Closing Order of Case 002 against 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).  Available in Khmer and French.  Contact the ECCC for a free copy.

CLOSING ORDER

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

Dates and Participation

208. With respect to the targeting of former officials of the Khmer Republic, this policy came into existence before 1975 and continued until at least 6 January 1979. Public declarations of intent in February 1975 to execute the most senior Khmer Republic figures upon victory were followed after 17 April 1975 by a secret decision to kill many other members of the Khmer Republic elite⁷⁰⁹ on the basis that "it was decided to do whatever had to be done in order to make it impossible for them to stage a counter-revolutionary comeback".⁷¹⁰

209. During the evacuation of the population of Phnom Penh, former officials of the Khmer Republic, especially high-ranking officials,⁷¹¹ were targeted to be arrested and killed.⁷¹² There is also evidence that this group was targeted during the movement of people from other urban centres and subsequently throughout Cambodia, in particular in the Northwest Zone⁷¹³ and the Southwest Zone⁷¹⁴ as set out in the section of the Closing Order regarding Factual Findings of Crimes.

210. With respect to Buddhists, this policy began on or before 17 April 1975 and continued until at least 6 January 1979. High figures in the Buddhist hierarchy were executed during the evacuation of Phnom Penh, according to what Duch says he was told by those who carried out the killings.⁷¹⁵ Chapter 15, Article 20 of the DK Constitution purported to regulate religion by stating "Every citizen of Kampuchea has the right to worship according to any religion and the right not to worship according to any religion. Reactionary religions which are detrimental to Democratic Kampuchea and Kampuchean people are absolutely forbidden".¹¹⁶ However, it appears that the purported freedom of religion in this article was a deception and  that all religions were deemed to be reactionary. All religion was prohibited by the CPK including Buddhism. Pagodas were destroyed, virtually all Buddhist monks and nuns were disrobed,⁷²¹ and some monks were threatened with death or killed if they did not comply. People were told to follow, and put their faith in, Angkar rather than in religion. The abolition of Buddhism and the Buddhist monkhood was justified locally by reference to the notion that they were members of the "special class" which was said by local cadre to be an exploitative and oppressor class.⁷²⁴ This policy was implemented throughout Cambodia during the entire CPK regime.

211. With respect to the Cham, this policy began as early as 1970 in some areas⁷²⁵ and escalated throughout the CPK regime until at least 6 January 1979. Forced displacement of Cham villages began in approximately 1973⁷²⁶ and escalated after 1975,⁷²⁷ with some Cham being dispersed through ethnic Khmer villages.⁷²⁸ Telegram #15 dated November 1975 describes a decision of the CPK Centre regarding the policy to "break up"¹²⁹ the Cham through displacement.⁷³⁰ Throughout the CPK regime, the CPK prohibited the Cham from practising their religion.⁷³¹ The CPK imprisoned or killed Cham religious leaders and elders⁷³² and Cham people who protested or continued to practice their religion.⁷³³ The CPK also prohibited the Cham culture, language and dress. ⁷³⁴ 

212. Beyond religious persecution, beginning in 1977 and generally from mid-1978, the CPK adopted a policy of destroying the Cham as a group in those parts of Cambodia where most Cham then lived. Mass executions of Cham occurred in 1977 and 1978⁷³⁵ in the Central (Old North) Zone and East Zone. Witnesses gave evidence that the Cham were considered to be an enemy of the revolution⁷³⁶ and that the CPK intended to destroy the group⁷³⁷ by 1980.⁷³⁸ There is evidence that Ke Pork, Secretary of the Central Zone⁷³⁹ and a member of the Central Committee and Centre Military Committee,⁷⁴⁰ and the district secretaries of the East and Central Zones personally participated in the destruction of the Cham along with Centre and other military units.⁷⁴¹

213. With respect to the Vietnamese, this policy came into existence before 1975 and continued to escalate throughout the CPK regime until at least 6 January 1979. From 1973,⁷⁴² the CPK expelled Vietnamese people from Cambodian territory and sent them back to Vietnam, a policy that had been first implemented by the Lon Nol government since 1970. Expulsions continued in 1975 and 1976.⁷⁴³ The April 1976 issue of Revolutionary Flag addresses the expulsion of Vietnamese people from Cambodian territory and states that "the great typhoon of our democratic revolution swept hundreds of thousands of these foreigners clean and expelled them from our country, got them permanently out of our territory" .⁷⁴⁴

214.            From April 1977, the CPK intended to further this policy by destroying in whole or in part the Vietnamese group as such. This is evidenced by the April 1977 issue of the Revolutionary Flag magazine, which contains a direct call to kill all members of the Vietnamese community remaining in Cambodia. It called for the masses to "seek out" and "smash" them ⁷⁴⁵ and stated, "as for their old roots, some of whom still remain after we have smashed them to bits, it is imperative to whip-up the people to sweep more of them clean and make things permanently clean.¹⁴⁶ Evidence of implementation of the policy is contained in communications from the zone level to the Centre.⁷⁴⁷ Former cadres also confirm the policy: wherever there were Vietnamese, "everyone had to be careful and to find them and to "sweep them up".⁷⁴⁸ Indeed, from 1977 onwards,⁷⁴⁹ mass targeted killings of Vietnamese civilians occurred throughout Prey Veng⁷⁵⁰ and Svay Rieng⁷⁵¹ in the East Zone. There is also evidence that Vietnamese civilians were targeted and killed throughout Cambodia as set out in the section of the Closing Order regarding Factual Findings of Crimes, in particular for the Northeast Zone⁷⁵² and the North Zone.⁷⁵³

215.            The CPK based their policy to destroy the Vietnamese group on the theory of matrilineal descent. If a Vietnamese man was married to a Cambodian woman, only the man would be killed and the woman and any children would be spared. However, if a Vietnamese woman was married to a Cambodian man, the woman and any children of the marriage would be killed, while the man would be spared. This practice seems to have been applied throughout Prey Veng⁷⁵⁴ and Svay Rieng⁷⁵⁵ as well as in other parts of the country.⁷⁵⁶