HUN Chhunly
Pseudonym: TCW-247
Cases: Case 002/01
Category: Witness
Background and role
Hun Chhunly was a general physician from 1967.
1
Between 1973 and 1975, he was a Lon Nol military doctor.
2
During the Khmer Rouge regime, he was a subordinate medical staff member,
3
until 31 January 1977,
4
when he became a cooperative farmer.
5
Hun Chhunly testified before the Trial Chamber in Case 002/01 on the first movement of population (April 1975), CKP leadership and policies, communication and administrative structures. His testimony was relied upon by the Supreme Court Chamber in Case 002/01 and the Trial Chamber in Case 002/02 on these matters.
First movement of population (April 1975)
Hun Chhunly testified that on 17 April 1975, he heard Lon Nol’s General Mey Sichan broadcast on Phnom Penh radio that Lon Nol soldiers had surrendered to the Khmer Rouge.
6
The Khmer Rouge liberated the prisoners and provided motorcycles so they could celebrate.
7
On 19 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge announced the evacuation of the Vietnamese (“Youn”) to Vietnam,
8
and said that the Lon Nol soldiers must gather.
9
On 23 April 1975, a truck picked up the high-ranking soldiers, public servants, and heads of Battambang departments(approximately 200 people)
10
on the pretext that they would be taken to Phnom Penh to receive Prince Sihanouk.
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They were executed at Thipakdei Mountain instead.
12
The lower-ranking soldiers were transported by truck to Pailin
13
and ordered to farm the land near Ou Pong Moan.
14
On 21 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge asked 13 Major Lieutenant medical staff from Hospital 403 to board a vehicle on the pretext of meeting revolutionary medics.
15
However, they were executed in the rice field instead.
16
By coincidence, Hun Chhunly was not among them, because he was absent from the hospital that day.
17
On 24 April 1975, Mit Sou alias Khek Penn (Sector 4 Chairman)
18
expelled the head of the Hospital 403 and replaced him with the janitor, who had no medical education.
19
Many of the medical staff did not agree with this decision and were sent to work at the paddy field.
20
Mit Sou also asked people to sacrifice their personal ownership rights
21
and said that instead of seven years, doctors would be trained only seven days before beginning to work.
22
On 25 April 1975,
23
the Khmer Rouge soldiers began evacuating Battambang; the witness heard gunshots and loudspeaker announcements, and people – including elderly and hospital patients – were chased from their homes.
24
Three days later, they were told they were leaving to engage in rice production in the countryside.
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The Trial Chamber in Case 002/01 relied on the witness’s testimony in finding that General Mey Sichan made an announcement on 17 April 1975, and regarding the evacuation of Battambang.
26
The Supreme Court Chamber in Case 002/01 relied on his testimony to confirm the execution of high-ranking officers in April 1975.
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In Case 002/02, the Trial Chamber relied on his testimony in confirming that the Battambang evacuations and executions
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of high-ranking military cadres in April 1975.
29
CKP leadership and administrative structures (including hospitals)
Hun Chhunly knew Khieu Samphan as the head of the “L’Observateur” newspaper,
30
but never met him personally.
31
Hun Chhunly also knew Nuon Chea’s family, but did not meet him personally.
32
At meetings, Khmer Rouge cadres never introduced themselves by names or rank.
33
Everything was kept in utmost secrecy; matters were handled by the senior leaders at the upper echelon.
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The Khmer Rouge hospitals were run by Comrade Hoeun (deputy of the Sector 3 committee and Ros Nhim’s relative).
35
Ros Nhim alias Kev, alias Muol Sambath, was the Zone Chief.
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Hun Chhunly received orders from the directors and deputy directors of the hospitals
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to treat soldiers not civilians.
38
The civilian hospital was where spies could identify “enemies of the revolution”,
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an “antechamber of death” for Cambodians.
40
The patients were treated like animals,
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suffered poor hygiene, two meals a day
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and insufficient medicine,
43
and there were no pediatric or natal wards.
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The Khmer Rouge confiscated medicine and property of deceased patients.
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In contrast, at the Khmer Rouge military hospital, patients received adequate treatment and food.
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Once, a teenager was called to the hospital on the pretext of arranging medicine,
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but was instead anaesthetised, given an experimental surgery,
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and cremated alive.
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During the Khmer Rouge regime, there were five levels: village, commune, district, sector, and lastly, zone.
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There were no provinces.
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Each village committee had one Khmer Rouge chief and two deputies, called Old (Base) People.
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The village chief had spies, recruited from very poor peasants who would kill without hesitating,
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who mostly spied on the New People.
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CPK policies
The upper echelon ordered the execution of the former military and civilian medical personnel – Hun Chhunly’s colleagues
55
– and other intellectuals.
56
Among a 125-member Battambang hospital staff, only around 30 survived.
57
Out of 14 civilian and military doctors, only two survived – Hun Chhunly and Oun Sy.
58
People stopped wearing glasses so they did not look intellectual,
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and wore only old-looking clothes.
60
There was no freedom of religion. In 1976, all Buddhist monks were asked to leave the pagodas,
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which were converted into prisons, detention centers and ammunition warehouses (among others).
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The Khmer Rouge destroyed the Battambang church and killed its bishop, Samdech Tep Paul Im.
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Upon arriving at Battambang in August 1975, the evacuating Old People received a free plot of land.
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Half the 100 Muslim families there died of starvation.
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The Trial Chamber in Case 002/02 relied on Hun Chhunly’s testimony in establishing that there was no freedom of religion in Khmer Rouge era, that the head monk of Po Veal pagoda was removed, and that pagodas were converted into prisons.
66
Methods of communication
There were no official announcements – directives were issued orally,
67
and they received information by word of mouth.
68
Hun Chhunly owned a secret radio and, at nights, listened to the Voice of America,
69
but he did not hear what was happening in Cambodia.
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The Trial Chamber in Cases 002/01 and 002/02 found that the general population did not have free access to information during the Khmer Rouge period,
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and that listening to a radio was a personal risk.
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Hun Chhunly’s suffering
No one would dare to challenge Khmer Rouge orders or ask any questions, for fear of being killed.
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There was no freedom of movement without a permit.
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He wrote a book based on his own experience titled The Life of a Physician Under the Khmer Rouge Regime.
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“The experience I lived through the Khmer Rouge still lives with me, and I [will] never forget it”.
76
Videos
| Date | Written record of proceedings | Transcript number |
|---|---|---|
| 06/12/2012 | E1/149 | E1/149.1 |
| 07/12/2012 | E1/150 | E1/150.1 |
| 11/12/2022 | E1/151 | E1/151.1 |
| Document title Khmer | Document title English | Document title French | Document D number | Document E3 number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| សៀវភៅនិពន្ធដោយលោក HUN Chunly មានចំណងជើងថា «ជីវិតគ្រូពេទ្យម្នាក់ក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម» | Book by HUN Chunly entitled “The Life of a Physician under the Khmer Rouge Regime” | Ouvrage de Hun Chunty intitulé « La vie d’un médecin pendant le régime khmer rouge » | D313/1.2.8 | E3/3351 |