SIN Oeng - ECCC

Background and role

Sin Oeng was related to Sao Phim, the East Zone secretary - his deceased grandmother was Sao Phim’s cousin.¹ From April 1975 until 1976, he was part of a mobile unit in Svay Rieng province in the East Zone.² He then received training on military rules for a few months before becoming a personal guard for Sao Phim.³ He testified as a witness before the Trial Chamber in Case 002/02 on the East Zone administrative structures, and the armed conflict with Vietnam and internal purges in the East Zone.

East Zone administrative structures

Sin Oeng was quite young when he was appointed as a guard to Sao Phim.⁴ Sin Oeng worked in the defense/guard office in charge of protecting Sao Phim; an office that was headed by Prak Choeuk.⁵ There were around 60 people, including men and women, both young and old, in that unit.⁶ Choeuk was his direct supervisor who reported directly to Sao Phim.⁷ There were five divisions in the East Zone army.⁸ During the Khmer Rouge regime, Heng Samrin was the commander of the division 4 based in Memot.⁹ Heng Samrin’s brother, a man named Heng Samkai, was the chief of zone messenger unit, and after 1979 he became the provincial governor of Svay Rieng.¹⁰ Chea Sim was the governor of Ponhea Kraek District.¹¹ Sao Phim lived with his family at Tuol Samraong, at the junction of two districts - Kamchay Mea and Ponhea Kraek.¹² His wife, Yeay Karou, was the chief of the East Zone agricultural worksite.¹³ Sao Phim’s son was the chairman of the P-2 hospital.¹⁴ Ruos Nhim was the Northwest Zone secretary.¹⁵ He visited Sao Phim three times in the East Zone, sometimes accompanied by his grandson.¹⁶ One of Sao Phim’s daughters, named Si, married Ruos Nhim’s son and moved to live with her husband afterwards.¹⁷ Nuon Chea and Pol Pot occasionally came to visit Sao Phim in the East Zone.¹⁸ Between 1976 and early 1978, Sao Phim travelled to Phnom Penh with one or more of his bodyguards twice monthly.¹⁹ Upon arrival in Phnom Penh, he usually stopped at Ounalom pagoda and rested there, and then continued his journey with a vehicle coming to pick him up.²⁰

Armed conflict with Vietnam and internal purges in the East Zone

In December 1977, the Vietnamese troops entered in Cambodian territory about 10 kilometres away from Suong.²¹ The clashes between the two countries occurred while arrests were already taking place in the East Zone.²² Ke Pauk, Central Zone secretary, came to the East Zone once the attacks with Vietnam started.²³ There was initially one party in Cambodia, which was the Communist Party of Kampuchea (“CPK”), and included all the Zones.²⁴ Later, the “Centre” and the Southwest Zone forces came to arrest people in the East Zone, and people were killed arbitrarily.²⁵ In Sin Oeng’s view, that was a coup d’Etat.²⁶ He did not know who initiated the purges or the reason of the arrests.²⁷ People in the East Zone were not aware of the plan to make arrests.²⁸ Choeuk, whom Sao Phim trusted and who was his supervisor, was arrested in the East Zone headquarters on 26 May 1978, one day before Sao Phim left for Phnom Penh.²⁹ Soldiers were arrested despite fighting against Vietnam at the time.³⁰ Those who were serving in the Zone ministries or offices were targeted for arrest.³¹ All of Sao Phim's relatives were arrested and died.³² Prior to leaving for Phnom Penh in mid-1978, Sao Phim went to meet Heng Samrin in Prey Veng town.³³ Sao Phim told Heng Samrin that he was going to Phnom Penh to “sort things out”, and if he did not return in one week, Heng Samrin should gather up the remaining soldiers to fight against Pol Pot.³⁴ Sin Oeng stated that he never heard Sao Phim say anything against the Party or appear opposed to the Party’s plans.³⁵ After the meeting, Sao Phim continued his journey towards Phnom Penh with Sin Oeng and nine other persons.³⁶ Upon arriving at Akreiy Ksatr, the other side of the river in front of the royal palace, Sao Phim twice sent messages to Pol Pot but there was no response.³⁷ Sin Oeng was separated from Sao Phim during an ambush, and later heard that Sao Phim committed suicide on 3 June 1978.³⁸ He saw leaflets stating that Sao Phim was a traitor and had cooperated with the "Yuon"; these leaflets had been dropped from the airplane to various places in the East Zone.³⁹ He heard that Sao Phim’s body was paraded around to show that the accusations of treason were true.⁴⁰ After Sao Phim’s suicide, Sin Oeng was imprisoned in Kdei Rumduol pagoda to the north of Svay Rieng town and liberated after the Vietnamese troops arrived.⁴¹ The Trial Chamber relied on Sin Oeng’s testimony in addition to other evidence in finding that: (i) Ruos Nhim and Sao Phim met with each other and had family connections, although it was not clear that Ruos Nhim was actively working against the CPK policies in effect at the time;⁴² (ii) there was no credible evidence that Sao Phim maintained contact with the Vietnam in order to overthrow Pol Pot, and it was only in May 1978, when he was to be purged, that Sao Phim suggested to his troops that they should seek help from Vietnam and even then, Sao Phim maintained faith in Pol Pot;⁴³ (iii) Sao Phim maintained constant communication and frequent contact with the other members of the Standing Committee until his final trip to Phnom Penh in May 1978 and that the other members of the Standing Committee frequently visited him in the East Zone;⁴⁴ (iv) Ke Pauk came to the East Zone around October 1977, joined by Central Zone and Southwest Zone forces and the Party Centre’s forces, and these were the forces who executed the East Zone purges;⁴⁵ and (v) Sao Phim was ordering attacks against the Vietnamese pursuant to Pol Pot’s orders while purges were ongoing in the East Zone.⁴⁶

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
1 December 2016	E1/505	E1/505.1
5 December 2016	E1/506	E1/506.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
បទសម្ភាសន៍របស់មជ្ឈមណ្ឌលឯកសារកម្ពុជាជាមួយ ស៊ិន អ៊ឹង	DC-Cam interview with Sin Ung	Audition de Sin Ung par le DC-Cam	N/A	E3/10716