SAO Han (SAO Hean)
Pseudonym: 2-TCW-807
Cases: Case 002/02
Category: Witness
Background and role
Sao Han lived before and after 17 April 1975 in Takeo province’s Trapeang Rumpeak village, Tram Kak commune, Tram Kak district, where he was assigned to deal with all sorts of work in the field of agriculture.
1
Sao Han testified before the Trial Chamber as a witness in Case 002/02 about the arrest and disappearance of former Khmer Republic officials, the treatment of “New People” and “Base People”, the ban on the practice of Buddhism, and his experience while working in a ploughing unit in Tram Kak during the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) period.
2
Arrests of former Khmer Republic officials
When people arrived in Sao Han’s area, biographies were taken from them and a search for former Lon Nol soldiers and teachers followed.
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The Khmer Rouge arrested his older brother, Luon Han, a former Lon Nol soldier, a few days after the fall of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975.
4
Thim, the village chief, investigated Luon Han, following which militiamen, led by Pen came to take him away for re-education.
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Luon Han disappeared after being taken away in a horse cart to Kraing Ta Chan Security Centre.
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Tauch Chhan, a former Lon Nol teacher, also disappeared after being arrested and sent away for re-education.
7
Treatment of New and Base People
Sao Han testified that Full-Rights People were Base People who had good biographies and had children and grandchildren in the struggle.
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They enjoyed better conditions and supervised Candidate People.
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“Candidate” status was for Base People who had relatives with enemy inclinations including Lon Nol.
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Depositees were 17 April People or New People who had been evacuated after the collapse of Lon Nol regime.
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Following the evacuations and arrivals in Tram Kak district, there was a period of time when some people could request to go to their home villages before the units were formed and people assigned.
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But once the structure of units was settled upon, people could no longer leave their unit.
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As a Candidate Person, Sao Han identified Ta Ek and Achar Neang, the second and third persons respectively in the village after Thim, as going around the evacuees, and those discovered to have been soldiers or teachers then disappeared.
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Ban on practice of Buddhism in Tram Kak
Working and living conditions in Tram Kak
Collective ownership started in 1976.
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Thim convened a meeting with villagers, announcing that all private properties including cattle and cooking utilities had to be gathered together and placed under collective ownership.
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People did not dare say anything for fear that they would be killed.
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Sao Han started work at 4 a.m., with work in the evening during transplanting season.
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He worked to put up “checkboard-straight” paddy dykes with feeder canals.
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As a farmer, he said the target of three tonnes per hectare set by Angkar was unrealistic.
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Sao Han described food rations as consisting of gruel, sometimes a small amount of cooked rice between 10 persons per table.
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He also recalled meetings when the unit chief reiterated that people who broke spoons or ploughs were considered internal enemies of the cooperative.
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People in his cooperative were emaciated and vulnerable to sickness or had swollen bodies due to overwork.
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Sick people with diarrhoea received medicine in the form of pellets of rabbit droppings.
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The Trial Chamber relied on Sao Han’s testimony, among other evidence, in finding that: (i) there was a plan by the Khmer Rouge to kill former members of the Lon Nol regime;
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(ii) the cooperatives generally distinguished between people as Full-Rights, Candidates or Depositees;
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(iii) any position of power was reserved for Full-Rights members;
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(iv) there were periods of acute food shortages in various locations in Tram Kak;
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(v) Depositees received much less food than Full-Rights People;
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(vi) food was used as a means to control population;
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(vii) any outward practice of Buddhism was prohibited and important aspects of Buddhism were targeted for elimination;
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and (viii) working conditions changed depending on the category of persons.
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Videos
| Date | Written record of proceedings | Transcript number |
|---|---|---|
| 17/02/2015 | E1/264.1 | |
| 18/02/2015 | E1/265.1 |
| Document title Khmer | Document title English | Document title French | Document D number | Document E3 number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Corrected I] Written Record of Interview of SAO Hean | [Corrigé I] Procès-verbal de l’audition de SAO Hean | N/A | E3/5518 |