Case 002 Witnesses, experts and Civil Parties

Mr Nou, 78, worked in military and then as a commune official. He testified about the study sessions by senior KR leaders such as Chou Chet and Ta Mok, the treatment of Khmer Viet Minh, and the opinions of senior KR leaders regarding the evacuation of Phnom Penh six months prior to its occurrence.

Mr. LENG Chheoung told the Trial Chamber that he joined the revolutionary movement in late 1973. Mr Leng, 56, worked as a driver for Khieu Samphan from mid-1978 until the Vietnamese invasion in 1979. He testified about the movements of Khieu Samphan during the last few months of the Democratic Kampuchea regime.

Mr. Sim HAOtold the Trial Chamber he joined the revolutionary movement as a soldier in 1972, an that he arrive in Phnom Penh in 1975 three days after the city had fallen.

Mrs. SO Socheat is Khieu Samphan's wife.

Mr. TUN Seoun is Khieu Samphan's son-in-law and he was questioned about the character of the Accused.

Mr. SOK told the Trial Chamber that he used to be Khieu Samphan's bodyguard. He was called to testify primarily about Khieu Samphan's character.

Mr. Schanberg is a former New York Times correspondent who was in Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge took control on 17 April 1975. He testified via video-link from New York.

Dr. CHHIM Sotheara provided expert testimony about his mental health work with Khmer Rouge survivors.

Ms. SENG testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She described how she was treated working in the cooperatives after the evacua-tion of Phnom Penh, where she was beaten regularly and lost her eyesight. She questioned the accused as to why children were put to work and why they did not ensure enough food was available.

Mrs. BAY testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She spoke about the suffering she and her family endured as a consequence of the evacuation of Phnom Penh. She described the death of all her three children as well as her experience working in cooperatives.

Mr. SOEUN testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm he has suffered. He detailed the hardships he faced after being evacuated from Phnom Penh, separated from his parents and put into a forced labour camp. He asked the accused persons why the Khmer Krom minority group were targeted, whether they were involved in the implementation of the regime policy, and whether they would have acted differently in hindsight

Ms. SOPHAN Sovany testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She described the misery resulting from her entire family being killed during Democratic Kampuchea. She recalled traumatic events such as wit-nessing the killing of a pregnant woman with a hoe.

Mr. YIN Roum Doul testified during the victims impact hearing about the harm he has suffered. He testified about his experiences after being evacuated from Phnom Penh to a cooperative, where he was separated from his family and sent to a “children’s unit” where he was badly beaten, tortured. 

Mr. NOU Hoan testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm he has suffered. He sescribed the pain he has felt since his daughter, nephews and cousins were removed during the night and ‘smashed’ by Khmer Rouge soldiers more than 30 years ago.

Ms. PO Dina testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She told the Trial Chamber how her husband “disappeared,” son starved to death, and how she herself was beaten severely, imprisoned and tortured after refusing a forced marriage.

Ms. CHAN Socheat testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She told the chamber how she lost every member of her immediate family, including 13 brothers and sisters to overwork and starvation.

Ms. HUO Chantha testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She described both the immediate and long-term effects of being forcefully evacuated and being placed in a labour camp, having lost her husband to a heart condition acquired as a result of the conditions he faced in such a camp.

Ms. CHHENG Eng Ly testifed during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered via video-link from Paris. She described the numerous atrocities she witnessed, including a woman being forced to dig her own grave before being buried alive, and the brutal murder of a baby.

Ms. THOUCH Phandara testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She spoke of the suffering she endured losing first her parents then the rest of her family and being placed into forced labour camps.

Ms. SANG Rath testified during the victims impact hearings about the harm she has suffered. She described how her family was divided by age and gender and put to work in Battambang province. Within one year, each of her four children and her husband had died from starvation and exhaustion.

Ms. SOU Sotheavy, a transgender woman, testified about the harm she suffered from the evacuation of Phnom Penh and the aftermath, the loss of all her immediate family, and the repeated beatings and rapes she suffered subsequently.

Mr. YOS Phal testified during the victim impact hearings about the harm he has suffered. Mr. YOS was a policeman under the Lon Nol regime. He described how his entire squad was killed under suspicion of being internal enemies, how his father was killed because he was no longer useful to the revolution.

Mr. AUN Phally testified during the victims impact hearing about the harm he ahs suffered. He gave a statement of suffering describing the deaths of the rest of his family, and his subsequent suffering as an orphan in a children’s unit where he was forced to work without food or water and regularly beaten.

Mr. Chau told the Trial Chamber what he saw and experienced when the Khmer Rouge forces entered Phnom Penh in April 1975.

Mr. Prum Sou told the Chamber that he had been assigned by the Khmer Rouge to campaign in 1971. He said he was in Preah Vihear province on April 17, 1975.