LOEP Neang
Pseudonym: 2-TCCP-984
Cases: Case 002/02
Category: Civil Party
Loep Neang, a member of the Cham group,
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testified before the Trial Chamber as a civil party in Case 002/02 about her experience working at a worksite in Takeo province’s Tram Kak district where she was assigned to dig canals and forced to eat pork.
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She told the Trial Chamber that she was separated from her parents and sent to live in the district’s Thnaot Chnang village with her five siblings after 17 April 1975.
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She said that her 10-member group was forced to dig 10 cubic meters of soil per day, failing which they were forced to work at night to complete the work quota.
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Loep Neang, who resided in Kampot province before 1975,
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was told that her older siblings, Loep Lek and Loep Meu, disappeared after being taken to hospital with fever and dysentery.
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She added that two of her younger siblings, Loep Leh and Loep Vy, were taken away on a horse cart while she was digging a canal and also disappeared. She said that she never saw her mother Kong Nas again until the date of her testimony.
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“I am still recalling the event and the loss of my parents and the loss of my brothers and sisters. And every time I recall that, it is still painful for me”,
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Loep Neang stated. Loep Neang also described occasions when she was forced to eat pork by armed Khmer Rouge cadres.
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“[M]y unit chief knew that I did not eat pork, but I was forced to eat it with gruel. I did not dare to refuse as all my siblings had already been taken away; thus, I tried to eat it, to swallow it. I was afraid that I would be the next line to be taken away. […] In my religion, we are prohibited from eating pork. […] [T]hey stood behind me armed with weapons. They gave us the food, and they stood there to make sure that I ate the food. […] [E]very three or four days when there was no food, then they would slaughter a pig and they would mix the pork in the soup or in the gruel for us to eat,”,
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she stated. The Trial Chamber found that the Communist Party of Kampuchea imposed restrictions on Cham religious and cultural practices in various locations in Cambodia throughout the Democratic Kampuchea period. This included forcing Cham to eat pork.
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