CHEA Dieb (CHEA Deap)

Ms. CHEA Dieb was born in April 1954 in Pramat Dei village, Kampong Cham province. She is a rice farmer  and has four children. She joined the army in 1974 and followed Comrades Han and Hean in the mobile unit incharge of transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

Before the fall of Phnom Penh, they were near the city around Wat Nom and she transported the munitions, bodies, the properties found, the spoils of war stocked in warehouse and she also participated in fights. After, she was transferred to a textile unit where they were required to produce hundred skirts and shirts per day. In 1978, she was sent to the O’Russey textile unit because she was suspected to be connected to leaders of the former regime. She stated that she saw Khieu Samphan twice. During the meeting at Wat Long, this one said women had to work and marry a man. Particularly he spoke to young people to “produce” children to protect the country. He said that 19-25 and 30-35 years old were the age ranges to get married. They organized marriages, but she refused because she wanted to serve the regime. However, the second time she couldn’t refuse and she followed the counsel of Angkar. There were twelve couples. The men were handicapped; for example hers had a problem at his leg. He was 26 and she was 19. They pronounced an engagement and after that they were divided into four groups. They were monitored and if they wanted to be separated or didn’t consume their marriages they were sent to reeducation. She gave the example of a man who didn’t like women but men and was transferred to be reeducated. After this, he consummated his wedding and his wife was pregnant. According to her, she was forced to get married. 

She spoke about her suffering, her lost and the difficulty to talk about it today. She was scared all the time, because just being accused of something was sufficient to send them in re-education or to be killed.

  • Witness acronym :
    2-TCCP-286
  • Age at the time of testimony :
  • Appeared as :
  • Cases : Case 002Case 002/02
  • Date(s) of testimony :

Transcript from testimony

Video recordings