Kang Kek Iew

Kang Kek Iew, also spelled Kaing Guek Eav (កាំង ហ្គេកអ៊ាវ, Kăng Hkék'iĕv ; 17 November 1942 – 2 September 2020), alias Comrade Duch (មិត្តឌុច, Mĭtt Dŭch ) or Hang Pin, was a Cambodian convicted war criminal and leader in the Khmer Rouge movement, which ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979.

As the head of the government's internal security branch (Santebal), he oversaw the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp where thousands were held for interrogation and torture, after which the vast majority of these prisoners were eventually executed.

He was the first Khmer Rouge leader to be tried by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime, and was convicted of crimes against humanity, murder, and torture for his role during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment.

A star pupil in his school, he passed his Brevet d'études secondaires de première in 1961 at the age of nineteen.

He finished the first half of his Baccalaureate in 1962 at the Lycée Suravarman II in the town of Siem Reap.

The same year he was offered a place in the prestigious Lycée Sisowath in Phnom Penh where he completed his Baccalaureate in mathematics, scoring second in the entire country.

From his childhood on, Kang's name was changed many times.

One such occasion of name changing took place when he was 15, when his parents changed his name to Yim Cheav.

As the name is important in Chinese culture, Kang therefore gave his name to his grandson, significantly adding the Chinese name "Yun" to this name.

He was described by his former classmates as a bright and quiet boy who rarely smiled during his youth.

In 1964, Kek Iew began studying for his teaching certificate in Mathematics, a subject he loved, at the Institut de Pédagogie.

The institute was a cradle of activism under the directorship of Son Sen who was later to emerge as the Defence Minister of the Khmer Rouge and Duch's immediate superior.

On 28 August 1966, Kek Iew received his teaching certificate and was posted to a lycée in Skoun, a small town in Kampong Cham Province.

He was a good teacher, remembered as earnest and committed by his pupils.

He joined the Communist Party of Kampuchea in 1967.

Following the arrest of three of his students, he fled to the Khmer Rouge base in Chamkar Leu District where he was accepted as a full member of the Communist Party of Kampuchea.

A few months later, he was arrested and witnessed others being tortured at the Prey Sar prison by Norodom Sihanouk's police for engaging in communist activities.

He was held without trial for the next two years.

In 1970, when he was released following the amnesty granted to political prisoners by Lon Nol, he joined the Khmer Rouge rebels in the Cardamom Mountains bordering Thailand.

Communist groups in France's former colonies in Indochina borrowed the French World War II expression 'maquis' when referring to their resistance movements in the jungles.

In the zone under the control of the Khmer Rouge, Kek Iew took on his nom de guerre Comrade Duch (IPA:[dujc]) and became a prison commandant.

He was appointed the head of Special Security by his immediate superior Vorn Vet.

In the forests of Amleang, Thpong District, Duch set up his first prison, code-named 'M-13'.

Two years later, he also established a second prison 'M-99' in the nearby Aoral District.

Assisted by his two deputies, Mam Nai (Comrade Chan) and Tang Sin Hean (Comrade Pon), Duch began perfecting his interrogation techniques and the purging of perceived enemies from the Khmer Rouge ranks.

Prisoners at these camps, mostly from the ranks of the Khmer Rouge, were routinely starved and tortured to extract real and made-up confessions.

While in the maquis, Duch married Chhim Sophal, aka Rom, a dressmaker from a nearby village.

They had four children while he worked at S-21.

After the Khmer Rouge victory in April 1975, Duch and his men set up prisons throughout the capital, including the infamous Tuol Sleng prison.

Duch's request for a transfer in May 1975 to the Industrial Sector of government was denied.

The Tuol Sleng prison camp was initially headed by In Lon (aka Comrade Nath) with Duch acting as deputy.

Subsequently, In Lon was transferred and Duch was promoted to Director.

By May 1976, all the prisons in Phnom Penh were consolidated and relocated to Tuol Sleng.

Prisons like Tuol Sleng were created to cleanse the population of suspected enemies of the revolution.

In Tuol Sleng, Duch ordered the execution of prisoners after their interrogation was completed.

On Candlemas Day, 2 February 2012, his sentence was extended to life imprisonment by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Kang Kek Iew, unlike many other Khmer Rouge cadres, did not dismiss or justify his crimes.

He admitted that he had been wrong and that he had done horrible things; he said that he repented and that he had converted to Christianity.

During his trial, he provided detailed accounts of what happened inside S-21 and inside the Khmer Rouge regime, although his testimony at times contained discrepancies and at the conclusion of his trial he asked to be freed.

Kang Kek Iew was born in Choyaot village, Kampong Chen subdistrict, Kampong Thom Province, to an ethnic Chinese family who migrated to Cambodia in his father's generation.