The Phnom Penh Post
"...Hor Namhong was the Director...he made his wife director of women [prisoners] and his son chief of youth [prisoners]. Hor Namhong criticized people [at the daily criticism/self-criticism sessions], but we could also criticize him. I once criticized him for making his wife chief of women and his son chief of youth" - Mrs. Keo Bunthouk, Former Funcinpec SenatorOn Jan 15, the Cambodian Senate approved the Khmer Rouge tribunal law, passing it on to the Constitutional Council for final consideration prior to a formal passage of the law by King Norodom Sihanouk. In stark contrast to the passive assent given the law in the National Assembly, the two days of Senate consideration provoked thoughtful and often emotional debate of the law and its implications.
The Senate debate's most moving and controversial moments came when septuagenarian Funcinpec Senator Keo Bunthouk, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge's Boeng Trabek "re-education camp", reiterated Foreign Minister Hor Namhong's involvement in the camp's administration.
Phelim Kyne and Vong Sokheng spoke to Senator Bunthouk about life and death in Boeng Trabek.
In early 1976, Keo Bunthouk followed her husband, Paris-based Cambodian UNESCO delegate Ieng Kounsaky, in answering the invitation of leaders of the Khmer Rouge's Democratic Kampuchea to return to Cambodia to assist in the country's rebuilding.
Instead, Bunthouk, her husband and fellow members of GRUNK, the France-based Royalist anti-Lon Nol opposition front, found themselves confined in the Phnom Penh "re-education camp" of Boeng Trabek.
Established in early 1976 to "re-educate" government officials of the Lon Nol and Sihanouk regimes, Boeng Trabek was divided into a youth section of approximately 150 people and a section in which approximately 50 returned diplomats and former government officials were confined. At least twenty of Boeng Trabek's inmates died of overwork or after being transferred to the nearby Toul Sleng torture center.
In 1991, Bunthouk was the only one of three witnesses who testified in a Paris court on behalf of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in a civil suit filed by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong. The suit was in response to the King's assertions in an interview that Hor Namhong had "...commanded a Khmer Rouge concentration camp ... [and was] responsible for the death and torture of many former members of the anti-American resistance, notably Prince Sisowath Metheavi." The case was decided in favor of Hor Namhong.
Q: What do you remember of your return to Cambodia in 1976?
A: It was very sad...we arrived at the airport and the people who knew us didn't dare say hello.
They were all dressed in black and didn't say anything. [The Khmer Rouge] made us work. We stayed two weeks in Phnom Penh and then they sent us to Battambang. We worked there for five or six months in the fields, then they brought me join my husband in Phnom Penh. We worked very hard...certain diplomats were with us including Hor Namhong..."
Q: What was life like at Boeng Trabek?
A: We worked hard and didn't eat well. We were there with the Princess [Nanette Metheavi, sister of Queen Monineath] and others. There were daily sessions of criticism and self criticism.
Q: Were you aware of the deaths and disappearances of people at Boeng Trabek?
A: We didn't know the people who were taken away were killed. I thought maybe they were taken to another camp. Only after 1981 [did I learn that] people taken from the camp were taken to Toul Sleng and lived only about one month. I didn't know they went to their deaths. I thought they maybe went to a more difficult camp because I noticed [those taken away] had committed minor faults. I don't understand [their deaths]...if it was people who had done grave faults I could understand, but it wasn't, it was people who'd just done minor things...that's what preoccupies me, that's why I think in all this country [during the KR regime] people were killed for nothing. I think a lot about this because I pity the people who were killed [who] used to live and work with me. I know that they did not commit any mistake, so why did they take them all to kill them...why were children killed as well?"
Q: What do you remember about Hor Namhong's role at Boeng Trabek?
A: He was with us...Hor Namhong was the Director...he made his wife director of women [prisoners] and his son chief of youth [prisoners]. Hor Namhong criticized people [at the daily criticism/self-criticism sessions], but we could also criticize him. I once criticized him for making his wife chief of women and his son chief of youth. The whole family went to Angka Leu (met with KR party leaders) and the rest of the camp didn't know [anything]. I realized we didn't know whom he talked to, who Angka Leu (the KR leaders who Hor Namhong met) was. I have never found out who Angka Leu was...I imagine it might have been Son Sen or Ieng Sary [but] I don't know.
Q: Who should be held responsible for the murders of Boeng Trabek inmates?
A: Now you repeat this question and maybe Hor Namhong will want to assassinate me, what will happen to me? I've heard that Hor Namhong wants to sue...the newspaper that said he was Khmer Rouge. For me, I don't know whether Hor Namhong was Khmer Rouge or not. I don't know if he chose people [sent to] Toul Sleng, but I noticed that when there was even minor criticism of someone [by Hor Namhong], two days after this person [was taken away] and we didn't know where he went. Hor Namhong says that it was not him [who ordered inmates taken to Toul Sleng], but how could it be? Who could have taken all those people to be killed? He was director of the camp...why did [the Khmer Rouge] take [Boeng Trabek inmates] awav to be killed?
Q: What was your involvement in the 1991 civil suit initiated by Hor Namhong against King Sihanouk?
A: I was a witness for King Sihanouk when he said in the [Paris] newspaper that Hor Namhong was an assassin. Hor Namhong brought two communist lawyers [to the court] ... the King didn't have a lawyer so the court appointed a lawyer for the King who knew nothing of the King or Boeng Trabek ... he just listened. The other witnesses [Princess Sisowath Ayravady and Sao Kim Hong] didn't dare show up. The King lost the case because we were called in last [to give testimony]. Hor Namhong brought in false witnesses...those who were not in the camp or people who came ...when things were okay and everybody ate well [in the last four months before the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime]. [Those] other witnesses, if they accused me of not having proved [the King's case], they should bring in the children of the victims [to testify].
Q: Do you believe the KR Tribunal law will be able to deliver real justice?
A: This is a good law to find out who killed people. [Former Khmer Rouge leaders] have to come and tell us what happened, why it happened. We all want to know why they took people to be killed. I expect that the trial will be good if it has good international judges [and because] the international community is watching us. If the court asks me to testify I will go as I did for the King's case, but there will be a question whether I have any proof. But there are children whose parents died in the camp who may know more details than me.
20 comments:
All Cambodian accademic should come out and join shoulder to shoulder to remove all animals from Cambodian leaderships. If not, Cambodian leadership will be a farm of all animals. Areak Prey
Areak Prey;
Please be nice, don't call people animal.
Believing you are living oversea, and people oversea has never called a serial killer animal either.
5.44am, hun sen called rarith ah kchae sot, remember ?
What a wonderfull tesmony and beautiful deposission from Funcinpec Senator may God bless this person.
Aplause to Areak prey the cheater
has never win,but in Cambodia the killer like Ho Namhong and Hun Sen and it clans have always win. Because they use jungle and Mcky mouse laws.
My beloved country men and women
time to have your own gut to stand up,and get rid that monkey one by one or you will leave under jail no wall or wild animal country or become to be the tribes in your own country.
Prahokkhmer
Hello Poster 5:44AM,
I appreciate your comment that in overseas, we cannot call any human being as animal or any criminal as animal. But how many criminal in overseas who dare to commit such a crime against their own Nation and to their own Citizen to that kind of extend? Offcourse, in overseas noone has ever called them animals, but they have called them Evils. Even President Bush has also called North Korea leader as a Evil of axis. Areak Prey
this mean anybody can no longer hide from the reality, so please try to good for your life, or it will end up like dr. hor - yuon slave. he deserve in jail for sure.
អា ហោ ណាំហុង ថា ឈឺចាប់ណាស់ ដែលថា អា ហោ ណាំហុង ជាមេគុកបឹងត្របែក ក្នុងសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម ប៉ុន្តែសូមជំរាប អាហោ ណាំហុងថា អ្នកដែលឈឺចាប់ជាង អា
ហោ ណាំហុង ទៅទៀតនោះ គឺប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ដែលមានបងប្អូន ត្រូវអា ហោ ណាំហុង បញ្ជាយកទៅសំលាប់ នៅគុកត្របែក រាប់មិនអស់។ អា ហោ ណាំហុង សមចូលគុក ដោយ តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហមហើយ។
ah Hor Nam Hong must be in jail in KR tribunal because ah Hor Nam Hong is the chief of Boeng Tra Baek prison.
ah Hor Nam Hong must be in jail with Noun Chea, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan in KR tribunal because ah Hor Nam Hong was the chief of Boeng Tra Baek prison during Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979).
The Whore Nam TaiHong won't be hanged by public verdict unless the Khmer people stand up to demand the justice they deserve. The court was meant to be there to serve and find justice for the people. If they people do not stand up for themselves they will lose the opportunity.
Having this court is only part of the solution to the Khmer sickenss. Like going to a doctor, you may assume that the doctor can make you better but if you don't tell him the symptom he can't give you the diagnosis.
"Q: Were you aware of the deaths and disappearances of people at Boeng Trabek?
A: We didn't know the people who were taken away were killed. I thought maybe they were taken to another camp. Only after 1981 [did I learn that] people taken from the camp were taken to Toul Sleng and lived only about one month. I didn't know they went to their deaths. I thought they maybe went to a more difficult camp because I noticed [those taken away] had committed minor faults. I don't understand [their deaths]...if it was people who had done grave faults I could understand, but it wasn't, it was people who'd just done minor things...that's what preoccupies me, that's why I think in all this country [during the KR regime] people were killed for nothing. I think a lot about this because I pity the people who were killed [who] used to live and work with me. I know that they did not commit any mistake, so why did they take them all to kill them...why were children killed as well?" -- Funcinpec Senator Keo Bunthouk
What is an idiot (Keo Bunthouk?) He got no brain in his head. He should be removed from the senate.
Here, from his own testimony, people lived about one month in S-21 before they died. What does that have to do with Hor NamHong? There is no crime to transfer people anywhere, including transferring them back to society, and they got killed afterward. People died in S21 is because they did something in there, it wasn't from the order from Hor Nam Hong. If Hor NamHong wanted to killed someone on his own, he would have done it in his own prison.
At any rate, where is the proof of Hor NamHong guilt? Where is the order to kill? Where is the real witness or witnesses?
All the accused and held KR suspects ask the same question - "where is the proof that I killed people?"
You were either totally incompetent or retarded, to have had been put in those high positions in KR regime to not having had any knowledge or responsibility!
In the KR and current atmospheres, any Khmer victim or witness knows full well what consequence would behold on them if they say antything - hell, even their own corrupt city cop chief could not escape their wrath when he strayed out of their line. Can you imagine the same clique of people and regime has had popular support since 1979 with no change what so ever?
There two thing we have to devide one is the powerful khmer rouge and secondly the servant of khmer rouge ,in this case Mr.Ho Namhong has to take full responsiblities for the Cambodian blood like Noun Chea ,the conclusion of Mr.Ho case he is the powerful khmer rouge ,he was a chief of Beung Trabek unfamous jail so no way no what he doesn't know and do not kill any poor Cambodian people.
Please ladies and gentle men if you are thinking Mr.Ho innocent please release Noun Chea immiately because Noun Chea is innocent as wel as Mr.Ho
Prahokkhmer
10:22AM so sad that we are reading one of khmer rouge killer's comment ,sound like you were with Mr.Ho at that time why you know so much about this,why you have to defend this bloody thirst his both hands stained with Cambodian blood ?come on get the real let KR court make decession on this case ,would ya?
Gentlean
Prison was definitely the place of torturing and killing took place. And surely due to its bureacracy, Boeung trabaek linked to S21, of the same regional control.
ECCC is investigating and ruling perpetraters of atrocity in KR.
Mr HOR Nam Hong was directer of that prison, appeared to be more direct responsibility than Mr Khieu Samphorn. He is held for ECCC for his indirect killing, Hor Nam Hong is much closer to the killing and HE SHOULD BE SUMMONED to the court.
There is no immunity for any crimminal suspect, regardless what position he holds in government. In fact, politicians should learn to face their responsibilities as role model.
Neang SA
Wrong, Hor NamHong is a lot cleaner than Sam Rainsy is. Since Sam Rainsy came back to Cambodia, more people have died from his stupidity then ever, except for Pol Pot (his buddy).
Here is a look at what's effectively known:
http://about-cambodia.blogspot.com/2008/05/hor-nam-hong-case.html
And to those jokers who think that I do this for publicity, let me explain that my comments are just a bit too long to post here so I created my own blog. KI-Media used to publish my op-eds here but since I am somewhat too objective, read critical of Sam Rainsy, for their taste they don't do that any more. This is why I post this link here for those people that are interested in another view of things. And, thankfully, most of my readers are in Cambodia. Those are exactly the people I want to reach, even if the numbers aren't in the thousands per day. After all, I don't post news, this can be read in newspapers better than here, but op-eds. Aren't blogs for the exchange of views?
10:36 you one of kon chhlorb mith HO Nam Hong you and your mith are not famous at this time will you take some break with mit namhong let the ECC court throuh investigation on this matter better
I have a feeling that my uncle and his family were imprisoned in this camp because they were tricked and lured from France to rebuild the country from the KR. Unfortunately they did not survive the war, witnesses and other survivors said they were taken away. What a pity, how could people who had a lot of responsibility in the role of KR government is living free and not only that are wealthy and corrupted. In due time, karma (kham)will come to get them in the end.
this is necessary to dig into personal history or is it just personal vengeance on someone just to ruin their good name? this begins to look more and more like the obama/clinton personal attack on each other. talk about politics! anyway, i'm still for hilary clinton. i think she does a better job than obama. nothing racial, just plain political fact. i feel comfortable with clinton in the white house than obama. again, that's my own opinion and preference.
In civilized society,when someone committed crime ,he or she will go to jail.In Cambodia,if someone committed a crime he became Foreigh minister.
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