PHAOK Khan
Pseudonym: E2/33
Cases: Case 001
Category: Civil Party
Background and Role
Phaok Khan was a civil party applicant. His application was based on of the disappearance and deaths of his wife and cousin, and of his own arrest and detention at S-21.
1
Phaok joined the Khmer Rouge as a soldier in Battalion 308 before 1975.
2
He participated in the liberation of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 and “cleansing the city and the evacuation of people from Phnom Penh”.
3
Arrest and Rescue
Phaok was arrested in Tuol Kork in 1978, blindfolded, and transferred to a detention centre which he believed was S-21.
4
There he was interrogated and tortured twice.
5
During his detention, he was put in a cell with another detainee, Yim Yav, for three days but they could not talk to each other.
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He was later placed in an individual cell for one week.
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After three to four months of detention, on 6 January 1979, he was taken away to a killing field which he believed was Choeung Ek.
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When taken near a pit to be killed, he avoided a blow aimed at his neck and was instead hit in his ribs when he fell unconscious into the pit.
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After he regained consciousness, he crawled on top of the corpses and fell unconscious again because of the bad smell.
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He was later able to leave the pit, arrive at a banana plantation where he tried to chew the trunk of a banana tree, reach a river, and let himself be carried on a wooden plank to the Chroy Changvar bridge where he was rescued by soldiers.
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Civil Party Application
In the Tuol Sleng archives, Phaok was able to find documents of Chhoeung Phoam alias Tin Neth, who he claimed to be his cousin.
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However, he was unable to find supporting documents to show that his cousin was detained, tortured, and interrogated at S-21.
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He also admitted that during a group visit to the Tuol Sleng Museum in 2008, he was unable to recognise the location as the place where he was detained.
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The Trial Chamber rejected Phaok’s civil party application,
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reasoning that he was neither photographed nor compelled to provide a biography, which were standard S-21 procedures, and that his account of his escape from the place of execution and the geographical indicia he provided was inconsistent with Choeung Ek.
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It also considered that Phaok was also unable to find supporting documents in relation to his wife, Pin Lin alias Pin Leab, who he believed was sent to S-21 or S-24 after her arrest in early 1978 while one month pregnant.
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Phaok’s Co-Lawyers appealed the Trial Chamber’s decision on three grounds.
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First, the Co-Lawyers argued that Duch did not contest the application.
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Second, they argued that Phaok was admitted by the Co-Investigating Judges in Case 002.
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Third, they submitted photographs that Phaok claimed were photographs of his wife, uncle, and his uncle’s wife as evidence, which he was only able to identify after visiting S-21.
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The Supreme Court Chamber rejected the Co-Lawyers’ first ground, finding that it is unfair to use Duch’s silence to make an adverse finding against him.
22
Concerning the second ground, the Supreme Court Chamber considered that the fact that the appellant was admitted in Case 002 by the Co-Investigating Judges (with a lower standard of proof) is not conclusive for admissibility at the conclusion of Case 001.
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However, it granted the appeal on the third ground, reasoning that while these photographs did not have names attached, it had no reason to doubt such attestation.
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Videos
| Date | Written record of proceedings | Transcript number |
|---|---|---|
| 7 July 2009 | E1/44 | E1/44.1 |
| 8 July 2009 | E1/45 | E1/45.1 |
| Document title Khmer | Document title English | Document title French | Document D number | Document E3 number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ឧបសម្ព័ន្ធ៣៖ ប្រវត្តិរូបរបស់ ភោគ សាខុន | Annex 3: Biography of Phok Sakhon | N/A | E5/7/1.3 |