Who is Comrade Duch?
‘; var PageContent= ‘ Phnom Penh – Comrade Duch is the nom de guerre of Kaing Guek Eav, the former head of the Khmer Rouge\’s main torture centre S-21. At least 15,000 people were tortured and executed at S-21 during the movement\’s rule of Cambodia from 1975-79. Duch, a former mathematics teacher, was born in November 1942 in the province of Kampong Thom in central Cambodia. He started teaching mathematics in 1965, and shortly afterwards became interested in communism. Three years later he was arrested as a suspected member of the anti-government Khmer Rouge movement and jailed without trial for more than a year. He was released in 1970 and fled to the join the Khmer Rouge, which was starting to control tracts of the country. The following year Duch was appointed to head a Khmer Rouge security centre known as M-13, where he honed his torture techniques. After the movement took over Cambodia in 1975, Duch was made deputy head of S-21. The following year Duch\’s boss was removed from hi
