Guards drank wine ‘infused with body parts’

A survivor of an infamous Cambodian prison has claimed its guards routinely drank wine infused with the organs of murdered prisoners.

Skulls of Khmer Rouge victims

Meas Sokha, who was imprisoned at the Kraing Ta Chan prison as a teenager in 1976, made the allegations at the Kymer Rouge tribunal this week, according to reports by Cambodia Daily.

The special tribunal was created to investigate the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, led by Pol Pot.

Sokha claimed he had witnessed torture, mass killings and guards drinking wine infused with human organs during his three years at the prison.

He alleged that guards would dry out the internal organs of their murdered victims and mix them with wine, which they would then ingested to boost their courage for further killings.

The former prisoner claimed he regularly witnessed between 20 and 100 killings in a single day, often simply because the prison had reached full capacity.

Guards would often infuse their wine with the gall bladders of their victims, Sokha alleged.

Cambodia Daily reported Sokha to have told the court: “I could see gall bladders drying in the sun and I knew these were from human beings, there were so many dried by the fence, it was put in wine for drinking and to make people brave.”

The tribunal is the second phase of a case against former regime leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, who are facing charges including including genocide.