Case 002 Witnesses, experts and Civil Parties

The witness has been interviewed during the investigation stages of other Cases and international Co-Investigating Judge requested Trial Chamber to refer him by speudonym (2-TCW-976) during his hearing of substance not his full name. 

CHIN Saroeun was born in January 1959. He was a monk from 1972-75.

He explained to the Trial Chamber that on 17 April 1975 he and all the other monks in his region were defrocked because the Khmer Rouge told him there would be no more monks in the new regime. This was upsetting for him, because he loved Buddhism and had intended to be a monk for the rest of his life. The Khmer Rouge moved him to be trained in Kratie for three months, then transferred him to a mobile unit n Mondulkiri in ’75. The witness said that when he was a soldier, he was in charge of preventing Vietnamese prisoners from escaping. During testimony, he also discussed the vehicle with license plate number 502. He said this was used to take people away when they committed an offense. Everyone dreaded this vehicle and it would often drive straight into people’s homes. The chief of the district was accused of hiding Vietnamese minority people.

Mr. Chin told the Trial Chamber that after he left Mondulkiri people from his old division were sent to PP to be killed but he doesn’t know why. He was married in 1977 on request from his commander, who liked him and asked whether he knew his would-be wife. He did, but she and he didn’t know they’d be married until the day. Mr. Chin said the manual work they had to do sometimes killed people within 10 days of arriving there. His section was autonomous and reported straight to Phnom Penh.

Witness 2-TCW-1005 – anonymous due to involvement in other cases – testified in July 2016 on the subjects of internal purges and forced marriage. He was born in 1958 in Tram Kak, Takeo province. His father died sometime around 1967 or ’68; although the witness isn’t sure precisely when or why because he was quite young, he does believe that it was because of his father’s involvement in the CPK. In fact, he believes that his father’s friendship with Son Sen is the only reason he is still alive today. His mother also joined the revolution quite early, in 1970.

The witness said he joined the Khmer Rouge army when he was 15. According to the witness, when several of his teachers were killed while participating in demonstrations against the Lon Nol regime, the witness was inspired to fight against Lon Nol, so he joined the army as part of a children’s messenger unit. He stayed there for two and a half years, then moved to Kiri Vong in September of 1975 and onto Kratie in 1977 while moving up in the ranks of messenger units in those sectors.

Because of his increasingly important position in messenger units, the witness said he was present at many meetings of the higher echelons of leadership. His main testimony pertained to purges of the party leadership in the Khmer Rouge during the later years of the regime. One purge he spoke of in particular allegedly occurred in Sector  13 in 1977 when the secretary of the sector was removed from his position, originally due to health reasons and then arrested for alleged connections to the enemy. The witness explained that the secretary was replaced by the witness’s cousin, who was only in the position for a short time before he, too, was accused of connections to the enemy and sent to S-21.

Another alleged purge in 1977 that the witness was questioned  about, occurred during a period of intense fighting against the Vietnamese in the area near Kratie. As a leader of a messenger unit, the witness said he delivered a letter from the head office which required 11 of the top leaders in Sector 505 to go to a meeting in Phnom Penh. At the time, he said, he was young and he was happy that his superiors would be away for a few days. However, he realized they had been “disappeared” when their positions were filled with new cadres. Their names later appeared on the prisoner list of S-21, including one of his uncles.

The witness spoke in particular about the harmful effect of the mistrust between comrades sown by the party, specifically through their Revolutionary Flag magazine which told its readers that enemies of the party were everywhere. These enemies were referred to as “burrowing enemies”, and much of the witness’s testimony related to how the party dealt with these alleged burrowing enemies. The witness pointed out how the magazine and the party focused heavily on eradicating friends of the CIA and the KGB-affiliated Vietnamese, while ignoring the hunger and shortage of food being suffered by the Cambodian people at that time.

According to the witness,  the Khmer Rouge tended to move cadres who were from the East Zone into the Southwest Zone and vice versa, and each time they moved it was difficult for party members to trust them. As well as this, the witness said the mistrust meant that any person with any connection to Phnom Penh or outside Cambodia was disappeared because they were believed to be an agent of the enemy.   He exemplified this with the case of his mother,  who according to the witness was killed because of an aunt in Phnom Penh, even though she had been a member of the party since 1970.

The witness stressed that the principles of the party were sound – he remained a member of the Khmer Rouge until 1998. However the principles depended on execution, and in this he felt the party failed. The leadership was not consistent through the country, he said, and the breakdown occurred between the written tenets of the political society created by the Khmer Rouge and their implementation of them.

Mr Meas Soeurn was born in 1952 in Phnov village, Rumchek subdistrict, Memot district, Tbong Khmun province and lives with his wife and children in Ta Khmau village, Ta Khmau commune, Ta Khmau district, Kandal province. He works in the Kandal provincial committee.

He testified in Case 002/02. Mr Meas stated that he joined the revolution unknowingly by running from his village into the forest in 1968. He kept fleeing until March 1970, then worked as a driver for his father, Meas Senghong, alias Chan, who, between 1970 and 1975, was deputy chief then chief of sector 21, then became the deputy chief of the East zone. Mr Meas became a member of the CPK in 1974. He got married in late 1976. After 1975, he attended a technical training session and became the deputy chief of a metal factory in the East zone, and did not see his father anymore. He often traveled between the Commerce office in Phnom Penh and his factory to transport material. According to Mr Meas, all East zone cadres including East zone leader Sor Phim were purged in May 1978. They were accused of treason and collusion with the Vietnamese. During his testimony, he gave the names of some of them. He explained that when a chief was falsely “sent to study sessions”, all his subordinates were too. His father kept his position, but went to Phnom Penh and disappeared a few months before January 1979. Mr Meas stated that at the time, his factory received letters from Phim instructing them to resist the arrests. He said that Phim believed that Son Sen was plotting against Pol Pot and Nuon Chea. Mr Meas also declared that there were some arrests prior to 1978 in his unit. He recalled one Vietnamese employee in his factory who got arrested.

He also explained that Cham people in the East zone were displaced and tried to rebel. According to him, the East zone forces fought back against the Centre in 1978.

The Witness, who stood trial and was convicted by the Trial Chamber in Case 001 for his involvement in the
crimes committed at the S-21 Security Centre, was the deputy and, from March 1976, chief of the prison. He was also the head of the M -13 security centre prior to the start of the DK period.

He provides evidence regarding the functioning of S-21 Security Centre, including: the prison's establishment
under the orders of Son Sen, DK Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Chief of the RAK General Staff; the
location, internal structure, organization and operation of S-21 and S-24; composition of prisoners; inhumane
conditions of detention and forced labour; the interrogation and torture techniques used at S-21; arrests,
imprisonment and interrogation of foreigners, including Vietnamese civilians and prisoners of war; killings within the S-21 compound; establishment of Choeung Ek as an execution site, and the executions of prisoners at this location.

The Witness worked at S-24 (Prey Sar) before being transferred to the main S-21 compound in early 1976,
where he became Head of the Documentation Unit. He was responsible for recording names, compiling
biographies, and photographing all incoming and outgoing prisoners at S-21. The Witness provides details
concerning the location, structure, hierarchy and operation of S-21, and describes in detail the internal functioning of the Documentation Unit. He testifies to the composition of prisoners, which included Cambodians, Europeans, Americans, Vietnamese civilians and prisoners of war, women and children, CPK senior cadres (including Ta Nat and Vorn Vet) and former S-21 staff.

He describes the conditions within the prison, and testifies that many prisoners died from disease and insufficient nutrition. He also confirms that interrogations, torture and executions took place outside of the S-21 main compound, and that prisoners were transported to their executions in covered trucks. He testifies to the practice of blood drawing at S-21. 

The Witness, who was a guard at S-21 in 1976 and later Head of The Special Unit, was responsible for arrests, guard management, coordinating transport of prisoners to S-21, and the transfer of prisoners from S-21 to Choeung Ek. He describes the location, authority structure and operations of S-21, including the inhumane living conditions to which the prisoners were subjected, and the use of torture during interrogations. He testifies to the execution techniques used at Choeung Ek.

The Witness describes a specific incident where a female detainee was raped. He also testifies to the interrogation, torture and execution of Vietnamese prisoners of war at S-21, as well as four Westerners, and numerous children.

Mr. Makk Thim, previously Mr. Makk Sithim, was born on 5 April 1962 in Ta Sokh Village, Saeb Commune, Kampong Talach District, Kampong Chhang Province. He he is currently a farmer living in Saeb Commune, Kampong Tralach District, Kampong Chhang Province. He testified in Case 002/02 about his work as a medic at the S-21 security center. According to Mr. Makk Thim, before he worked at S-21, he was sent to Takhmau to learn how to farm and to use weapons. After, he said, he went to Prey Sar to grow radishes. He then joined a military strategies training session, after which he was sent to many other locations before being sent to S-21. After the military strategies training session, Mr. Makk Thim said he was assigned to join a medical training session in the area of Psar Thmei for two or three months. After his medical training, he said he was sent to S-21 to work as a medic around the age of 15 or 16. According to Mr. Makk Thim, he created medicinal tablets at Takhmau which were used at S-21. His alleged duties included cleaning prisoners’ bandages and distributing pills. He reported that often the medicines used for prisoners were ineffective. He said that most of the bandages were made out of mosquito nets and pieces of cloth. He described how they would clean the wounds with salt water that they made in the compound. Additionally he reported occasionally using injections on prisoners for swelling and numbness, although he was unsure of what specific ingredients those injections contained. He claimed that he witnessed wounds from beatings, electrocutions, and the removal of nails. He also said it was his responsibility to bury the bodies of prisoners outside the S-21 compound.    

The Witness was a guard at S-21 from late 1975 and an interrogator from late 1976, after which he became head of the "Chewing Unit" until 7 January 1979. The Witness took part in the interrogations and torture of prisoners at S-21. He provides descriptions of the leadership, structureand operations of the prison, as well as Duch's communications with Pol Pot and Nuon Chea. He describes the inhumane living conditions to which
prisoners were subjected, and their executions. He also provides evidence regarding rape at S-21.

The Witness details the methods of torture used at S-21, including electrocution shocks and prisoners being forced to eat excrement. He confirms the presence of Vietnamese civilians, prisoners of war, pregnant women and Westerners at S-21. He also states that he saw blood drawn from various prisoners until they died, and that the blood was sent to the 17 April and Monivong hospitals. The Witness provides evidence of arrests of S-21 staff.

Lach Mean was recruited as a Khmer Rouge militia member in 1974 before becoming a soldier. In 1975, he was sent for training at the military technical school at Ta Khmau. He was then assigned to work as a guard at Ta Khmau prison and later on at Dam Pheng prison in Phnom Penh. When this prison was relocated to S-21, he worked there as a guard and typist. In late 1978 he as transferred to the interrogation unit where he received training under the supervision of Kak.

As a witness, Lach Mean described the working conditions at S-21, reporting that S-21 staff disappeared on a regular basis. He described the detention conditions as well as the interrogation sessions, which aimed to extract information from the prisoners and identify their networks. His training to become an interrogator consisted of observing his supervisor interrogate detainees. He told the Trial Chamber that he was only assigned to interrogate ordinary detainees and was not permitted to inflict torture upon them. He acknowledged before the Chamber that he personally interrogated only three to four detainees. He testified on the torture methods used at S-21, such as beating prisoners with a guava tree stick and applying electroshocks to their ears. As an interrogator at S-21, he recalled meeting the Accused on a daily basis.

The Witness is a son of Ta Ham alias Laing, the Sector 105 Secretary who was killed in October 1977 in Phnom Penh. The Witness was Ieng Thirith's personal driver from late 1977 to January 1979, and describes her role, authority and powers as Minister of Social Affairs, including: Ieng Thirith's power to spy upon, dismiss or purge staff; her frequent meetings with Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary; the arrests of senior MSA cadres under Ieng Thirith instructions, which were followed by her announcements that the arrestees were traitors; Ieng Thirith's dissemination of CPK policies within the MSA; and her selection of unqualified workers to replace numerous staff arrested from MSA sites. The Witness also gives details of the MSA internal structure and organization, and its cooperation with military hospitals.

The Witness previously worked as a telegram translator, secretary and messenger for Ta Ham from 1975 to 1977, and testifies to: the communications between Sector 105 and the Northeast Zone with the CPK Party Centre; communications with, and instructions from, Khieu Samphan regarding equipment and healthcare, and Nuon Chea regarding security matters; Nuon Chea's instructions to senior cadres (including Ta Ham) to attend meetings in Phnom Penh, and the subsequent disappearances of those cadres. He also describes the
structure and leadership the Phnom Kraol Security Office and the composition of its prisoners.

The Witness was CPK Secretary for Pich Chenda District, Mondulkiri Province, from 1972 to 1977, and was
promoted to Sector 105 Secretary in late 1977. He attended the meetings in May 1975 at which Pol Pot and
Nuon Chea instructed zone, sector, district and military division leaders on the CPK policies they were to
implement, including the closing of all pagodas and organization of cooperatives. He also participated in
political education sessions conducted by Nuon Chea and other senior leaders. As Sector 105 Secretary, the Witness was responsible for Phnom Kraol and other sector security offices, and reported directly to the Standing Committee on securitymatters and conditions in the sector. He authenticates and discusses telegrams he sent to Office 870, and states that either Pol Pot or Nuon Chea would respond to his telegrams and provide instructions.

He describes how he and other Sector 105 cadre (including the military commanders in charge of Phnom Kraol) travelled to Phnom Penh on several occasions to meet with Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan and report on sector activities. (During those trips, some of the sector cadres who came with the Witness were arrested and sent to S-21.) The Witness describes instructions he received from the CPK senior leaders, including a directive from Pol Pot to conduct mass marriages and new policies on arrests and enemies presented in September 1978. He admits that he was informed by the Party Centre of local cadres implicated in S-21 confessions, that arrests were ordered by the Centre, and that he needed approval from the Centre to release prisoners accused of political offences, such as betraying the Party or collaborating with the Vietnamese.

2-TCW-900 testified remotely via video-link from Oddar Meanchey province. He became a soldier in 1971 in regiment 39 headquartered near Phnom Santuk, in Kampong Thom province, then was stationed near Phnom Penh. The regiment was then combined with other regiments under Division 14 which became Division 801 after 1975. After the liberation of Phnom Penh, the division had its headquarter at the Olympic Stadium. The witness was a radio operator at that time.

The division became Division 801 around October or November 1975, and the witness was sent with others to Kratie and Ratanakiri provinces in the Northeast Zone, along the Vietnamese and Laos borders. The witness worked at the Division headquarters until he got married in March 1977, then he was reassigned to the Au Kanseng re-education center established in the same year, close to Ban Lung, as part of Battalion 806. The witness said he was in charge of detainee confessions. There were nine guards. Prisoners who had not committed serious offences were assigned some tasks in kitchens, fields or plantations, or guarded other prisoners. Guards were assigned to the interrogation room, to guard working prisoners or to dig pits at night. Prisoners attended education sessions in which the regime’s magazines were used. Prisoners at Au Kanseng were workers from unions such as rubber plantations and cooperatives, and Division 801 soldiers accused of being undisciplined or implicated in confessions, only up to a certain rank. The witness once attended a workshop given by Ta Saroeun about identifying enemies of the revolution. The witness explained that most prisoners were not tied or shackled at Au Kanseng, but some were under special surveillance. Prisoners could get diseases such as malaria, inflammatory bowels, and dysentery due to unclean water, and could suffer from malnutrition. Medics treated them with homemade medicine, although if the treatment was ineffective prisoners died. The witness estimated that there were between 100 and 200 prisoners in the center in 1977. He said that hundreds of prisoners died, either from illnesses or because they were eliminated. He explained that phones were sometimes used to give electric shocks to ethnic Jarai prisoners. More than a hundred Jarai people from Vietnam accused of being Thieu-Ky soldiers were sent to the center in trucks in late 1977. The witness said he was instructed to have them executed but did not kill them himself, although he used his right to avoid self-incrimination on that particular matter. The witness confirmed that there were clashes at the Vietnamese border during 1978 and 1979.

The Witness, who was the deputy chairman of Au Kanseng Security Centre, describes the structure, leadership and operations of the prison, including communications between the prison and Division 801.
He gives evidence that the Division 801 Secretary conveyed orders to execute of a group of more than 100
Jarai prisoners and a group of five Vietnamese prisoners of war. The Witness also describes the use of S-21
confessions at Au Kanseng.

The witness, who worked as deputy chief of the Sector 105 economics unit, describes his own arrest and imprisonment together with his family members and other cadres connected to deceased Sector Deputy Secretary Kham Phoun in late 1977. He was initially detained at the Sector office (K -17) and later sent for tempering at the Nang Khilik worksite .. He also describes the Phnom Kraol Security Centre. The witness identifies senior Sector 105 and Division 920 cadres who were arrested and imprisoned at S-21 or the Sector security offices, and authenticates a number of DK biographies from such cadres. He also explains reasons for arrests in the area, which included being suspected of having Vietnamese connections. He describes the classifications of enemies by the CPK.

The Witness, who was a messenger for the Koh Nhek District Secretary, describes the authority structure of 
Sector 105 and his own arrest, imprisonment and interrogation at the Phnom Kraol Security Centre. The 
Witness was part of a group of over 80 people connected to Sector Deputy Secretary Kham Phoun who were 
arrested in late 1977. He describes the inhumane and unhygienic conditions in which prisoners were held, the
removal of several prisoners for execution and his subsequent transfer to the Nang Khilik worksite.

Witness, MOEURNG Chandy, testified about living condition and the life of prisoners in Au Kanseng security center. She testified to being made to return to work shortly after giving birth. Armed guards always supervised prisoners whilst they are working. Prisoners worked hard and did not dare to walk without permission for fear of being shot dead. they were confined by bamboo spikes that surrounded the prison and prevented escape.  

2-TCW-933. Born on 16 June 1950 in Rongoeun, Svay Rieng district, Svay Rieng province, Mr Phon Thol currently lives in Ratanakiri province. He is the ex-husband of witness Ms. Moeurng Chandy, 2-TCW-867. They separated in 1986 and Mr Phon Thol married another woman. The couple worked in a rubber plantation from 1962 until 1977. After the evacuation of Phnom Penh in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge set up a union to manage the rubber plantation. The witness was arrested on 16 June 1977 and sent to Au Kanseng re-education centre with other union workers and his wife, Ms. Moeurng Chandy. Mr Phon Thol was interrogated without suffering physical harm. He was accused of belonging to the upper class and using modern techniques of the feudalist class instead of farmer’s techniques. His wife was pregnant at the time of the arrest and their daughter was born in prison.

Through the cracks in the bamboo wall of his cell, Mr Phon Thol witnessed the arrival of a Jarai group to the re-education centre. He estimated some 100 men, women and children were brought in two trucks. The group stayed less than a week and, through the cracks of his cell wall, he saw how they were walked away from the prison by Au Kanseng security guards. Two days later the witness was assigned to work in the jackfruit plantation 1 km away from the compound of the education centre. Under the palm trees he saw a grave with half buried bodies. At the rim of that grave there were blood and personal belongings he believed belonged to the Jarai group that, at that point, he suspected had been killed. While working at the jackfruit plantation keeping people away from the land, the witness saw how people were killed by security guards of the education center. The bodies were thrown into trenches dug by former Lon Nol soldiers. One time a security guard asked Mr Phon Thol to bury a body of a prisoner who tried to escape. On a different occasion the witness heard a guard telling people how he had slashed a woman’s back open and removed her gallbladder and hung it in the kitchen. The woman worked in the rubber plantation and had been accused of immoral acts.

Mr Phon Thol was not harmed during interrogations, but he saw how other prisoners were beaten and electrocuted. He described the living conditions at the re-education center and the treatment of prisoners. He managed to escape the center in December 1978 during a Vietnamese offensive.

Mr. MEAS Voeun, born in Srae Khlong village, Phnom Srok district, Kampong Speu province. Prior to testifying in Case 002/02 he was also called as a witness in Case 002/01. The witness was a regiment commander when the Khmer Rouge forces took control over Phnom Penh in April 1975. After 1975 he was stationed for three years at Koh Kong  as Deputy Commander of Division 1. In 1978 he was transferred  to Preah Vihear. He described the CPK hiarchy and command structure in his division and in the west zone.. His testimony covered the treatment of former Lon Nol soldiers and the treatment of the Vietnamese, as well as internal enemies and plans for  internal coup’ d’etat. The witness recalled instructions that former Lon Nol soldiers who raised a white flag were not to be harmed.  According to the witness, Vietnamese and Khmer people were enemies before he was born, however, during the regime unarmed Vietnamese civilians were not considered enemies. When Vietnamese were captured after 1975, they were according to the witness sent to the upper echelon and he had no idea what happened to them.

Mr. SAO Van, born in 1941 Takéo Province, Tram Kak District was a member of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). Prior to testifying in Case 002/02, he was also called as a witness during the appeal hearings in Case 002/01 in July 2015. In 1976 he was appointed commune chief in Kampong Svay in Kien Svay District. He was questioned about food rations in the different places he lived during the DK regime. According to the witness, food was insufficient some places, whereas in other places sufficient food was available. As a CPK official he attended a number of meetings including one he recalled where instructions were  iven not to harm former Lon Nol soldiers of a certain rank. He never witnessed the mistreatment of soldiers from the former regime. He further elaborated on the structure of the CPK in his province. Questioned about the treatment of the Vietnamese in 1975, the witness explained that the five Vietnamese families living in his commune was to be gathered at a pagoda and sent back to Vietnam, and that there were instructions not to harm them or their property. He also said that his brother was identified as a former Lon Nol official and was sent to a re-education center.

Mr. Sann Lorn, 73, was born in Prah Keab Village, Tram Kok District, Takeo Province. He now lives Sre Chrey Village in Chhak Roka commune, Samlaut. Mr. Lorn's testimony highlighted his knowledge on the deportations that happened among the Vietnamese during the Khmer Rouge regime. He said that he rounded up and transported Vietnamese people for four days sometime after 1975, after which he never saw these people ever again. Mr. Lorn also confirmed that he was the younger brother-in-law of Ta Mok, which he believed to be a supreme leader and the second-in-line behind Pol Pot. Witness lived in Tram Kok District the entire time until 1975 where he worked as a messenger at the commune level and for the district committee. He added that he used to work as a messenger for Yeay Khom, the daughter of Ta Mok.

Although Ms. In Yoeung cannot specify the exact year of birth, she estimates her date of birth to be 1960 – making her approximately 15 years old when Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge. Born in Chheu Phleung village, Svay Rieng province, she was transferred to Ro Prasoutr to work in a mobile unit at the beginning of the period of Democratic Kampuchea. Ms. In Yoeung provided testimony on a variety of topics including the treatment of Vietnamese, although very briefly. The main focus of her testimony revealed living conditions in both mobile units and cooperatives, and relating to  organized marriages. She stated in her testimony that she was required by “Angkar” (the regime) to marry, lest she be sent to a detention facility. She was also motivated to marry for the fact that upon being married she would be transferred from her mobile unit to a cooperative – where the living conditions were considered to be better. During her testimony, Ms. In Yoeung confirms that there was artillery fire near where she worked during the period of Democratic Kampuchea, near the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.