KEO Loeur
Pseudonym: 2-TCW-932
Cases: Case 002/02
Category: Witness
Role and background
Keo Leour was a monk,
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and was forced to join the Khmer Rouge in 1970.
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He was in Division 310.
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In January 1975, he was injured in a battle
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that permanently handicapped him.
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After the failed coup d’état organized by chiefs of his division, Keo Leour was sent for tempering to Anlong Kngan
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and Khmuonh-Kab Srov for 5 months,
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before being sent to Kampong Chhnang airfield worksite in January 1978.
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Before 1975
Keo Leour joined the army to fight against the “American imperialist regime”,
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so that Cambodians would live in a peaceful country.
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He was indoctrinated to eliminate the feudalists, capitalists, and reactionaries,
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and to liberate the poor class.
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The indoctrination began in the pagoda, where he was told to get angry with other religions.
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In 1973, monks were instructed to work in the field, and to build bridges at worksites;
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in 1975, monks were defrocked
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and pagodas turned into workshops.
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The Trial Chamber found that “Buddhist monks were variously pressured or persuaded to leave the monkhood in order to join the revolution, some at risk of being forced into manual labour including agricultural work to provide food to Khmer Rouge soldiers in the battlefield”.
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Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh (1975)
In 1975, Keo Leour was hospitalized in the Calmette Hospital and from there saw Khmer Rouge soldiers tie and hang a person on a tree branch.
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While there, he witnessed 30 cases of torture of Division 310 soldiers.
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K4 unit for the handicapped (1975-1977)
After his injury, Keo Leour was assigned to the 600-member K-4 unit for the handicapped
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and stripped of the right to hold any weapon.
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After the purge of Division 310 superiors in 1977,
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he became the company chairman in that unit.
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Two weeks after he became a chairman,
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he was arrested and taken to Khmuonh-Kab Srov for tempering because he was from the North Zone
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and was affiliated with the previous commanders who were accused of being enemies.
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Division 310 chiefs, Sbauv Him alias Oeun and Kim, were planning a coup d’état against the Khmer Rouge.
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Keo Leour was present at the meeting when Oeun spoke to his troops that soldiers deserved a wage
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and had the right to visit their parents, and that could be achieved overthrowing the Khmer Rouge regime.
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Keo Leour saw weapons being transported,
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and when he asked where the weapons were sent to, he was told to mind his business.
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Oeun’s and Kim’s plan failed and those involved were arrested.
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Two weeks after Oeun’s and Kim’s arrest in 1977,
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soldiers and disabled soldiers were asked to attend a study session where Oeun and Kim were publicly accused of being traitors
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and a tape was played
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of their confessions obtained at S-21.
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Arrests were made first in the Southwest Zone, then in the North Zone.
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Subsequently, K-4 was reshuffled and cadres from Southwest Zone were sent to work alongside with members of K-4.
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In 1977, 150 K-4 members were sent to the battlefront to fight the Vietnamese.
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Only the seriously injured soldiers were spared from the battlefield.
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Disabled soldiers who were not combat competent were sent to work.
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Khmuonh-Kab Srov (1977-1978)
Keo Leour had to work despite his disability;
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he had to carry soil and sometimes fell unconscious.
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The work started at 4 a.m. until 11 a.m., and resumed at 1 p.m. until 6-7 p.m.; sometimes they continued working until 9-10 p.m.
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His unit had just 400 persons remaining at that time when sent them for tempering, of which only 14 survived.
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He saw people die from overwork and starvation.
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Trucks came to arrest people every night, arresting about 20 each time.
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Kampong Chhnang airfield worksite (1978-1979)
When Keo Leour arrived at the Kampong Chhnang Airfield worksite, he saw there were about 500 workers.
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Later on, he saw thousands of workers, all adults.
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For the first two months, he was tempered and asked to engage in hard labour, like digging grass,
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and pulling trees from the land.
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There were mobile medical units that prescribed medicine to those who fell unconscious from intense work.
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When his work colleagues fell seriously sick, a truck would come to pick them up and send them to the hospital.
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Some people who were carrying earth and digging fell unconscious and died of fatigue.
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If a worker died, there would be no ritual ceremony; they would simply be buried.
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Two months after arriving to the airfield,
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he was sent to Phnom Penh for a three-month technical training at Pochentong airfield to become a land surveyor.
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The instructor was Chinese assisted by an interpreter.
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Besides the technical course, they were told to strive to work hard according to their respective work assignment; if he made a mistake he would be disciplined.
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There were thousands of workers.
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They wore black clothing;
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only soldiers at the front battlefield wore military uniforms.
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The regular working hours were from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
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There were more men than women and they worked separately.
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They ate within their units, and the food was insufficient.
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There was no hygiene,
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but no one dared to complain.
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During that two-month period when he was tempered,
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he sometimes worked 18 hours a day.
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His status at the airfield improved and was given less difficult work after returning from the training that he received.
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He saw 2-3 groups of soldiers patrolling.
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If a worker walked away from the unit, he or she would accused of being enemy.
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Guards wore military uniforms and two guards would be assigned to watch over a group of 30 or 40 workers.
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He did not see any guards work
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or die from overwork or starvation.
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Arrests were not that frequent as at Khmounh-Kab Srov.
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A person would be called into a meeting and during he was arrested.
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Those who were arrested were accused of being enemies.
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He saw people were taken away and not returning.
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On 7 January 1979, he saw secret tunnels to hide airplanes.
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The Trial Chamber established that Lvey supervised the construction of Kampong Chhnang Airfield
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and that “soldiers from Divisions 310, 450 and from the East Zone were brought to work at the Kampong Chhnang Airfield to be tempered because they were the subordinates of arrested division leaders, and they were thus perceived as having affiliations with the enemy”.
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The Trial Chamber also found that “the workers at the construction site were all soldiers who were reassigned from their respective units to perform manual work at the Airfield where they were considered as simple labourers until a decision was made, if any, that they were sufficiently refashioned to be trusted again and able to be reintegrated within the armed forces fighting against Vietnam”.
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Keo Loeur’s testimony confirmed “that trucks would come to arrest people every night, arresting about 20 people each time”.
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His suffering
While at the worksites, Keo Leour did not dare to look at the faces of superiors or to speak with them.
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He was not allowed to complain and if he did not work hard, he feared being arrested and tortured.
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They worked every day without a day off
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and could not refuse to work also if they were sick, otherwise, they would be accused of being enemies.
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Their work was not paid and the food that they received was not sufficient.
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They were also not allowed to walk freely
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or to visit another unit at the worksite, let alone their families.
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He lost contact with his parents for several years and colleagues,
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and sometimes wept because of feeling hopeless from having to work despite his disability.
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Keo Leour forced himself to work despite his permanent disability.
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“I felt that I was like a dead person, that I already died, and I never thought that I would survive”.
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The Trial Chamber found that “[w]orkers could not refuse to work, otherwise they would be accused of being an enemy, would disappear or would be threatened”,
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that they did not get any payment for the work performed and did not get a day off,
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and that the “food was not sufficient for the hard work that had to be carried out”.
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