Chum Mey re-traces his time in a Tuol Sleng cell for a BBC documentaryOf the seven adults that escaped death at Tuol Sleng, the Khmer Rouge's interrogation and extermination centre in Phnom Penh, only three are still 
alive. Chum Mey is one of them. As the trial of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders looms large, Chum Mey (pictured) could be called to bear witness to his own treatment and that of others at Tuol Sleng. He has already appeared in Rithy Panh's documentary about S-21 and been interviewed many times by the world's media, but the recollections cause him great distress on each occasion. He was one of the lucky survivors, like artist Vann Nath, because his skill as a mechanic was useful in repairing sewing machines and typewriters. A note at the end of his confession, penned by S-21's chief Comrade Duch, read, "Keep for a while." His wife and baby didn't survive, memories that still haunt him. Now 72, he's re-married and has six children and has been a vocal advocate of the forthcoming tribunal.
Nic Dunlop interviewed Chum Mey at length for his book about Duch, called The Lost Executioner. Chum Mey was also the subject of this article by The Age newspaper in Australia, dated January 2004: Survivor rises to bear witness from the killing fields.
alive. Chum Mey is one of them. As the trial of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders looms large, Chum Mey (pictured) could be called to bear witness to his own treatment and that of others at Tuol Sleng. He has already appeared in Rithy Panh's documentary about S-21 and been interviewed many times by the world's media, but the recollections cause him great distress on each occasion. He was one of the lucky survivors, like artist Vann Nath, because his skill as a mechanic was useful in repairing sewing machines and typewriters. A note at the end of his confession, penned by S-21's chief Comrade Duch, read, "Keep for a while." His wife and baby didn't survive, memories that still haunt him. Now 72, he's re-married and has six children and has been a vocal advocate of the forthcoming tribunal.Nic Dunlop interviewed Chum Mey at length for his book about Duch, called The Lost Executioner. Chum Mey was also the subject of this article by The Age newspaper in Australia, dated January 2004: Survivor rises to bear witness from the killing fields.
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The Age, Australia
Survivor rises to bear witness from the killing fields
- by Mark Baker, Asia Editor, Phnom Penh. January 7, 2004
Chum Mey survived two years of torture and fear in a Khmer Rouge death camp, sustained by thoughts of his pregnant wife and unborn child.
Now he lives to bear witness to their murders and the fate of more than 1.7 million other Cambodians who perished in Pol Pot's killing fields.
Twenty-five years ago today, thousands of Vietnamese troops streamed into Phnom Penh to end the brutal four-year reign of the Khmer Rouge. But for Chum Mey, liberation was to spell tragedy.
Marched at gunpoint into the provinces by his fleeing Khmer Rouge jailers, he had a chance encounter with his wife and the young son who was born a few weeks after he was sent to the infamous Tuol Sleng concentration camp in early 1977.
For two days they travelled together to an isolated hamlet with a group of other prisoners. On the second evening, as the family rested beside a pagoda, the guards ordered them to walk into a rice field before suddenly opening fire with their AK-47 assault rifles.
"First they shot my wife, who was marching in front with the other women," he said. "She screamed to me, 'Please run, they are killing me now'. I heard my son crying and then they fired again, killing him."
Running from a barrage of gunfire, Chum Mey managed to escape into a nearby forest. The searing memory of that night still brings tears to the eyes of the 73-year-old former motor mechanic.
"When I sleep, I still see their faces, and every day I still think of them. What was the crime of my wife and my son? If I am guilty, kill me, but why did they do this to so many innocent people?"
Chum Mey is one of only nine people known to have survived imprisonment in Tuol Sleng - the camp also known as S-21, where more than 16,000 Cambodians were sent for execution.
He is now preparing to give evidence at the trial of surviving leaders of the Maoist regime.
Under a belated agreement reached last month between the United Nations and Cambodian authorities, an international genocide tribunal is expected to begin hearings in Phnom Penh later this year.
Those facing indictment include the regime's number two leader, Nuon Chea, nominal head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, and Kiang Khek Ieu, the commandant of Tuol Sleng known as "Duch".
Pol Pot died in 1998, shortly before the collapse of the remnants of his guerilla movement.
Like many of those sent to Tuol Sleng, Chum Mey was accused of being a subversive and a spy. "They accused me of being a member of the CIA and the KGB, but I was just a poor mechanic. I didn't even know what those letters meant," he said.
For the first 12 days and nights he was subjected to relentless sessions of torture and interrogation. He was beaten with bars, his toenails were ripped out with pliers and he was given repeated electric shocks until he lost consciousness.
"I still don't know why they took me there but I quickly learnt to give them the answers they wanted to hear. I told them I was a CIA spy and I gave them the names of 50 or 60 people who I had recruited. It was all made up."
While most prisoners were quickly sent for execution at the mass graves of Choeung Ek on the outskirts of the city, Chum Mey was spared because of his skills in repairing machinery. But he had expected to be executed at any time.
"Every night, between 9pm and 12pm, they would call out the people and take away several truckloads to be killed. If we got to midnight and they had not called us out, we knew we had survived at least one more day."
Now Chum Mey sees his survival as a duty to help bring justice for his family and the other Cambodians who died under the Khmer Rouge.
"I am ready to be a witness," he said. "I think all the people who died during the Pol Pot regime and all the survivors want me to tell the world about what happened to them. If we don't have justice, this can happen again."
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