CHHOUK Rin
Pseudonym: TCW-110
Cases: Case 002/01
Category: Witness
Background and role
Chhouk Rin alias Sok (or Sokh)
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was a Khmer Rouge military commander,
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who served in the army from 1971 to 1979.
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First, he was a soldier in the Kampong Trach district, then a platoon commander in Kampot sector, and later an artillery commander.
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In 1975, he became the leader of foot soldiers at the Cambodia-Vietnam border.
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Before joining the army, Sok was ordained as a Buddhist monk.
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At the time of his testimony in Case 002/01, he was serving a life sentence at the Prey Sar M1 prison.
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Sok testified on matters including organisation/communication within the military and the CPK, population movement, the Cambodia-Vietnam conflict, the 1976 training and the “Revolutionary Flag” magazine, and internal purges.
Organization of the military
Sok testified that there were several levels in the military: the lowest were companies, then battalions, regiments, brigades, and lastly, divisions.
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Between 1975 and 1979, the hierarchy in the military was strictly adhered to.
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Sok was a low-ranking commander,
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responsible for border security.
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He received and issued most military orders through a shoulder-carried radio on the battlefield.
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There were no military trainings.
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However, Sok attended two trainings on operating American weapons, after the 1973/74 war.
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Self-criticism meetings were held every three days,
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and soldiers could get punished for minimal mistakes.
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The Trial Chamber relied on Sok’s testimony in confirming that the CIA, KGB, and the Vietnamese were regarded as primary enemies.
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Each echelon above a company was headed by a commander, usually assisted by two subordinates.
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Each division comprised of three brigades,
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and there was a strict hierarchy in communicating only with the direct supervisor.
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Organization and confidentiality of the CPK
According to Sok, in the CPK everything was confidential.
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Pol Pot was the Party’s Secretary, while Nuon Chea was the Deputy-Secretary from 1973 and the President of the People Representatives Assembly.
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Son Sen was the Minister of Defence,
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and Ta Mok – the only one who could interrupt Pol Pot’s lectures
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– was the leader of the Southwest Zone.
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Khieu Samphan was an intellectual who, according to Sok, did not have real power within the CPK.
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Sok never met Samphan nor saw him making a speech.
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Sok considered Chea responsible for the events between 1975 and 1979, as he was a senior cadre
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who tried to shift the blame to the lower cadres who were executed during the regime.
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Nuon Chea ordered the soldiers to cultivate rice and grow crops,
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and build warehouses to store produce,
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for their own subsistence.
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Sok also clarified that the New People were those evacuated after 17 April 1975;
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they were considered enemies and were segregated.
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Khmer people who returned from Hanoi in or before 1973 were called Khmer Viet Minh or Khmer-Vietnamese.
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In contrast, Viet Cong were Vietnamese who were considered an enemy.
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The CPK was created in resistance to the idea of one Indochinese Communist Party, which was a point of contention between the CPK and the Viet Cong.
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In 1979, the leaders ordered all CPK planning documents and written records to be burned.
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Movement of population: Phase I
On 16 April 1975, Sok and other soldiers evacuated everyone from Kampot,
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telling them it was for their own safety, because there might be another war.
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People, including hospital patients and elderly, left their homes with their belongings.
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Civilians were not treated as enemies by the soldiers.
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After the civilians left, the soldiers began farming to be self-sufficient.
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1976 training and the “Revolutionary Flag” magazine, number 7
In 1976, Sok attended a three-week training session in Phnom Penh along with 500-600 Party members, where they were lectured on a very rigorous political Democratic Kampuchea (DK) line
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and studied the content of the “Revolutionary Flag” magazine, number 7.
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The magazine, typewritten and bearing a CPK logo,
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was not made available to the general public, but only to the Party members and the Youth League.
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There was one magazine for every three or four participants.
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The “Revolutionary Flag”, written by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, and Ieng Sary, described CPK’s policies
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and the reconstruction of the country, by, for example, producing “three tonnes” per hectare, and eliminating enemies (like the KGB and the CIA).
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At the training sessions, Sok saw Nuon Chea,
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who did not speak much.
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However, according to Sok, Chea’s presentation of this magazine led to the chaos in Cambodia.
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Internal purges
Many senior leaders were implicated by colleagues and arrested.
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Mass “purification” began after April 1975.
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Sok’s superiors were arrested and executed in 1975 and 1976.
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Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, or Ta Mok decided on arrests of top cadres.
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After Ta Mok mentioned suspects to Pol Pot, they were arrested.
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Sok was Ta Sean’s bodyguard, and he was afraid that he, too, would be killed.
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In early 1978, Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ta Mok, and Son Sen, held a meeting with 600-700 participants, discussing purging “the internal enemy”, i.e., cadres of the East Zone.
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The Trial Chamber in Case 002/01 relied on Sok’s testimony when finding that many senior leaders and the Khmer who returned from Hanoi were arrested as enemies,
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and that Nuon Chea was involved in the East Zone purge.
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Sok’s suffering
Sok told the Trial Chamber that he was afraid of every senior leader and of making mistakes.
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The soldiers did not have enough food, and they worked very hard physically and mentally, which lead to exhaustion.
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Sok had to obey Nuon Chea’s orders also when he did not feel well, in order not to be executed.
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He stated that:
“my leader [Nuon Chea] was like a hungry tiger. If there is no food, the tiger might eat their subordinates. And, I was in prison because of my leader as well”.
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After the fall of the regime, Sok learned about the death of his relatives, who did not pose any threat to the regime.
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