psychological interviews conducted in February 2008 and the second series of interviews which took place in March 2008 after the re-enactment of the facts in S-21 and at Choeung Ek.
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Duch would talk from an external point of view as an observer in the first series but in the second series had adopted a more personal view on his life and actions.
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Ka, in particular, highlighted the specific features of the Cambodian cultural context relevant to their assessment, including (i) the impact of Cambodia’s relationship with China during the “successful” Communist movement in China,
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(ii) how Cambodian parents rely on monks to educate their children, whom they respect,
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(iii) how Cambodian children are educated not to voice their difficulties and sufferings which are perceived as signs of weaknesses,
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(iv) the need to sacrifice for the poor,
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and (v) the environment of mistrust during the Khmer Rouge era.
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In the Experts’ assessment, Duch does not present any indication of psychological or psychiatric impairment or disorder relevant to his criminal responsibility.
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The Trial Chamber concurred, finding Duch to be fully aware of his responsibility for the suffering and death of thousands of innocent people at S-21 – and the extreme gravity of his participation and leadership at S-21 – despite his last-minute plead for an acquittal.
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Duch’s Character
Duch was a “dutiful person, readily influenced by [and] responding well to strong leadership,” with a “need for affiliation, and for recognition and acknowledgement by his superiors”.
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His experiences also resulted in a radical and abrupt affiliation with communism, showing a strong need for affiliation to a group and a great need to be recognized and acknowledged by his superiors.
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Duch’s zeal could be explained by “recreational formation,” i.e., the need to demonstrate zeal and “extreme allegiance” in order to hide one’s fear or to quiet one’s doubts.
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“God replaced communism” for Duch in 1996 following his conversion to Baptism, which offered him a possibility of rebirth.
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Duch lacked empathy due to the conditioning process of the Khmer Rouge to eliminate emotions and to enhance self-control. He was able to construct powerful defence mechanisms insulating him from emotional reactions and inner conflicts created by his external reality, enabling him to nurture his own family while overseeing the deaths of children at S-21.
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The Trial Chamber agreed with the Experts’ testimony, noting that Duch appeared anxious to please the court and victims of his acts.
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It also concurred with the Experts’ evaluation that Duch was well-educated and highly intelligent with an excellent memory, as well as a meticulous, rigid, detail-oriented, obsessional, and methodical individual.
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Rehabilitation and Reintegration
According to the Experts, Duch had greater capacity for self-reflection regarding his life and actions as the investigation and trial progressed.
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The Trial Chamber accepted the Experts’ conclusions concerning his capacity for rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
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However, it accorded limited weight to Duch’s capacity for rehabilitation and reintegration when fashioning the sentence because it found that Duch was fully aware of his responsibility as leader and participant of S-21.
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