PIN Yathay

Pseudonym: TCCP-116

Cases: Case 002/01

Category: Civil Party

Background information

Pin Yathay was the nephew of venerable Huot Tat and worked as engineer for the Ministry of Public Works before the Khmer Rouge took power. He testified as a Civil Party on one occasion in the Case 002/01 trial on Vulnerable Huot Tat, the evacuation of Phnom Penh , his relocation to Battambang , working conditions in Veal Vong, and corruption during the regime. Parts of his testimony were also considered relevant for events covered in Case 002/02 (i.e. treatment of Buddhists), which have also been included in this summary.

Venerable Huot Tat

Venerable Huot Tat was the Samdech Supreme Patriarch and Pin Yathay’s uncle, who resided in Ounalom Pagoda in Phnom Penh. When asked to leave Phnom Penh Venerable Huot Tat refused due to his old age (he was in his 80s). Some monks remained with him, but after leaving Phnom Penh Pin Yathay did not know what happened to them.

Evacuation of Phnom Penh

On 17 April 1975, Pin Yathay and his family spent the night in Ounalom Pagoda. The next day, the Khmer Rouge soldiers told people who sought refuge in the Pagoda to leave the city as soon as possible as the Americans would bomb the city. Soldiers advised him and others not to pack any belongings as people would leave the city for only three days. It was so crowded that people found it hard to move along the streets. As he travelled from the capital, he saw two women hanging themselves and people that were too exhausted to move further. Along the way, the Khmer Rouge took his ID and cash. At Koh Thom, the Khmer Rouge took away his 3,000 US dollars and let him keep the riels. They asked him and his family members about their names, numbers of family members, and occupations. He told them the truth that he was an engineer. The Chamber relied on his testimony to find that former civil servants and their families were systematically screened in order to find out their class affinities and previous occupations.

Relocation to Battambang

After leaving the city, they arrived and stayed in Chheu Khmau village of Kandal province and Samar Leav village of Takeo province, spending about 3 months in each location. After volunteering to move to Battambang, his family waited at Angk Roka pagoda for about 15 days, before being loaded into a truck full of about 80 and 100 people in approximately September 1975. In this regard, the Chamber was convinced that Buddhist monks in that pagoda had been disrobed at that time. At that time, there were about 20-30 trucks without any covers on the roof. All people in the truck had to relieve themselves inside the truck, as the Khmer Rouge did not stop along the way. He recalled that two people fainted and died inside his truck. About 2,000 people, all of whom were new people, were dropped in Leach, Pursat and instructed to head into a forest in Veal Vong, Kravan Mountain. He noted that thousands of people had been there before his arrival. After staying there for several weeks, he witnessed thousands of people passing by his camp and going deeper in the forest. His family spent about four months clearing the forest and living in camps with about 5,000 people, and one third of those people died. After working at Veal Vong, about one third of the 5,000 people decided to move to a new village, called Phum Prampi.

Working conditions and protests in Veal Vong

While residing in Veal Vong Forest at Krvanh Mountain, workers were made to clear the forest and build their own houses. Their duties were to clear land for farming and they were allowed to have one-day off every 10 days. To survive, they had to go into the forest to find food, go fishing, catch crabs and exchange clothes for food from Khmer Rouge families. He recalled that at one point about 150 and 200 people went on a strike against Angkar who did not distribute rice rations for two days in Veal Vong forest. The village chief calmed the protesters and said: Comrades, you have been educated for months. Why you still conform to the old regime's fashion? And, of course, only for two days that you did not have rice ration, you protested. That was not the nature of a revolutionary and that you destroyed the order of the people in Veal Vong. ³⁵ After a few days, the rice ration arrived but he observed four or five people who had led the protest disappeared one or two weeks later.

Corruption

Pin Yathay testified that the Khmer Rouge were corrupt as well. He noted that if the Khmer Rouge received rice for 4,500 people, and if only 4,000 people survived, they would keep for themselves the rations for the 500 deceased people. He added, “So the poor people, who were supposed to be protected by the Khmer Rouge, died sooner than the rich people because they had nothing to exchange for the food.” His family members brought lots of clothes and exchanged them with base people or the Khmer Rouge for food and rice in order to survive.

Videos

Testimony
Date	Written record of proceedings	Transcript number
07/02/2013	E1/170	E1/170.1

Relevant documents
Document title Khmer	Document title English	Document title French	Document D number	Document E3 number
ព៏តមានបន្ថែមស្តីពីដើមបណ្តឹងរដ្ឋប្បវេណី	Supplementary information if civil party	Informations complémentaires de la partie civile