AsiaLIFE

A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge’s S-21. Vann Nath, White Lotus Press, 1998.

A unique aspect of the tribunal’s proceedings is the participation of Khmer Rouge victims as civil parties. When Duch takes the stand one of the people sitting in the court as a civil party will be Vann Nath.  Many books have been written about life under the Khmer Rouge. A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge’s S-21 is one of the earliest and most chilling.

Nath is probably the best known ex-prisoner to have been sent to Tuol Sleng, or S-21 as it was otherwise known, and survived. Evacuated from his home in Battambang in 1975 by the victorious Khmer Rouge. Arrested, sent to Tuol Sleng and tortured, he was about to face death when he was given a chance by Duch to paint a portrait of Pol Pot from a black and white photograph. He continued to avoid death by painting further portraits of the elusive Khmer Rouge leader. His contemporary works depicting life in Tuol Sleng, several of which accompany the text, are well known today.

Nath calls his story “a bizarre tale of millions of people massacred by their own government without hesitation or judgement.” Much of A Cambodian Prison Portrait may seem ‘old news’ and the writing is not particularly elegant. However, as a short, clear-sighted account of the horrors of day-to-day life in Pol Pot’s Cambodia, it is worth reading. Most importantly, it will also remind you that behind all the headlines and the complex legal arguments of lawyers and judges are the stories of real people and their nearly two decade quest for justice.