Read our article: Prosecutors outline case in ‘Comrade Duch’ trial

We are in Takeo province. Thousands of Cambodians were massacred here. This survivor returns to pay his respects to the dead. Yav, a Khmer Rouge survivor, tells us: "I came here today because I made a promise to all my fellow prisoners, all innocent people, who were executed by the Khmer Rouge."

Yav, a doctor, hasn’t forgotten the victims, but he also hasn’t forgotten one of the biggest perpetrators of the massacres in this area. Yav explains: "He was in charge of taking the prisoners to mass graves, he threw them in alive, one by one, the victims were terrified of the corpses, they tried to escape, so he finished them off." That former torturer is still alive. We’re going with Yav to see him, we can tell he’s still scared.

Suddenly the evils return. "I think I can’t go with you," he says. "I’m afraid…I’m still afraid of the Khmer Rouge." Finally, Yav accepts to go on, but only if we stay close to him. For the first time since 1979, these two men will see each other again and will face their common past.

Dam, the former torturer, is now an old man who spends his days in the fields, while his former victim remembers everything.

Yav tells us: "You know, this man strictly obeyed orders, when he was told to kill, he did it without hesitation." Dam replies: ‘No, no, it’s not true, at that time nobody gave me any orders to kill anyone…are you trying to accuse me, is that it?" He continues in the same vein: "There may have been some executions in the province, but I was a simple farmer, I knew nothing about what was going on."

The torturer denies everything, but Yav knows all too well what happened: "What a liar, what he says are all lies. It’s not fair, it’s all wrong. We have to be careful you know, if you push a dog into a corner, he will bite you."

Perpetrators who claim innocence and survivors still terrified; the Khmer Rouge trial may have been slow in the coming, but the wounds are still fresh.