| 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, "Keeper of Peace") was the secret police and security apparatus ofAngkar (The Organization) inDemocratic Kampuchea (DK). It was an integral part ofMarxist-Leninist andMaoist structure of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), which serves the party—referred to "Angkar" by purging "traitorous" elements which targets anyone including all foreigners (westerners) had suspected of opposing the party, including intellectuals, ethnic minorities (Vietnamese). TheKhmer Rouge capturedPhnom Penh on 17 April 1975, declared "Year Zero," and began the forced evacuation of all urban centers. Like theImperial Japanese Army’sKempeitai, the regime was obsessed with "foreign influence." Prisoners were routinely forced to confess to being agents for theCIA orVietnam, accused of being "traitors" or "hidden enemies" of Angkar. The name is a portmanteau of two Khmer words:sântĕsŏkh (សន្ដិសុខ), meaning "security," andnôkôrôbal (នគរបាល), meaning "police". It was frequently described as Angkar's "thought police". Literally, the name translates to "keeper of peace". While it shared functional similarities withImperial Japan'sTokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu (Tokkō) in terms of ideological control and suppressing "dangerous thoughts." On 1 May 1976, the Santebal had transformed theTuol Svay Pray High School into a clandestine interrogation, human slaughterhouse and torture facility that managed a network of over 150 such centers, with "Tuol Sleng" (S-21) being the most notorious execution and detention center, which estimates between 18,000 and 20,000 people who entered S-21, only 12 survived. S-21 had focused on extracting political confessions through state-sponsored terror which often compared toUnit 731 due to its absolute disregard for human life and the systematic nature of its atrocities. Most were killed on-site or transported to theChoeung EkKilling Fields to be executed with farm tools to save ammunition. While most victims were Cambodian, several hundred foreigners, including the Vietnamese and a small number of Westerners (such as the American and French nationals), were also imprisoned and executed there.
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]
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