YIM Sovann
Pseudonym: TCCP-169
Cases: Case 002/01
Category: Civil Party
Background
Yim Sovann testified as a civil party in the Case 002/01 trial proceedings, wherein she provided testimony on the evacuation of Phnom Penh, as well as the inhumane conditions and mistreatment the evacuees experienced.
Instruction to Leave Phnom Penh Immediately
After the Khmer Rouge soldiers arrived in Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975, the fighting between them and Lon Nol soldiers generally ceased, as Lon Nol soldiers had surrendered.
1
Fully armed Khmer Rouge soldiers went to Yim Sovann’s house and instructed her and her family to leave Phnom Penh,
2
giving them 15 minutes to pack.
3
They were told that they were only required to leave for three days in order to avoid bombardment from the Americans.
4
Khmer Rouge soldiers threatened that they would be shot dead if they refused to leave,
5
as they would be accused of being enemies or Lon Nol soldiers.
6
Based on her testimony and evidence from numerous civil parties and victims, the Trial Chamber found that Khmer Rouge soldiers threatened to kill those who refused to follow their instructions to leave.
7
Conditions of Population Movement Phase One
During the evacuation, the street was full of people; there was stampede where people died, and many people were separated from their families.
8
Yim Sovann’s uncle and aunt were also evacuated to an area near to hers but they became lost and separated.
9
It took Yim Sovann and her family about a month to reach Commune Number 5 of Pouthi Ban Village, S’ang district in Kandal province, where they stayed until early 1976 before being displaced again.
10
She testified that there was no money, food or water along the road.
11
She was forced to drink water from a pond.
12
She saw corpses of Lon Nol soldiers along the road to Pochentong Airport,
13
and described feeling “very traumatised”.
14
She also saw Khmer Rouge soldiers beating people with rifles.
15
Relying on her testimony and other evidence, the Trial Chamber found that during the evacuation, evacuees were beaten by Khmer Rouge soldiers, and they had no or limited food or water supplies.
16
Killings Committed During Population Movement Phase One
She testified that she saw Khmer Rouge soldiers shoot dead the driver of a car, as well as an incident at Orussey Market, where Khmer Rouge soldiers forced open a house and shot dead the people coming out from the house.
17
Among other evidence, the Trial Chamber held that Khmer Rouge soldiers killed civilians during the evacuation.
18
During the appeal proceedings, the Defence alleged that she had not been involved in the events she described, that she did not explain why the driver had been shot and was not questioned by any of the Parties about the killing.
19
The Supreme Court Chamber held that under the circumstances it was not unreasonable for the Trial Chamber to rely on her testimony, considering that the lack of detail may reasonably be attributed to Yim Sovann having seen the incidents in passing while being forcibly evacuated, and given that the Defence did not challenge the testimony during the trial.
20
Pain and Suffering
During the victim impact hearing, she testified that she was forced to work at a young age.
21
When recalling those experiences, she felt traumatised.
22
In 1978, her father, sister, father’s cousin and nephew were executed as they were accused of being enemies.
23
When she saw her father being arrested by Khmer Rouge soldiers, she was shocked and traumatised.
24
Due to her psychological suffering, she was occasionally hospitalised.
25
She dreamed of being highly educated, but this dream was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.
26
Full Statement of Yim Sovann’s Suffering
I thank you very much, indeed, Mr. President and Your Honours, for allowing me this opportunity to read out my expression of suffering. From 1975 to 1976, I was mistreated. I was accused of being a 17 of April Person. Although I was falling sick, I was still forced to work. I was very young at that time. I worked at cooperatives; the cooperatives that I had been working after I had been evacuated by Phnom Penh. I had to work and live in Pou Ban (sic) commune, Kaoh Thum District.
As one of the 17 People (sic), I was accused by the Base People as an enemy. I did not have enough to eat. I was given very little food and I had no strength to work but still was forced to work. I started to pick some grains of corns, and with that I was accused of being an enemy. I kept crying every now and then because I had suffered a great deal from this ordeal. I later was transferred to the Women Mobile Unit. I was still very sick, but they gave me only a ladle -- a full ladle of porridge, and I was allowed to be home for only very few minutes. When I - when I was at home, I was accused of being too liberal. And every now and -- every time I recall the moment, I am traumatized, and I am always shocked to recollect the events, the times when I were forced to work days and nights. I am a good person; I was forcing myself to commit some petty crimes by stealing to survive.
Secondly, before the evacuation of the 1976, I was accused of stealing the rice. I was accused of being a bad person, and I was asked to harvest rice in other location, and I was accused of being lazy and I deserved to die. They gave me only very little food. And at one point, before the second phase of evacuation, I said to myself, if I was not allowed to go and see my parents, I would die anyway. And I lost everything. I lost my properties, cattle, and the farmland.
In 1978, my father, Touch Sum, my father's cousin and nephew and my sister were all executed by the Khmer Rouge at Office 07. They were killed at night, after having been accused of being enemies. And I could not cry, although I wanted to cry when I saw them being walked away, when their hands were bound behind their back. I dared not cry out loud because I was so intimidated; I had to hide the tears. We were terrified every time when the night fell. The Khmer Rouge had a slogan to -- as it reads, when they dig the grass, they had to root out all the roots of the grasses. And by that, we were very frightened. We had encountered a lot of obstacles and difficulties every time during the regime.
When I saw my father being arrested and his hands being tied up by the Khmer Rouge militia, I was shocked and traumatized and I could feel the pain. And I still have been living with this trauma and I have been admitted to the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital every now and then to make sure I can move on with all the trauma I have had, having witnessed the atrocity and the act of cruelty committed by the Khmer Rouge towards my family members and myself.
I have been living in the society where I have had a lot of suffering. I have not been well educated. I have faced difficulties and all of the bad things that happened to me. I have been deprived of all my education, the dreams that I would like to be highly educated. But these dreams were destroyed by the darkest period of the Khmer Rouge.
Due to that psychological impact, I tried to find peace by looking for the Buddhist discipline. I became a monk and, partly, I resolved the issues -- I became a nun, rather. And with the existence and the trial of those immoral people before this Court, I am fully confident that the trial will be fair and just that is, for the prosecution of those leaders -- so that justice can be served to all Cambodians who suffered misfortune under such society and regime.
And on behalf of the victims and all civil parties, I have nothing further to add but that peace is the only means for us to look forward to.
And before my appearance before this Court, I did not ever imagine that I would be given such opportunity. But now, with my appearance before this National and International Court, I am grateful to this Court and I hope that you find justice both for me and for the Cambodian people -- that is, those victims and civil parties.
I have suffered psychological suffering for so long and I did not have the opportunity to express such suffering. And I am one of those victims and civil parties who suffered such trauma in between 1975 to 1979, and it made me see clearly the right and the wrong path. And, once again, I strongly believed that this hybrid tribunal would find the right and the wrong and the justice and that the psychological wound by the victims and the civil parties would be cured.
This is all my statement. And I wish to thank this hybrid tribunal. And I’m grateful, Your Honour, Mr. President.
Videos
