Acclaimed Khmer Rouge Prison Survivor Reported Near Death

Acclaimed Khmer Rouge Prison Survivor Reported Near Death

In this photo
taken July 12, 2007, Khmer Rouge death camp survivor Vann Nath
describes his painting during an exhibition in Phnom Penh. (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Voice of America

Family members say Cambodia's Vann
Nath, one of only seven survivors of a vast and notorious Khmer Rouge
torture center, is in a coma and near death at a Cambodian hospital.

The 66-year-old human rights
icon and artist survived the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, where more than
12,000 people died in the 1970s under Khmer Rouge rule. He was
hospitalized Friday with an apparent heart attack, and a senior hospital
official in Phnom Penh said Tuesday there is little hope for his
survival.

News of Vann Nath's illness
comes as an international tribunal prepares to begin the long-awaited
trial of the four most senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders — all
charged with atrocities during the group's 1975-1979 rule. The
defendants, including the nominal Khmer Rouge head of state, 79-year-old
Khieu Samphan, face charges of religious persecution, torture and
genocide in the deaths of as many as 2 million people.

Vann Nath's health crisis also
comes as the tribunal deliberates a verdict for war crimes suspect Duch,
the one-time chief of Tuol Sleng prison. Duch was convicted of war
crimes and imprisoned earlier this year for 30 years — a sentence later
reduced to 19 years because of time served in detention. He has appealed
his conviction.

Vann Nath is widely seen as a
leading advocate for victims of Khmer Rouge atrocities. His 1998 memoir —
A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21 Prison –
is the only written account by a survivor of the prison. The book has
been translated from English into French and Swedish.