CHHORN Vorn
Pseudonym: 2-TCW-1036
Cases: Case 002/02
Category: Witness
Background and role
Chhorn Vorn joined the Khmer Rouge’s revolution in 1972.
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In 1975, he worked as a messenger for Northwest Zone Secretary Ruos Nhim before serving as his bodyguard from 1976
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until the latter’s arrest in 1978.
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Chhorn Vorn testified before the Trial Chamber as a witness in Case 002/02 about the transportation of Vietnamese military uniforms from Takeo province’s Phnum Den mountain of the Southwest Zone to Battambang province’s Ampil Prahaong district of the Northwest Zone in 1977, and about the arrest of Northwest Zone Secretary Ruos Nhim in 1978.
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Transportation of military uniforms
As Ruos Nhim’s bodyguard, Chhorn Vorn accompanied Ruos Nhim to the border with Vietnam to obtain military uniforms at Phnum Den before transporting them to Ampil Prahaong
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, Ruos Nhim’s military base.
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Before his live testimony, Chhorn Vorn told the investigators of the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges (OCIJ) that in 1977, he escorted Ruos Nhim to Phnum Den on the Vietnamese border to transport military uniforms.
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However, in his previous statement to the OCIJ investigators, he said that as Ruos Nhim’s driver, he always stayed in the car and never went to Sectors 3, 4 and 5 in the Northwest Zone with Ruos Nhim
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and that the latter went to Phnum Den only “once in a long while”.
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When asked by the Defence for Nuon Chea if he escorted Ruos Nhim to Phnum Den to obtain military uniforms, Chhorn Vorn initially denied that he had driven Ruon Nhim to Phnum Den, saying that it was another driver.
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He later recalled going to the mountain on one occasion at night with other guards to secure the safety of Ruos Nhim
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, who, he said, arrived there at daytime.
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Chhorn Vorn assumed that the uniforms were Vietnamese due to its bluish colour,
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although clarified that he did not know who actually brought the uniforms and never heard people speaking Vietnamese before the uniforms were loaded into a truck.
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A 10-wheel GMC truck with number 32 as its plate number carried the uniforms from Phnum Den through the Southwest Zone at around 6 p.m or 7 p.m with no checkpoints on its way to the Northwest Zone.
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The uniforms were distributed to Ruos Nhim’s bodyguards on their arrival at Ampil Prahaong.
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Arrest of Northwest Zone Secretary
Concerning the arrest of Ruos Nhim, Chhorn Vorn told the OCIJ investigators that Ruos Nhim was arrested and killed by Southwest Zone cadres in Battambang province’s Svay Sisophon while he was trying to escape towards Kampong Cham province around end of 1978.
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When testifying before the Trial Chamber, Chhorn Vorn initially denied knowing about the arrest of Ruos Nhim, but then later said that he’d learnt of the arrest from others but that he did not believe it because he did not witness it.
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The Trial Chamber found Chhorn Vorn’s testimony regarding the transportation of military uniforms unreliable due to the inconsistencies in his testimony about the nature of his relationship with Ruos Nhim,
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the description of his assignment,
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the frequency of the trips to Phnum Den,
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the origins of the military uniforms,
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and its consideration that the Southwest Zone under the supervision of Ta Mok known as Ta 15 was an unusual location for a truck full of military uniforms to evade his forces.
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