Closing Order of Case 002 (Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith)

In preparation for the start of trial hearings beginning on 27 June 2011 of Case 002 against the surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, KI Media is starting a new series in posting installations of the public document of the Closing Order of Case 002.  The Closing Order of the Co-Investigating Judges forms the basic document from which all the parties (Co-Prosecutors, Co-Lead Lawyers for all civil parties, Defense Lawyers) will be making their arguments before the Trial Chamber judges (one Cambodian President, 2 Cambodian Judges, 2 UN judges).  Up until now, the hearings involving these four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been in the Pre-Trial Chamber over issues of pre-trial detention and jurisdictional issues.  Beginning in June 2011, the Trial Chamber will hear the substantive arguments over the criminal charges (e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956).

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CLOSING ORDER

of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde, 15 September 2010

 

III. ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURES (NATIONAL)

58.               Below the level of the Centre, Democratic Kampuchea was sub-divided into a series of hierarchical administrative entities, all reporting up a vertical chain-of-command, culminating at the Centre. Immediately below the Centre were a number of large "zones". They were sub­divided into "sectors" with each of these containing a number of "districts" within which were a series of "subdistricts" and "cooperatives".¹⁸⁴ At each level, the zone, sector, district and subdistrict tiers of this national structure were each governed by a committee, each of which was headed by a secretary.¹⁸⁵

59.               Immediately after April 1975 there were six zones; North Zone, Northwest Zone, Northeast Zone, Southwest Zone, West Zone and East Zone.¹⁸⁶ In 1977, the North Zone was renamed the Central Zone¹⁸⁷ and a new North Zone was created.

60.               In addition to the zones which reported directly to the Centre, the CPK created a number of "autonomous sectors" which bypassed the zone level to report directly to the Centre. These were Autonomous Sector 103 (Preah Vihear), Autonomous Sector 105 (Mondulkiri), Autonomous Sector 106 (Siem Reap), Autonomous Sector 505 (Kratie) and the Kampong Som Autonomous City (Cambodia's principal Seaport).¹⁸⁸ In addition, Phnom Penh itself was categorized as a distinct territory not within the formal national administrative structures, which reported directly to the Centre.¹⁸⁹ Autonomous Sector 106 (Siem Reap) was merged with Autonomous Sector 103 (Preah Vihear) to create the New North Zone in 1977.190

67. The facts of which the Co-Investigating Judges have been seized of were located in all of the zones of the CPK national structure and two of the autonomous sectors. Sang Security Centre, Kraing Ta Chan Security Centre, the Tram Kok Cooperatives, the Srae Ambel Worksite and the Prey Sar (S-24) Worksite were located in the Southwest Zone. Wat Kirirum Security Centre, Tuol Po Chrey Execution Site and the Trapeang Thma Worksite were all located in the Northwest Zone. The Steung Tauch Execution Site and the Wat Tlork Security Centre were located in the East Zone. The North Zone Security Centre was located in the New North Zone. The 1^st January Dam Worksite was located in the Central Zone (Old North Zone). The Au Kanseng Security Centre was located in the Northeast Zone. Prey Damrei Srot Security Centre, Koh Kyang Security Centre, the Execution Sites in District 12 and the Kampong Chhnang Airport Construction Site were all located in the West Zone. The S-21 Security Centre was located in the territory of Phnom Penh. Finally, the Phnom Kraol Security Centre was located in Autonomous Sector 105 and the Kok Kduoch Security Centre was in Autonomous Sector 505.

68. The appointment of zone secretaries would typically be made by the Centre.¹⁹¹ Implementation of decisions of the Central and Standing Committees was performed by the secretaries of the zones and the autonomous sectors.¹⁹² Policies and instructions of the Central and Standing Committees were disseminated to the zone and autonomous sector secretaries who, in turn, would disseminate them amongst sector and district level secretaries for implementation.¹⁹³ Conversely, the subdistricts reported back up to the district committees, which reported to the sector committees, which in turn reported to the zone committees.

69. The Statute of the CPK states that the tasks and functions of the zone committees were to "lead the implementation of tasks", according to CPK policies, in the sectors, districts and subdistricts. As such, they were empowered to "designate new work according to the Party line",¹⁹⁴ meaning that the party line should be implemented "according to the political lines of national defense and the construction of Democratic Kampuchea",¹⁹⁵ in other words that the zones were responsible for the internal security situation within their territories. Further to this, the zone committees were authorized to "administer discipline in the zone framework".¹⁹⁶ Furthermore, the zone committees were empowered to select new members for the zone level leadership, subject to the approval of the Central Committee.¹⁹⁷ They were also statutorily required to maintain a "system of reporting to the Central Committee on the situation and work of the Zone¹⁹⁸

70.               The Statute of the CPK gave similar tasks and functions upon the sector committees,¹⁹⁹ the district committees²⁰⁰ and the subdistrict committees²⁰¹ providing for the implementation of instructions and the reporting back to the administrative tier above.

71.               In addition to the six monthly meetings of the Central Committee,²⁰² there was an annual meeting in Phnom Penh between the secretaries of the zones and the CPK Centre²⁰³ as well as frequent meetings in Phnom Penh between the Centre and members of the zones, sectors and districts.²⁰⁴ In addition, direct meetings would be held between the zones and the sectors; the sectors then inviting the secretaries of the districts and subdistricts to meetings who would in turn disseminate instructions to their units.²⁰⁵