PRAK Khan

Pseudonym: KW-10

Cases: Case 001

Category: Witness

Background and Role

Prak Khan joined the Khmer Rouge in late 1972 or early 1973. Initially, he worked in the agriculture section, before being transferred to an artillery battalion in Division 703. After participating in the capture of Phnom Penh, he worked in the rice fields at Prey Sar (S-24 Security Centre). In late 1975 or early 1976, he was sent to work as a guard outside the S-21 compound. He worked as an interrogator at S-21 in late 1976. Prak Khan testified in Case 001 about the operation of and interrogations at S-21, detention conditions, blood-drawing practices, execution of children and foreign nationals, and arrests of S-21 staff.

Interrogations at S-21

As a guard, Prak Khan was instructed to guard the premises from anyone entering the compound, except for the trucks with prisoners. He claimed that he did not participate in the arrest of the prisoners brought to S-21, but recalled observing trucks carrying prisoners out from S-21. In late 1976, Prak Khan was assigned to interrogate the S-21 prisoners. The purpose of interrogation was to obtain a confession. Initially, he received no training on interrogation and learned from observing other interrogators. Later, Duch trained him in what he described as “the Duch political school” – weekly and monthly study sessions about interrogation and torture methods to extract confessions, avoiding the prisoners’ death. The interrogators were trained on “how to whip the prisoners with the stick, on how to electrocute, on how to use the plastic back to suffocate them.” According to Prak Khan, interrogators were explicitly prohibited from beating the detainees to their death, otherwise the confessions would be broken and the interrogators punished. During these study sessions Prak Khan also learned about “the CIA, KGB and Vietnamese enemies’ network and string.” According to Prak Khan, “Brother Duch at that time was a studious person, enthusiastic in his work and whatever he did […] was – meticulously done [.]” Interrogators were not allowed to torture anyone without Duch’s instructions. Prak Khan did not torture prisoners but saw others torturing prisoners until they lose their consciousness. Prak Khan confirmed that the interrogation groups at S-21 were classified as “cold”, “hot”, and “chewing”. The hot group “applied hot method and the cold group would use politics.” Prak Khan was assigned to the group classified as a “chewing group.” The chewing group was supposed “to interrogate thoroughly” until a prisoner confessed. The group chief Nan (and sometimes Duch) assigned prisoners to Prak Khan for interrogation. After the interrogation was complete, Prak Khan would report the written confession to the group chief or Duch. If the confession was deemed incomplete by his superiors, the report would be returned to him with annotations on how to proceed. According to Prak Khan, 50 to 60 per cent of the prisoners at S-21 were not interrogated because of the shortage of the interrogators and due to the long time spent on interrogating each prisoner. The Trial Chamber considered this statement but found to the contrary that “the majority of those detained within the S-21 complex were systematically interrogated.” The Trial Chamber relied on Prak Khan’s testimony in its findings regarding the role of Duch as head of S-21, the work of the Interrogation Unit, methods of execution, and political school trainings.

Detention Conditions

According to Prak Khan, the male and female prisoners were detained separately, and children were separated from their family members. Prisoners in common rooms were shackled in a long bar, ranging from one to 18 prisoners in each room. The prisoners whose confessions had to be extracted were placed in the individual cells. Prisoners were not allowed to sit or stand. When brought for interrogations, prisoners were handcuffed and blindfolded. Female prisoners were not shackled or cuffed, but locked in the cells from outside. All S-21 prisoners were executed. Some died from falling ill inside the cells, while others were executed outside S-21.

The Trial Chamber relied on Prak Khan’s testimony in its findings on the detention conditions at S-21.

Execution of Foreign Nationals

A former guard from Kampong Chhang told Prak Khan that several Westerners were put on the street and burned alive using car tires. The Trial Chamber considered this testimony yet found that the evidence was not sufficient to prove the allegation that some of the foreign nationals were burned alive.

Execution of Children

Prak Khan described an incident when a child (a baby about seven to eight months) of a Vietnamese female prisoner was dropped to death from the upper floor of a three-story building in the vicinity of the S-21 complex. The Trial Chamber considered this testimony but found that there was not sufficient evidence to prove the incident as described by Prak Khan.

Arrests of S-21 Staff

Initially there were female interrogators, wives of the S-21 cadre, assigned to interrogate the female prisoners. However, when their spouses were arrested during the internal purges, so were the female interrogators. After that, no female interrogators were left at S-21 and the interrogations of female prisoners was taken over by male interrogators. Prak Khan confirmed that he interrogated female prisoners too.

Blood-drawing Practice

Some prisoners died after the blood was drawn from them by the Medical Unit. Prisoners were made to lie on their back on a bed, blindfolded, with their legs shackled. A needle was inserted into their veins so that their blood could be drawn. The Trial Chamber relied on this testimony to find that the blood was given to the General Staff Hospital for transfusions for the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea soldiers wounded during the conflict with the Vietnamese.

Controversial Statements

The Trial Chamber found that Prak Khan’s testimony about an incident of a woman being electrocuted in the presence of Duch was inconsistent with his prior statements. Previously, Prak Khan claimed that he saw Duch participate in torture by administering electric shocks, beating a woman, and removing her shirt. Considering this inconsistency, the Trial Chamber concluded that Duch was not responsible for having committed torture or other inhuman acts through physical perpetration or culpable omission.

Prak Khan also recalled an incident when an interrogator Touch raped a female detainee, and was subsequently arrested and detained at S-21. However, the Trial Chamber found that there was not sufficient evidence to prove this incident as described by Prak Khan.

The judges also pointed out other contradictions between previous statements and Prak Khan’s testimony in court, including whether he, as an interrogator, applied violence during interrogations, and whether there were any pregnant detainees at S-21. Prak Khan invoked his right to remain silent in relation to questions as to whether he applied violence.

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
21 July 2009	E1/52	E1/52.1
22 July 2009	E1/53	E1/53.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
រូបភាពថតពីលើអាកាសនៃបរិវេណ មន្ទីរស-២១ (D45/1/8) ការចង្អុល បង្ហាញដោយសាក្សី ប្រាក់ ខន	Aerial Photo showing a close-up of the S-21 area (D45/1/8 annotated by witness Prak Khan	Photo aérienne montrant un gros plan de la zone S-21 (D45/1/8 annotée par le témoin Prak Khan)	N/A	E109
បទសម្ភាសន៍ ប្រាក់ ខន	Interview of Prak Khan	Entretien de Prak Khan	D19/VIII	E3/413
កំណត់ហេតុនៃការស្តាប់ចម្លើយ សាក្សី ប្រាក់ ខន	Written Record of Interview of Prak Khan	Procès-verbal de l’entretien de Prak Khan	D2-7	E3/415
កំណត់ហេតុនៃការស្តាប់ចម្លើយ សាក្សី ប្រាក់ ខន	Written Record of Interview of Prak Khan	Procès-verbal de l’entretien de Prak Khan	D19/VII	E3/414