Closing Order of Case 002 against Senior KR Leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith

In light of 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 posting installations of the public document of the Closing Order of Case 002.  The Closing Order of the Co-Investigating Judges forms thebasic 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

 

C. SECURITY CENTRES AND EXECUTION SITES S-21 Security Centre¹⁸⁰⁵

Location and creation

415. The S-21 security centre (S-21) was composed of a detention centre in Phnom Penh and an execution site (Choeng Ek) located some 15 kilometres to the south-west of Phnom Penh, in Kandal province.¹⁸⁰⁶ Prey Sar (S-24) was a labour camp under S-21 and is discussed in a separate section of the Closing Order.

416. On 15 August 1975, Son Sen summoned Duch and In Lorn alias Nat, of Division 703 of the RAK, to a meeting at the Phnom Penh railway station. The purpose of the meeting was to establish S-21.¹⁸⁰⁷ S-21 became fully operational in October 1975¹⁸⁰⁸ and remained in operation until 7 January 1979, when Duch, the staff and detainees working in S-21 fled.¹⁸⁰⁹

417. The detention centre was originally located in Boeng Keng Kang 3 Subdistrict at the junction of streets 163 and 360.¹⁸¹⁰ Late in November 1975, S-21 was transferred to the headquarters of the national police, and then, in January 1976, it was moved back to its original location.¹⁸¹¹ In April 1976, the detainees were finally relocated - at Duch's behest and with Son Sen's approval - to the premises of Pohnea Yat Lycee,¹⁸¹² which is now the site of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The main building (Building E) was used for the reception, registration and photographing of prisoners.¹⁸¹³ A room in this building was set up for producing paintings and sculptures to glorify the regime. Buildings B, C and D housed the general prison population, either in tiny individual cells built of wood or brick, or in larger collective cells.1814 The block to the south of the former lycee and later building A, was called the "Special Prison" and was used to hold important detainees.¹⁸¹⁵ The whole compound was surrounded by a fence and protected by armed guards.¹⁸¹⁶ Many other buildings were also part of S-21¹⁸¹⁷ and were located in a second outer perimeter, which was also protected by armed guards.¹⁸¹⁸ They included, for example, the houses for interrogators, execution sites and mass graves, messes, a "medical centre", several offices and houses for Duch and a house for receiving prisoners.¹⁸¹⁹

            At the beginning, executions were carried out either inside or near S-21.¹⁸²⁰ On an unknown date between 1976 and mid-1977, Duch decided that prisoners would henceforth be executed in Choeng Ek.¹⁸²¹ However, even after Choeng Ek became the main execution site, some prisoners were still executed and buried within the confines of S-21or nearby.¹⁸²²