S-21, the horror Scene

In 1975, the old and prestigious Institute Tuol Svay Prey of Phnom Penh (Cambodia) became a prison known as Tuol Sleng or Security Prison 21 (S-21). Under the direction of the “Khmer Rouge” Kaing Guek Eav (Duch), S-21 was the largest center of detention, interrogation and torture in the country. Any alleged “enemy of the state” was arrested together with his entire family, interrogated, tortured and, once confessed to his alleged “crime”, all executed, including children, in the nearby killing fields of Choeung Ek. More than 17,000 people passed through S-21 prison between 1975 and 1979 to never get out alive. Walking the halls, torture chambers and cells of the old prison, and now museum of horror, is a terrifying experience. I think all that nonsense, suffering and death have left something impregnated on their walls, stairways and especially on the floor, the tile pattern that is repeated in every room and that seems to do not allow to scape the silent screams of the thousands of victims who trod down on them. Phnom Penh (Cambodia). August 2007