TIOULONG Antonya

Background

Tioulong Antonya is a French National who testified as a Civil Party before the Trial Chamber in Case 001 about the disappearance of her sister, Tioulong Raingsy, and her brother-in-law, Lim Kimari. Tioulong Raingsy was a representative for Merck, a German lab, and an anchorwoman on French radio, while her husband Lim Kimari worked for the Commercial Bank. Tioulong Antonya testified on behalf of Tioulong Raingsy’s daughters, Visaka and Nevinka, her mother, Mrs. Chum Teav Meas Ket Samphotre, and her sister Samura.

Tioulong Antonya’s family during the Lon Nol period

Tioulong Antonya’s father, Samdech Chakrey Nheuk, was a high-ranking official who then became an ambassador, minister, prime minister, and head of the royal army with faultless loyalty to the King Father. In March 1970, Lon Nol’s Republic decreed that Tioulong Antonya’s family would no longer be allowed to be in Cambodia due to her father’s ties with King Sihanouk. Each year, her sister and brother-in-law visited France at different times and wrote letters constantly to their family, which Tioulong Antonya’s parents kept. In 1973, the civil war became more intense, and schools were closed for security reasons. Thus, Tioulong Raingsy sent her children to Paris to live with their grandparents. As the civil war worsened in 1974, Tioulong Antonya’s family asked her sister and brother-in-law to join them in France but they chose to remain in Phnom Penh. Their last visit to France was the fall and summer of 1974, they also scheduled to visit France in the summer of 1975. Between 1974 and March 1975, Tioulong Raingsy continued to communicate with her family. The Chamber granted leave to Tioulong Antonya to read an excerpt from a letter written by her sister dated 28 March 1975: This is a letter addressed to my father: Which advice can you give me? What do you suggest that I do? Must I leave as soon as possible, or must I stick to my date of departure as programmed? I no longer know what to do. It would be rather ugly on my behalf to leave my husband behind among all of these rockets falling, especially with his ulcers. If you must write confidential information, well, have Daddy ask the Quai d'Orsay, the French foreign ministry, to send me the letter under the cover of the French embassy. I'm working, as I said, in the French Audiovisual Office of Co-operation in Phnom Penh. ¹²

Disappearance of Tioulong Raingsy and Lim Kimari

Between 1975 and 1979, the family did not hear from either Tioulong Raingsy or Lim Kimari. Tioulong Raingsy’s mother visited different international organisations established in Thailand and showed them Tioulong Raingsy’s photographs, seeking to find her. She also paid crooks to look for Tioulong Raingsy within Cambodia. In June 1979, the family received letters that were transmitted by a French television crew covering Phnom Penh, who met three of the Tioulong Antonya’s cousins who survived. The cousins travelled to the Thai border and then to France where they told Tioulong Antonya and her family that Raingsy Tioulong and Lim Kimari were assassinated.

Photographs and piles of confessions

One of Tioulong Antonya’s cousins, Mrs. Hiem, informed Tioulong Raingsy’s family that she went to Phnom Penh around January 1979. There, Mrs Hiem, met Mr. Oeng Pech, with whom she spent a few days. With Mr. Oeng Puch, she saw piles of confessions and photographs when she visited Tuol Sleng, where she was told that Tioulong Raingsy had been detained. Mrs. Hiem saw blood, and when going through the piles of confession, she found Tioulong Raingsy’s confession written in Khmer and recognised her handwriting and some western words, such as the name of the lab and the name of her French friends. Mrs. Hiem’s narration of the suffering and torture that Tioulong Raingsy went through was devastating to the whole family, including Tioulong Raingsy’s children.

The Khmer Rouge’s arrival in Phnom Penh

When the Khmer Rouge arrived in Phnom Penh, Tioulong Raingsy was chased together with her cousins out of her home and ended up living under trees in Chbar Ampov for six weeks. After six weeks, the Khmer Rouge chased the family again and they walked for days over the Tonle Sap and lived in the village of Tuol Chrey. Tioulong Raingsy spoke French and this caught the attention of the Khmer Rouge, who wondered who she was and felt that she represented what they hated. After several weeks, the people in the village, including Tioulong Raingsy, were brought to a building at the edge of the village where they were interrogated. Tioulong Raingsy told her cousin, Mrs. Yung, what she told them and that she felt like something was wrong: “They told me to tell the truth. I told them that I was called Raingsy Tioulong, that I was the daughter of Nhoek Tioulong who was the head of the army and that I was waiting for his return as well as for the return of King Sihanouk.” Mrs. Yung said that one day they were all gathered where women and men were separated and Tioulong Rangsy and one of the Norodom princesses were called out and left trembling. The only traces of Tioulong Rangsy were found later in 1979.

Tioulong Antonya’s visit to Tuol Sleng

Tioulong Antonya’s testimony about Tioulong Raingsy’s disappearance was based on what her cousins told her. Tiouloung Antonya returned to Cambodia in 1994 with only her cousin’s accounts and visited Tuol Sleng where she saw a yellow sheet in a folder written in Khmer which was translated to her by Professor Henri Loccard. The yellow sheet had been drawn out to Tioulong Antonya’s family in the name of Tioulong Raingsy and it stated that Tioulong Raingsy died on 31 April 1976 after being beaten to death.

The Trial Chamber cited Tioulong Antonya’s testimony, acknowledging the disappearance of her sister and her brother-in-law in finding that she proved the existence of close kinship with immediate victims of S-21.

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
18 August 2009	E1/64	E1/64.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
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