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

 

 

IV. COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE

72.               The CPK Standing Committee was at the top of the Party's nation-wide communications. It was at the centre of a system of constant information between each part of the administrative hierarchy. It issued the instructions: "Send general reports through various spearheads. Propose short reports by telegram, (all this so) the Standing Committee knows the situation in order to provide timely instructions".²⁰⁶

A. CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION

73.               The channels of communication were meticulously organized at the level of the Centre (among ministries and offices around the Centre, within the Centre armed forces and within the Centre's S-21 security apparatus); between the Centre and the zones (with no inter-zone communication allowed); and between zones and sectors. Communication between sectors and districts depended on available means, but was less formalized.

Communication Within the Centre

74.               The distribution of messages that arrived at the Centre from outside entities was coordinated by Office K-1, where it was decided which of the leaders were to receive copies of messages which were subsequently delivered to them.²⁰⁷ This decision was taken by Pol Pot and his staff, who for this purpose received ingoing messages several times per day.²⁰⁸ According to one witness, Nuon Chea always received a copy of the messages Pol Pot had read.²⁰⁹

75.               There was also frequent written communication between individual CPK leaders, most notably between Pol Pot and Nuon Chea, who used to exchange letters every one or two days.²¹⁰

Zone to Centre Communication

76.               Zones and autonomous sectors reported to the Standing Committee primarily on the agricultural situation, such as the rice harvest and on irrigation systems, the livelihood of the people and the enemy and military situation.²¹¹ One witness (the Secretary of Autonomous Sector 105) mentions that he sent telegrams to the Centre and that Pol Pot would send comments back to him about the arrests of cadres and about confessions.²¹²

77.               Surviving telegrams reported matters such as desertion and lawlessness,²¹³ the conflict with Vietnam (detailing enemy numbers killed and equipment captured and advising Office 870 of planned offensives and enemy movements),²¹⁴ questions on internal security activities in general terms²¹⁵ or in detail, sometimes referring to those under suspicion,²¹⁶ Vietnamese "spies" and their interrogations (mentioning the use of torture) ²¹⁷ or "traitors" (while mentioning them by name).²¹⁸

78.               The Zone sent and received between one and several telegrams per day on an irregular basis from the sectors.²¹⁹ Communication was only established between the Centre and the sectors but not between the Centre and the districts.²²⁰

79.               A Zone Secretary had a schedule table prepared by the Centre, that indicted the times to make contact with the Centre. Telegrams were sent out from the zone at least once a day sometimes twice a day (morning and evening),²²³ or in special occasions, telegrams were sent at other hours of the day.²²⁴ One of the sector telegram operators in Central Zone (former North Zone) mentions that he received about four to five messages a day from the Centre (870).²²⁵

80.               The schedule for telegram activity in the sectors was developed by the zone, thus making it easier to distinguish between telegrams that came in from the Centre and those that were received from different sectors.²²⁶ The receipt of a telegram was confirmed by a code word from the other side.²²⁷ In 1978, communication between the Centre and the zones increased due to technical improvements.²²⁸

81.               Witnesses indicate that there was a strict policy of no communication between the zones: the communication between the zones would be sent via the Centre.²²⁹ No contact schedule table or decoding table existed for telegram communication from zone to zone, thus making such contact impossible.²³⁰ However one telegram operator states that zone to zone communication took place by letter sent by messengers and had to be stamped with the seal of the zone.²³¹

Zone to Sector and District Communication

82.               Each sector had its own telegram office but any outgoing communication had to go through the Zone.²³²

83.               Only the Autonomous Sectors communicated directly with the Centre and not via the zone.²³³ One witness, who worked as a telegram operator in Autonomous Sector 105, states that the district offices mostly reported on irrigation projects, healthcare, the monitoring of forces and on "good or bad elements, traitorous or peaceful alliance elements".²³⁴ The Sector Secretary's Office would prepare a district performance report and send it back to the Centre

on a daily basis.²³⁵

84.               Messengers were mainly used for communication within the sectors and districts, as indicated by American sources (Stoney Beach report): "Each District and Sector within the Eastern Region (Zone) had a messenger network. The networks followed a rigid structure that mirrored the region (Zone) chain of command. For example, even if a district messenger unit was stationed near a regional unit, the district unit would first send messages to their headquarters, then on to the region messenger office. The message would then enter the region (Zone) network. The messengers carried high priority military, party and security messages, as well as personal correspondence for deployed personnel".²³⁶

External Communication

85.               Democratic Kampuchea had the technical means to communicate with foreign countries. CPK senior leaders sent telegrams to other, mostly socialist friendly, states throughout the duration of the regime to comment or congratulate them on events in their respective countries,²³⁷ or to explain that everything was going fine.²³⁸

86.               According to [REDACTED], external communication was channeled through the embassy in Beijing and communication could either come from the party or the government or directly from Pol Pot to the party cell in Beijing.²³⁹ Inside the country, there was no access to any foreign information service.²⁴⁰ However, the Ministry of Propaganda was instructed to give senior leaders daily briefings about world news.²⁴¹ Furthermore, [REDACTED] states that Ieng Sary had charged [REDACTED] with listening to the news from foreign broadcast

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services.

Meetings to "Study at the Centre"

87.               Cadres from the Zone Committee and Sector level, including the military, were invited to "study meetings" in Phnom Penh²⁴³ or at "the Centre".²⁴⁴ Witnesses name Nuon Chea²⁴⁵ or Office 870²⁴⁶ or 870²⁴⁷ or Pol Pot²⁴⁸ as the sender of such invitations.

88.               In several cases, when cadres were called to the Centre, they would be arrested and never returned back to their zones.²⁴⁹

89.               Monthly meetings at the Centre were held at K-1 to which various leading cadre of District Committees, Sector Committees and Zone Committees were invited.²⁵⁰ These meetings were regularly headed and attended by senior Party cadre.²⁵¹ Military meetings, gathering military commanders were held at the Olympic Stadium and were chaired by Pol Pot and Son Sen.²⁵² Sometimes special meetings were held with only a few attendees and these meetings took place on an irregular basis.²⁵³