| សន្តិបាល | |
.svg) | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | Early 1971 |
| Dissolved | 7 January 1979 |
| Type | Secret police |
| Jurisdiction |  Democratic Kampuchea |
| Headquarters | Security Prison 21,Phnom Penh |
| Minister responsible |
|
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Khmer Rouge |
TheSantebal (Khmer:សន្តិបាល,Sântĕbal[sɑnteɓaːl]; meaning "keeper of peace") was the secret police of theKhmer Rouge'sDemocratic Kampuchea (DK) regime inCambodia.
The Santebal was in charge of counterintelligence, internal security, and running prison camps likeTuol Sleng (S-21) where thousands of people were imprisoned, interrogated, tortured and executed. It was part of the Khmer Rouge organizational structure well before theFall of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975. Its name is a portmanteau of two words:sântĕsŏkh (សន្ដិសុខ[sɑntesok]) meaning "security" andnôkôrôbal (នគរបាល[nɔkɔːɓaːl]) meaning "police".
As early as 1971, theKhmer Rouge or theCommunist Party of Kampuchea established the Special Zone outside ofPhnom Penh under the direction ofVorn Vet andSon Sen. Sen, later the Deputy Minister for Defense ofDemocratic Kampuchea, was also in charge of the Santebal, and in that capacity he appointedComrade Duch to run its security apparatus. Most of the Santebal's deputies, such asComrade Chan andComrade Pon (Chan's deputy), hailed fromKampong Thom, Duch's home province.[1]
When the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, Duch moved his headquarters to Phnom Penh and reported directly to Sen. At that time, a small chapel in the capital was used to incarcerate the regime's prisoners, who totaled fewer than two hundred. In May 1976, Duch moved his headquarters to its final location, a former high school known asTuol Sleng, which could hold up to 1,500 prisoners. It was at Tuol Sleng that the major purges of the Khmer Rouge cadres took place and thousands of prisoners were tortured and killed. Between 1976 and 1978, 20,000 Cambodians were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng. Of this number only seven adults are known to have survived. However, Tuol Sleng was only one of at least 150 execution centres in the country.[2]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)