Khmer Rouge jail survivor weeps over lost wife

Bou Meng was the third survivor to testify this week at the UN-backed court

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A distraught survivor of the Khmer Rouge's main prison told Cambodia's war crimes court how he lost his wife and torturers beat him bloody in an attempt to make him confess to being a CIA spy.

Bou Meng, 68, one of only a handful of people to live through the communist regime's Tuol Sleng jail, stopped several times to compose himself as he told the UN-backed tribunal that blood from his many lashes flowed to the floor.

"(My torturer) asked me to count the lashes. And when I got to 10 lashes he said, 'How can you get to 10 lashes? You've only had one lash,'" Bou Meng said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.

Bou Meng, who escaped death when put to work painting Khmer Rouge propaganda, is the third survivor to testify at the trial of Tuol Sleng chief Duch, accused of overseeing the torture and extermination of 15,000 people.

"Everytime they beat me up, they asked me questions. When did I join the CIA and who introduced me to the CIA network?... I did not know what a CIA agent or network was, so how could I respond?" he added.

Bou Meng said under the regime he had worked at a technical school, was forced to the limit of his physical abilities building dams and canals, and finally planted vegetables before he and his wife were taken in 1977 to Tuol Sleng.

"My wife and I put our hands behind our backs, and then they cut our hands. Then my wife cried and said, 'What did we do wrong? We are both orphans,'" Bou Meng told the court.

The couple were then blindfolded with black cloth, Bou Meng said, and he realised they were being sent to prison as they were taken to be photographed.

"That (Tuol Sleng photo) is the only photograph I have of my wife with me today," Bou Meng said.

Earlier in his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the 66-year-old Duch begged forgiveness from the victims after accepting responsibility for his role in governing the jail.

But he has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he had a central role in the Khmer Rouge's rule and says he never personally executed anyone.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and many believe the tribunal is the last chance to find justice for victims of the communist regime, which killed up to two million people.