SAOM Met
Pseudonym: KW-15
Cases: Case 001
Category: Witness
Background
Saom Met joined the Khmer Rouge in 1973, working in the district militia before becoming a soldier.
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After the capture of Phnom Penh in 1975, he was recruited as a messenger, attended political trainings, and studied military techniques for about eight months.
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After finishing his studies in 1976, he was assigned to the messenger unit at Dam Pheng prison, where he worked for less than a year.
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In 1977, he was assigned to S-21 as a guard under the supervision of Him Huy, Sry, and Chamroeun.
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He was sent to S-24 in late 1978.
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Saom Met testified in Case 001 on the functioning of the S-21, detention conditions, interrogation techniques and torture, and Duch’s character and role at S-21.
Detention conditions at S-21
At S-21, there was an Interrogation Unit, Defence Section, and teams to take the prisoners elsewhere.
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Saom Met’s group had more than 20 guards, who would take shifts in guarding the prisoners.
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He and the other guards slept in the building inside the compound and had meals together as a group when making shifts.
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The food ration for staff varied in quality and quantity.
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When on guard duty, Soam Met was not allowed to patrol around or sit, but only to stand guard.
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Four houses at the S-21 compound were used for the special prison.
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These houses were used to detain senior cadres, the cadres of the sector or the zone or the regiment commander or brigade commander.
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Prisoners were kept separately in detention rooms.
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The rooms were not locked, and the guards were standing guard at the door.
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Saom Met saw prisoners writing confessions in their cells and was told by his supervisors that these prisoners were important people and should be protected with special care.
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Saom Met stood guard at the door outside of the detention room.
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He saw prisoners at S-21 being walked to interrogation locations, blindfolded and cuffed with their hands behind,
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wearing only shorts.
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When prisoners were put in the detention room, both legs were shackled by the ankles to a metal bar and the handcuffs removed.
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Inside the detention rooms were some sleeping mats and old pillows, pots for prisoners to relieve themselves, but no mosquito nets.
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There were no torturing devices in the detention rooms.
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Prisoners were ordered to sleep or lie down, and if they wanted to stand up, they had to ask guard’s permission.
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They had two meals per day: a bowl of rice and a bowl of meatless soup.
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Saom Met recalled that the food was not sufficient.
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Once in three days or once in a week, the prisoners were given a bucket of water to wash themselves.
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When prisoners washed themselves, the shackles were not removed.
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The Trial Chamber referenced Saom Met’s testimony in describing the detention conditions of S-21 prisoners, and the lack of sanitation and hygiene.
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It also referenced his testimony to support its finding that detainees were consistently handcuffed and blindfolded, leaving them disoriented and afraid.
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Interrogation and Torture at S-21
Sometimes, prisoners would be interrogated inside the detention rooms, and sometimes they were taken elsewhere.
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After one month or 20 days after the interrogation and the confession, the prisoners were transported to another location and never returned.
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Saom Met witnessed an interrogation inside the detention room: the prisoner was beaten until he bled, electrical wires were attached to his toe and into his ear, and he was electrocuted until he lost consciousness.
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Saom Met also saw other torture techniques, such as waterboarding, nail pulling, and inserting needles under nails.
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Saom Met saw Duch beat a prisoner with a rattan stick on the back.
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Saom Met never saw female prisoners at his location, but claimed that there were female prisoners in other locations at S-21.
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He remembered seeing four Vietnamese prisoners put in a separate house.
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A lot of staff from Division 703 were executed at S-21.
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Saom Met witnessed a suicide attempt by a prisoner.
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The incident occurred when another guard asked him to guard in his stand while he relieved himself.
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The other guard left a scarf near the window and the prisoner took it and tried to commit suicide.
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Saom Met intervened to prevent suicide and helped the other guard conceal this incident to avoid the punishment of that guard.
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Witnessing serious torture terrified Saom Met.
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He was not satisfied with his work because people were arrested and killed, but he did not display these feelings out of fear for his own life.
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He could not flee from S-21, because he had nowhere to go and because his parents would be arrested and killed as punishment for his escape.
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The Trial Chamber considered Saom Met’s testimony about Duch beating prisoners but was not satisfied that beatings were proven beyond reasonable doubt and thus concluded that Duch was not responsible for having committed torture or other inhumane acts through physical perpetration.
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The Trial Chamber referenced Saom Met’s testimony in finding that beating, electrocution, removing nails, inserting needles under nails, waterboarding was applied at S-21.
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The Trial Chamber also relied on Saom Met’s testimony in its findings regarding the overview of S-21 prisoners,
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purging and executions of S-21 staff,
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and purging and executions of high-ranking officials.
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Transfer to S-24
In late 1978, Saom Met was sent to S-24 to work at the rice fields, build dykes, and dig canals.
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The working conditions were harsh, and the food was insufficient.
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Saom Met learned from Him Huy, his supervisor at S-21, that his brother Saom Meng was arrested.
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With Him Huy’s help, Saom Met concealed this information from others to avoid his own arrest.
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Him Huy then transferred Saom Met to S-24.
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After the DK period, Saom Met went to Tuol Sleng and found his brother’s photo in the archives.
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Saom Met worked at S-24 for more than one month and every day at least one or two trucks transported people away from S-24.
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Saom Met claimed that those were people with bad biographies, but did not know where these people were transported.
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When the Vietnamese army arrived at Phnom Penh in January 1979, Saom Met fled west from S-24
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before returning to his village later in 1979.
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Duch’s Character and Role
Saom Met recalled that Duch visited the special prison regularly.
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Duch did not speak to guards in an arrogant manner, and sometimes smiled and laughed.
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Saom Met was afraid of Duch at the time of his work at S-21 because his co-guards disappeared for no apparent reason.
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During staff meetings, group and team chiefs told Saom Met that the planning on the prisoners’ entry and exit was coming from Duch through Hor, Huy and then to the guards.
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The Trial Chamber referenced Saom Met’s testimony about the staff meetings in its findings regarding Duch’s role as head of S-21 and authority over S-21 staff.
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Contradictory Statements
During the trial, Saom Met was asked about his earlier interview with the Co-Investigating Judges. In the earlier interview, Saom Met said that Duch would come to the prisoners’ site daily. However, at trial Saom Met claimed that this interview statement was excessive and that Duch did not come to the prisoners’ site daily.
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When questioned about his statement during his prior interview that prisoners who were not confessing were beaten to death, Saom Met claimed that interrogators did not beat prisoners to death.
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Saom Met did not clarify whether he stood by the statements made in his earlier interview with the Co-Investigating Judges or by his statements at trial.
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