YOS Phal
Pseudonym: TCCP-172 – 2-TCCP-232
Cases: Case 002/01, Case 002/02
Category: Civil Party
Background and role
Yos Phal was a civil party and a witness who testified in Case 002/01.
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He was a policeman in the Lon Nol regime of the Khmer Republic
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whose testimony focused on his experiences during the 17 April 1975 evacuation from Phnom Penh and some of his subsequent life working under the regime. The Trial Chamber relied on his testimony to make findings relating to conditions and killings during the evacuation and the treatment of former Khmer Republic officials.
Evacuation from Phnom Penh
People were cheering when Khmer Rouge troops arrived in the city.
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The troops later surrounded people and fired shots to get them to leave their homes and move.
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The troops said that the evacuation would be temporary, only lasting three days,
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and that it was necessary given an impending American attack
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and the need to “reorganiz[e]” the city.
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The Trial Chamber relied on these facts in finding that the mood of people in the city shifted as the evacuation began,
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that the Khmer Rouge used various reasons to justify it,
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and that they carried out the evacuation aggressively.
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Yos saw sick people during the journey out of the city.
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He also personally suffered on the road, becoming emaciated and developing a fever.
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Having no access to proper medicine, he picked bitter leaves, pounded, cooked and drank them as a form of treatment.”
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The Trial Chamber relied on these facts in finding that evacuees experienced “terrible conditions,” highlighting Yos’ personal ordeal.
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Deaths during the evacuation
Yos saw dead passengers from overturned trucks driven by Khmer Rouge.
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He also witnessed the Khmer Rouge shoot a truck driver at Chen Dam Dek Pagoda,
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cited by Trial Chamber cited as evidence that civilians were killed during the evacuation.
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Yos saw police and civilian bodies
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and claimed to have witnessed a “pile of dead bodies of soldiers” at Prey Pnov Market.
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The Trial Chamber relied on this testimony
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in finding that victims included Khmer Republic troops.
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Yos himself was not killed despite still wearing his uniform. He was told to remove his police boots and hat as a symbol of defeat and was searched for weapons at checkpoints.
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The Chamber concluded that not all Khmer Republic security forces faced death.
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Yos later learned of Khmer Republic soldiers and police being “taken away” based on their rank in Kampong Cham.
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At this point he felt the need to lie and say that he was a low-ranked civil servant.
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“When the Khmer Rouge asked me for my biography,” he testified, “I thought of those dead bodies along the road.”
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Beyond the evacuation
Yos continued concealing his identity. Claiming to be a student, he was the only survivor of a massacre at Wat Cheung Chab in Tram district, Takeo province.
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People were deprived of food if they did not complete work and killed if they protested.
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He said that he lost many family members under the Khmer Rouge.
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His father died of a seizure after being injected with water when he could not work.
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Yos’ health was sapped, leaving him poor today,
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and with memories that make him “trembl[e].”
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Yos asked the accused why they killed many Cambodians, worked them “like animals,” forbade them to eat what they produced, what they did with Cambodia’s resources during the period, why they abolished personal possessions, and why they did not provide education.
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Khieu Samphan replied that he lacked knowledge of what happened or power to stop it, but that the plan for education focused on practicality.
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Nuon Chea refused to answer.
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Yos’ evidence contributed to findings that murder
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and inhumane acts including forced transfer
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and attacks on human dignity took place during the evacuation.
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Videos (Case 002/01)
Videos
