Mr. Chum Mey
Chum Mey filed a Civil Party application on the basis of his detention at S-21 from October 1978 to January 1979.
Chum Mey was evacuated from Phnom Penh in 1975 along with his wife and four children. When he heard that "Angkar was looking for mechanics", he enlisted and was sent without his family to repair sewing machines in a Phnom Penh cooperative. On October 28 1978 he was called to repair vehicles, but instead was arrested and transferred to S-21, accused of being a member of the "CIA and KGB network". He explained that at S-21 he was detained in an individual cell and interrogated for twelve consecutive days and nights. Chum Mey recalled the constant insults and torture that he had to endure. Electroshocks were inflicted upon him twice until he lost consciousness, his toenails were removed, and he was severely beaten. During his testimony, he repeatedly stated that he felt that he was "treated more like an animal" than a human being. When the authorities discovered that he was a mechanic, he was transferred to a common detention room and was "no longer mistreated", but had to work "non-stop". Chum Mey testified on the consequences of the sufferings he endured at S-21: "I cry every night. Every time I hear people talk about [the] Khmer Rouge, it reminds me of my wife and kids. I am like a mentally ill person now."
Chum Mey put the following questions to the Accused: "Were all CIA agents smashed?" "Who decided to focus the interrogations on the CIA and the KGB?" "Why accuse someone of being an agent when all he had done was, for example, break a tool?" "What was 'Angkar'?"
- Witness acronym :
KW-03
- Age at the time of testimony :
79
- Appeared as :
- Cases : Case 001,
- Date(s) of testimony :