LACH Mean - ECCC

Background and role

Lach Mean, born in 1957,¹ was ordained as a monk in Thlok Vien Commune, Kampong Chhnang province in 1972 or 1973.² In 1974, the Khmer Rouge recruited him as a member of the commune militia.³ Later in 1974, he worked as a combatant at a local military unit before being sent for training at the military technical school at Ta Khmau in 1975.⁴ During the DK period of 1975-1979, Lach Mean worked as a guard at Ta Khmau prison and at Dam Pheng prison in Phnom Penh.⁵ When Dam Pheng prison was relocated to S-21, Lach Mean first worked as a guard and later interrogated prisoners at S-21.⁶

Detention conditions at S-21

At S-21, Lach Mean stood guard at the common detention rooms in the middle building and the building to the north.⁷ Lach Mean saw prisoners put into trucks and transported away.⁸ He also saw two or three trucks full of Vietnamese people arriving at S-21.⁹ His unit chief Seng taught him how to guard prisoners and prevent them from escaping or committing suicide.¹⁰ Important prisoners were put in individual cells.¹¹ Others were detained in common rooms, shackled in a row by the ankles to a metal bar.¹² There could be up to 20 prisoners in one row.¹³ Prisoners wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts and were not allowed to stand without the guard’s permission.¹⁴ Prisoners were fed a bowl of mixed rice and soup or gruel two times a day.¹⁵ Those in common rooms were hosed down from the water hose in order to wash the prisoners and the floor at the same time.¹⁶ They were not given any change of clothes.¹⁷ In common rooms there were ammunition boxes for human waste.¹⁸ The prisoners were ordered to discard them at the toilets when necessary.¹⁹ Some of the prisoners died of dysentery caused by their detention conditions.²⁰ The Trial Chamber referenced Lach Mean’s testimony in finding that prisoners at S-21 were deprived of adequate food,²¹ and that they suffered from lack of sanitation and hygiene.²²

Arrests of S-21 staff

S-21 staff were not allowed to leave S-21 to preserve the secrecy of S-21.²³ Some of the S-21 staff constantly disappeared.²⁴ Lach Mean explained that members of S-21 staff were arrested in secret from other S-21 staff.²⁵ Faces of the arrested S-21 staff were covered with blankets so that others would not recognize them when they were walked to the detention or interrogation rooms.²⁶ Arrested members of S-21 staff were detained in the south building.²⁷

The Trial Chamber referenced Lach Mean’s testimony about a number of S-21 staff disappearing in making its findings on execution of S-21 staff.²⁸

Interrogation and torture at S-21

Lach Mean’s unit chief Kak taught him to interrogate prisoners.²⁹ In order to learn, he sat and watched Kak interrogate prisoners.³⁰ The purpose of interrogation was to extract a confession that the prisoner was a traitor and to gain information about their network.³¹

There were different interrogation teams assigned to different types of prisoners: those interrogating important prisoners, or the foreigners/westerners, or the female cadres.³² Prisoners were taken for interrogation to the front office, the building at the front of the S-21 compound.³³

Unit chiefs Kak, Norn, and Heng sent Lach Mean letters ordering to interrogate prisoners.³⁴ The letter contained the prisoner’s name, building, and room numbers where he was to be detained.³⁵ Lach Mean would give the letter to the guard who guarded that prisoner, and the guard would bring the prisoner to Lach Mean.³⁶ Prisoners were blindfolded and handcuffed when brought for interrogations.³⁷

Lach Mean interrogated prisoners alone.³⁸ After the interrogation, Lach Mean would give the produced interrogation documents to his team chief.³⁹ Lach Mean did not recall receiving an annotated confession from the upper echelon.⁴⁰ Instead, Duch once called him directly on the telephone to inform him that the interrogation was not yet complete.⁴¹

Lach Mean personally interrogated three or four prisoners before he left S-21 in January 1979.⁴² He also interrogated about 10 people under the supervision of his team chief Kak.⁴³ He saw other interrogators use guava sticks to beat prisoners and attach electric devices to prisoners’ ears to shock them with electricity.⁴⁴

Lach Mean was not allowed to torture prisoners, unless instructed to do so by the unit chief.⁴⁵ Duch taught him and other interrogators interrogation techniques, such as playing politics, during political training sessions.⁴⁶ He never saw Duch interrogate any prisoner.⁴⁷

On one occasion, a prisoner whom he interrogated implicated Vorn Vet.⁴⁸ Lach Mean called Duch directly on the telephone and informed him about this implication.⁴⁹ At first Duch advised Lach Mean to skip that section of interrogation and not include it in the confession.⁵⁰ Later however, he instructed Lach Mean to proceed with the interrogation of that prisoner and include the implication of Vorn Vet in the confession.⁵¹

The Trial Chamber relied on Lach Mean’s testimony in its findings on the purpose and the work of the Interrogation Unit at S-21,⁵² citing it in finding that the purpose of using various torture techniques was to obtain confessions,⁵³ that prisoners were handcuffed and blindfolded when walked to interrogation location,⁵⁴ and that the contents of prisoner’s confessions were pre-ordained and scripted by interrogators.⁵⁵ The Trial Chamber also cited Lach Mean’s testimony in finding that Duch received interrogation reports and confessions from interrogator’s supervisors (unit chiefs)⁵⁶ to review and decide whether they were complete.⁵⁷

Duch’s character

Lach Mean saw Duch daily but did not dare to talk to him.⁵⁸ He perceived Duch as a strict person.⁵⁹

Political sessions

Duch conducted political sessions every fortnight.⁶⁰ All interrogators were present at those sessions, as well as some of S-21 staff.⁶¹

The Trial Chamber referenced Lach Mean’s testimony in discussing the discriminatory policies at S-21 and concluding that the word “enemy” became synonymous with anyone suspected of betraying the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).⁶²

Citing Lach Mean’s testimony, the majority of the Trial Chamber (Judge Cartwright dissenting) found that Duch knew that not all prisoners were in fact enemies of the CPK, yet instructed his staff to regard prisoners as enemies, so that they were detained, interrogated, and executed in furtherance of Duch’s specific discriminatory intent.⁶³ Disagreeing with her colleagues’ assessment of the evidence, Judge Cartwright concluded that the allegation that Duch possessed the discriminatory intent, supporting a conviction for persecution on political grounds, had not been proved.⁶⁴

Rape of a female prisoner

Lach Mean testified that there was an interrogator at S-21 named Touch, who was accused of raping a female prisoner.⁶⁵ According to Lach Mean, before being arrested, Touch attempted to commit suicide by jumping from the upper floor.⁶⁶ Lach Mean did not know what happened to the raped female prisoner later.⁶⁷ Touch in turn was arrested and detained at S-21.⁶⁸ The Trial Chamber considered this testimony but found that the evidence was not sufficient to prove the allegation of rape and subsequent arrest of Touch.⁶⁹

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
3 August 2009	E1/56	E1/56.1
4 August 2009	E1/57	E1/57.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
បទសម្ភាសន៍ជាមួយមជ្ឈមណ្ឌល ឯកសារកម្ពុជា និងសាក្សី ឡាច មាន	Interview with DC-Cam and witness Lach Mean	Interrogatoire par le DC-Cam du témoin Lach Mean	D92/1, Annex 6	E3/449
កំណត់ហេតុនៃការសម្លាប់ចម្លើយសាក្សី ឡាច មាន ដោយការិយា-ល័យសហព្រះរាជអាជ្ញា ថ្ងៃទី០៧ ខែធ្នូ ឆ្នាំ២០០៦	Written Record of OCP Interview with Lach Mean (Mien) (7 December 2006)	Procès-verbal d’interrogatoire par les co-procureures de Lach Mean (Mien) (7 décembre 2006)	D2-6	E3/450
កំណត់ហេតុនៃការសម្លាប់ចម្លើយ សាក្សី ឡាច មាន ដោយសហចៅក្រមស៊ើបអង្កេត ថ្ងៃទី២៤ ខែតុលា ឆ្នាំ២០០៧	Written Record of OCIJ Interview with Lach Mean (24 October 2007)	Procès-verbal d’interrogatoire par le Bureau des co-juges d’instruction de Lach Mean (24 octobre 2007)	D22/13	E3/451
ឧបសម្ព័ន្ធភាសាខ្មែររបស់កំណត់ ហេតុនៃការស្តាប់ចម្លើយ សាក្សី ឡាច មាន ដោយការិយាល័យស៊ើបអង្កេត	Khmer Annex to Written Record of OCIJ Interview with Lach Mean	Annexe en khmer au procès-verbal d’interrogatoire par le Bureau des co-juges d’instruction de LACH Mean	D22/13-Annex	E3/451- ឧបសម្ព័ន្ធ