PREAP Chhon
Pseudonym: 2-TCCP-1063
Cases: Case 002/02
Category: Civil Party
Background and role
Prep Chhon was a Lon Nol soldier in Svay Rieng provincial town.
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After the fall of Lon Nol regime on 17 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge evacuated him and his family to Kampong Chamlang commune, where he was imprisoned in a pagoda and forced to engage in hard labour before being relocated to Chhbar Ampov market in Phnom Penh in 1977.
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Preap Chhon testified before the Trial Chamber as a Civil Party in Case 002/02 about the forced evacuation of people from Svay Rieng, the treatment of Lon Nol officials, his imprisonment, and his attendance at a political speech by Khieu Samphân concerning enemies of Angkar.
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Forced evacuation of people from Svay Rieng provincial town
After their victory over Lon Nol regime on 17 April 1975, Khmer Rouge soldiers told Prep Chhon and his family to leave Svay Rieng provincial town for two or three days to allow them to sweep clean enemies from the town.
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He explained to the court:
“At that time, I and my family, along with other people, left our house immediately. We did not bring many belongings with us. We had only very few belongings because we were forced to leave. If we opposed, we would be shot dead”.
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The fear of being shot dead intensified when Prep Chhon saw an elderly man walking with difficulty in front of him being shot dead by Khmer Rouge.
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After Prep Chhon and his family arrived at Kampong Chamlang, the Khmer Rouge killed one of his brothers for being a former Lon Nol soldier.
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His imprisonment and insufficient food
Following the killing of his brother, Preap Chhon was sent to Ta Chey pagoda, where he was imprisoned alongside around 500 people for his alleged connection with the Lon Nol regime and was forced to dig canals and streams and to carry wood without receiving sufficient food.
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He explained:
“During each time of meal, they gave two tins of rice for a group of 10 people. And we ate with “komplaok” soup […] They used people’s labour like animals. I was shocked and suffered a lot at that time […]”.
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Political speech by Khieu Samphân against enemies of Angkar
After his release from Ta Chey pagoda, Preap Chhon was moved to Phnom Penh where he met Khieu Samphân in 1977 at Chhbar Ampov who was distributing clothes and rice to evacuees from Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng and Prvey Veng provinces.
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Preap Chhon explained that he could identify Khieu Samphân because he used to see him in a film at his village in Svay Rieng before he was evacuated to Phnom Penh.
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Preap Chhon recalled being instructed to line up in a row with other people to receive Khieu Samphân and to listen to his speech.
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In delivering a speech to the evacuees at Chbar Ampov in 1977, Khieu Samphân wore black clothes with a blue scarf around his neck and car tyre sandals on his feet. He stated that:
“[W]e made a revolution in order to eliminate the Lon Nol regime. And another point was to eliminate the capitalist, the feudalist, the intellectuals. He [Khieu Samphân] didn’t want them to exist. That’s what he meant in his speech. […] If we betrayed the Party and the Party knew it, then we would be killed. He added another point that, ‘If you are kept, no gain; if you’re pulled out, no loss’! It is for those who betrayed the revolution against the revolution”.
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Khieu Samphân objected to the Trial Chamber’s reliance on the evidence of three civil parties, including Preap Chhon, on which it found that Khieu Samphân lectured and instructed on the search for enemies of Angkar.
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Considering that Khieu Samphân merely proposed alternative interpretations of the evidence without showing that the Trial Chamber’s finding was unreasonable, the Supreme Court Chamber found that Khieu Samphân failed to show how reliance on these particular pieces of evidence invalidated the Trial Chamber’s conclusion that he contributed to the common criminal purpose by instructing on its implementation.
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