SOK Roeur (Roeu)
Pseudonym: TCW-665
Cases: Case 002/01
Category: Witness
Background and Roles
Sok Roeu was born a member of the Tumpoun ethnic community in Ratanakiri province.
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He testified that he went through a selection process by “Angkar”; moving from roles in the village to the commune, the commune to the district, and then the district to the province level.
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Finally, he was chosen to work in Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge regime.
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He worked at K-8, growing vegetables.
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Four months later after his arrival in Phnom Penh, he was transferred to K-1,
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the compound in Phnom Penh within which Pol Pot lived and worked.
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In October 1978, he was moved to K-3,
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another residential and office compound in Phnom Penh for the CPK senior leaders, including Noun Chea and Khieu Samphan,
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and he stayed there for about three months. The majority of his tasks were cleaning the house, or guarding the entrance
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when the guards had lunch.
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He gave evidence on Khieu Samphan’s character in Case 002/01.
Learning Khmer language
According to his testimony, as an ethnic minority, Sok Roeu had difficulty communicating during the Khmer Rouge regime.
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He started learning the alphabet and learned to speak Khmer with no formal schooling.
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He brought an alphabet book with him most of the time, and he also continued his learning in Phnom Penh through self-study after work.
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Khieu Samphan’s character
Sok Roeu was one of five witnesses who testified on Khieu Samphan’s character in Case 002/01.
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Sok Roeu testified that when Khieu Samphan was in K-3 office, Sok Roeu was working in a different section.
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The witness got to know Khieu Samphan well, however,
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when he worked with him from 1989 until 1995 as his bodyguard.
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Khieu Samphan was in charge of foreign affairs and travelled back and forth to overseas.
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From 1989 to 1995, they moved from one place to another, including Pailin, Phnom Chat, Anlong Veng and Thailand.
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Sok Roeu stated that he “never had any resentment for Mr. Khieu Samphan”
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because he never blamed his subordinates.
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Khieu Samphan guided his subordinates on their work, and helped people to meet their responsibilities.
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Sok Roeu testified that Khieu Samphan guided his subordinates rather than ordering them, never looked down on poor people or peasants and that he never saw anyone become upset with Khieu Samphan.
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Sok Roeu testified that Khieu Samphan also discussed with him the free market economy, the use of banknotes, the generation of income for the family and how to behave decently as a citizen.
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Khieu Samphan did not take part in the self-criticism session with his bodyguards.
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During the Khmer Rouge regime, Sok Roeu claimed that he did not have any fear of anything that would happen to him.
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Videos:
Videos
| Date | Written record of proceedings | Transcript number |
|---|---|---|
| 07/06/2013 | E1/203 | E1/203.1 |
| Document title Khmer | Document title English | Document title French | Document D number | Document E3 number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |