Former Khmer Rouge prison chief "Duch" has told Cambodia's war crimes court that UN rights officials duped him into confessing and tried to take him away to be tried in a Belgian court.
(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)Reported by Khmerization
Duch, ex-chief torturer of Tuol Sleng, claimed that in 1999, a group UN officials went to see him and promised to assist him to flee Cambodia to Belgium as a political refugee, reports Radio Free Asia.
Appearing in court on 22nd April, Duch said that at that time a group of UN officials led by Mr. Christophe Pescheux went to meet him in Battambang.
He said: "Mr. Pescheux....someone told me that Mr. Pescheux had been very busy running around the world to assist me to get an asylum as a political refugee and at the end they said they cannot find one for me so they told me 'you can go to jail in Belgium'. I was really dismayed (at what they said). And I asked them: 'if I go to Belgium and the court did not sentence me to life and when I get out of jail, where can I find the money to fly back home?'."
Duch said that he had tried to refuse the offer. He said: "But they still coerce me to go there and they gave me $50 to get a taxi to Poipet International Checkpoint and to cross the border so that Interpol will arrest me and send me to Belgium. I was really dismayed (at their suggestion)."
Duch accused those UN officials of impropriety. He said: "What Pescheux did was like a thief. Our country is a sovereign country and why did not he try to cooperate with the government? This is my assumption. If have committed any offences for this assumption, I am happy to admit the guilt."
Mr. Christope Pescheux cannot be contacted for comments.
In 1999 Mr. Pescheux served as head of the human right monitoring section of the UN Human Right Centre in Cambodia. He is currently the head of the UN Human Right Centre in Cambodia.
One Khmer researcher said that what Duch had just said was completely untrue.
After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge movement in 1998, Duch had moved to live in western Cambodia by changing his name to Tha Hong Pin. He was arrested in 1999 and has been in detention ever since.
Duch, ex-chief torturer of Tuol Sleng, claimed that in 1999, a group UN officials went to see him and promised to assist him to flee Cambodia to Belgium as a political refugee, reports Radio Free Asia.
Appearing in court on 22nd April, Duch said that at that time a group of UN officials led by Mr. Christophe Pescheux went to meet him in Battambang.
He said: "Mr. Pescheux....someone told me that Mr. Pescheux had been very busy running around the world to assist me to get an asylum as a political refugee and at the end they said they cannot find one for me so they told me 'you can go to jail in Belgium'. I was really dismayed (at what they said). And I asked them: 'if I go to Belgium and the court did not sentence me to life and when I get out of jail, where can I find the money to fly back home?'."
Duch said that he had tried to refuse the offer. He said: "But they still coerce me to go there and they gave me $50 to get a taxi to Poipet International Checkpoint and to cross the border so that Interpol will arrest me and send me to Belgium. I was really dismayed (at their suggestion)."
Duch accused those UN officials of impropriety. He said: "What Pescheux did was like a thief. Our country is a sovereign country and why did not he try to cooperate with the government? This is my assumption. If have committed any offences for this assumption, I am happy to admit the guilt."
Mr. Christope Pescheux cannot be contacted for comments.
In 1999 Mr. Pescheux served as head of the human right monitoring section of the UN Human Right Centre in Cambodia. He is currently the head of the UN Human Right Centre in Cambodia.
One Khmer researcher said that what Duch had just said was completely untrue.
After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge movement in 1998, Duch had moved to live in western Cambodia by changing his name to Tha Hong Pin. He was arrested in 1999 and has been in detention ever since.
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