The ''Santebal'' ( km, សន្តិបាល, ; meaning "keeper of peace") was the

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic ...

of the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 ...

Democratic Kampuchea Kampuchea ( km, កម្ពុជា ), officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK; km, កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ) from 5 January 1976, was a one-party totalitarian state which encompassed modern-day Camb ...

(DK) regime in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

. The Santebal was in charge of internal security and running prison camps like Tuol Sleng (S-21) where thousands of people were imprisoned, interrogated, tortured and executed. It was part of the Khmer Rouge organizational structure well before the

Fall of Phnom Penh The Fall of Phnom Penh was the capture of Phnom Penh, capital of the Khmer Republic (in present-day Cambodia), by the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, effectively ending the Cambodian Civil War. At the beginning of April 1975, Phnom Penh, one of t ...

on 17 April 1975. Its name is an amalgam of two words: ''sântĕsŏkh'' ( ) meaning "security" and ''nôkôrbal'' ( ) meaning "police".

History

As early as 1971, the

or the

Communist Party of Kampuchea The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK),, UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; french: Parti communiste du Kampuchea also known as the Khmer Communist Party,

established the Special Zone outside of

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...

under the direction of

Vorn Vet Vorn Vet ( km, វ៉ន វេត; 1929–1978) born Sok Thuok (), was a Cambodian politician who served as deputy prime minister for the economy of Democratic Kampuchea. He was murdered at the S-21 security camp in 1978. References ...

and

Son Sen Son Sen ( km, សុន សេន ; 12 June 1930 – 15 June 1997), alias Comrade Khieu () or "Brother Number 89", was a Cambodian Communist politician and soldier. A member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea/ Party ...

. Sen, later the Deputy Minister for Defense of

, was also in charge of the Santebal, and in that capacity he appointed Comrade Duch to run its security apparatus. Most of the Santebal's deputies, such as Comrade Chan and Comrade Pon (Chan's deputy), hailed from Kampong Thom, Duch's home province. 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 as Tuol 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.Locard, Henri
State Violence in Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) and Retribution (1979-2004)
''European Review of History'', Vol. 12, No. 1, March 2005, pp.121–143.

References

* * Khmer Rouge Law enforcement in communist states National security institutions Secret police {{Cambodia-stub