A Phnom Penh tribunal is hearing the case against Duch, the Khmer Rouge warden of the notorious S-21 prison. This ex-school had been used by Angkha to interrogate Khmer Rouge cadres accused of betraying the people. 20,000 passed through the gates. Most were subject to months of torture and then transported to the killing field of Choueng Ek. Only 7 prisoners survived the onslaught and in Nic Dunlop's THE LOST EXECUTIONER the photographer tells of first viewing the faces of the 'smashed dogs' on the prison walls in 1989. He was only 20. Their ghostly gazes sent him on a long search for the executioner of Tuol Sleng.
"He was a good boy." says a family member.
People said the same of Jeffery Dahlmer, an American mass-murderer.
Duch's path to horror sheds a new light on the 'year zero' in Cambodia through the words of ex-Khmer Rouge commanders, Cambodian survivors, and in the end Duch himself, who had converted to Christianity and served the people of his village in atonement for his sins. He admits his guilt without confessing his sins.
Anyone going to Cambodia should read THE LOST EXECUTIONER as well as Francoise Bizot's THE GATE to understand the heart of darkness lurking within us all.
"We are all Duch."
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