TOUCH (TOCH) Monin

Role and Background

Touch Monin was the cousin of Chea Khan alias Chin, who was arrested on 2 January 1977 and subsequently imprisoned and killed at S-21.¹ He testified as a civil party to the Case 001 proceedings, providing testimony on his relationship with Chea Khan, Chea Khan’s disappearance during the regime, and his own efforts to locate his cousin following the fall of the regime.

Relationship with Chea Khan

Chea Khan was a male engineer and was 35 years of age at the time of his arrest. ² Touch Monin lodged a complaint as a civil party on behalf of Chea Khan. Chea Khan’s parents also died under the Khmer Rouge regime.³ Touch Monin stated that his intention in joining as a civil party was “to pay [his] gratitude to [his] cousin, Chea Khan alias Chin, who had great and kind sacrifice and hurt on [his] family”. ⁴

Biography of Chea Khan

Touch Monin testified that Chea Khan left Cambodia in 1965 to study in Russia and returned in 1975, three months after the fall of Phnom Penh. ⁵ He described how his cousin returned to his native Preaek Koy village upon learning that his family members had been taken away and that his father had been relocated to Trean in Kampong Siem subdistrict, Kampong Cham.⁶ Chea Khan then went to look for his family in Kampong Siem subdistrict and Chamkar Leu district, before deciding to stay at Svay Teab subdistrict.⁷ Touch Monin described how his cousin reconnected with his family members and was initially asked to live at Ta Prok at a medical office, and then later at Chamkar Leu.⁸ He worked as an architect for the water sluice gates, as well as the dams and canals including the 1 January Dam at Kampong Thma.⁹

Fate of Chea Khan

Touch Monin recalled that he and his family lost contact with his cousin towards the end of 1976. They knew only that he had been taken to be re-educated.¹⁰ After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, Touch Monin visited S-21 to research the fate of his cousin. He tried to look for his photograph amongst those of the prisoners but failed to locate it.¹¹ It was only in the 1990s that Touch Monin located a book containing a list of “traitors” in which a “Chea Khan” from Chamkar Leu was mentioned.¹² He then received a book from another relative containing similar information.¹³ The Trial Chamber found that Touch Monin, as the only surviving relative of Chea Khan, had proved his existence as an immediate victim of S-21, and close kinship to him, and that the harm Chea Khan suffered was a direct consequence of the crimes for which the Accused, Duch, was convicted.¹⁴ He was thus accepted as a civil party to the proceedings.

Recognition by Duch

When asked by civil party lawyer Mr Hong Kimsuon whether he recognised a photo of Chea Khan, the Accused, Duch, responded: I indicated that Chea Khan was the friend of mine and I of course know him very well. That's all.¹⁵ Duch also admitted that he saw Chea Khan off before he departed Cambodia for Russia in 1965.¹⁶ Touch Monin concluded his statement by putting the following question to Duch: When my brother (sic) was detained at S-21 was he executed at S-21 or at Choeung Ek? So far we have not obtained any information in relation to the place where he was killed. Please, treat us with this information.¹⁷ Duch responded to Touch Monin as follows: Mr. President, I cannot really answer in short because I was not in close contact with this kind of task. So far as I guess, it is more than 50 percent that Chea Khan would be executed at Choeung Ek. However, I do not really deny that he could have been smashed at a Phnom Penh location.¹⁸

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
24 August 2009	E1/67	E1/67.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
ពាក្យបណ្តឹងសុំតាំងខ្លួនជាដើម បណ្តឹងរដ្ឋប្បវេណីរបស់ តូច មុនិន្ទ	Civil Party Petition of Mr TOCH Monin	Demande de constitution de partie civile de M. TOCH Monin	D25/14	E3/507