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

Phnom Kraol Security Centre²⁷⁰⁸

Location and Establishment

622.                  Phnom Kraol was located in Koh Nhek District, Sre Sangkum Subdistrict, Mondulkiri Province.²⁷⁰⁹ Phnom Kraol was a Sector 105 Security Office containing Phnom Kraol Prison and related to the nearby Sector 105 Office K-11²⁷¹⁰ and to the Sector 105 Secretary, headquartered Office K-17.²⁷¹¹ Applying the CPK's system of identifying administrative boundaries, Phnom Kraol was located in Sector 105 also known as Mondulkiri Sector.²⁷¹² The security centre already existed in 1975.²⁷¹³ Mondulkiri was under the control of the

Northeast Zone until the end of 1976²⁷¹⁴ when it became autonomous and thereafter reported directly to the CPK Centre.²⁷¹⁵

623.                  Phnom Kraol prison was a one-room complex constructed of wooden pillars, a bamboo lattice floor and a thatched roof.²⁷¹⁶ K-17 consisted of a two storey building with wooden walls and a zinc roof and functioned as both the Office of the Secretary of Sector 105 and, briefly as a detention centre itself.²⁷¹⁷ K-11 was located approximately 1 kilometre Northeast of Phnom Kraol prison,²⁷¹⁸ and served as both a detention centre and as the military office.²⁷¹⁹ It consisted of a wooden building with bamboo walls, a thatched roof and

a plywood floor.²⁷²⁰

624.                  Trapeang Pring (also known as Tuol Khmaoch), the security centre's execution site, was located about 4 kilometres from Koh Nhek on the road towards Kratie Province.²⁷²¹

Functioning

Structure and Personnel

625.                  Successive secretaries of Sector 105 were based at K-17, including Ham alias Laing later alias Chhan²⁷²² (died under unclear circumstance in 1977),²⁷²³ and in September 1978 [REDACTED].²⁷²⁴ After Laing' s death, the sector was extensively purged, with some of those arrested being sent to Phnom Kraol.²⁷²⁵ Deputy secretaries included Sau Kim An alias Mey²⁷²⁶ (arrested on 8 December 1977)²⁷²⁷ Cham²⁷²⁸, Phak²⁷²⁹ and Lork.²⁷³⁰ The Member in charge of economic affairs was Kham Phoun (died under unclear circumstances in 1977).²⁷³¹ Sophea was a member of the Sector 105 Committee in charge of military and

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security until his arrest in November or December 1978.

626.                  Centre Division 920, which had been deployed to Mondulkiri in late 197 5²⁷³⁴ was instructed to cooperate closely with the local authorities there reporting simultaneously to them and the General Staff.²⁷³⁵ Division 920 was purged in 1976²⁷³⁶ and cadre were sent cadre were also sent to the Centre, and the Centre sent Division 920 "confessions" implicating grassroots authorities back to the sector.²⁷³⁷

630. Phnom Kraol was under military control. The sector military comprised two battalions, known as Battalion 1 and Battalion 2.²⁷³⁸ The latter had a contingent in the Phnom Kraol

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area , with Leng as the commander of battalion until his arrest in February 1978. The battalion deputy was [REDACTED]²⁷⁴¹ and the member [REDACTED].²⁷⁴²

631. The Chairman of Phnom Kraol was Leng²⁷⁴³, [REDACTED], serving as deputy chairman.²⁷⁴⁴ [REDACTED] served as a member of the committee and according to several witnesses as head of Phnom Kraol following the arrest of Leng.²⁷⁴⁵ The sector committee and the military reported directly to the CPK Centre.²⁷⁴⁶

632. A constant flow of information existed between the Centre and Sector 105 and coded typewritten messages were sent from the district level via K-17 to and from the Centre authorities.²⁷⁴⁷ While K-17 sent instructions to the districts, it also prepared district performance reports on a daily basis.²⁷⁴⁸ The Sector 105 Secretary reported directly to the Centre and asked for opinions, notably on suspects. ²⁷⁴⁹ The interrogations of "Vietnamese" "spies" were reported to the Centre.²⁷⁵⁰ Typewritten documents were mostly sent to Centre Office 870 and K-3.²⁷⁵¹ Messages concerning healthcare or social affairs were typed in non coded language and were sent to Khieu Samphan who would send instructions back.²⁷⁵² Messages about security matters were sent to Nuon Chea. according to one witness: "Nuon Chea regularly instructed on security matters such as to be vigilant of Vietnamese enemy or insider enemy, the ambition of Vietnam, and ideological tasks for education to the district level".²⁷⁵³

633. One witness states that monthly meetings were held at K-11 and that they were attended by the sector committee, the sector army and the districts committees.²⁷⁵⁴ Other witnesses state that meetings were held in the sector and district education halls²⁷⁵⁵ and that "the Sector Com brought the word from the Centre-level and explained [to us] . . . to track down the imbedded enemies (who contacted the Vietnamese) and the enemy traitors"²¹⁵⁶

Arrest and detention

634. All the former prisoners of Phnom Kraol who were interviewed, attest that they were arrested on suspicion of being traitors to the revolution either because of associations with

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the Vietnamese or because of alleged connections to the CIA. Such accusations were generally made during meetings of criticism/auto-criticism²⁷⁵⁹: "Every single afternoon after the meal, they always held a meeting and accused all of us of being CIA".²⁷⁶⁰ After their arrest, prisoners had to write down their biographies.²⁷⁶¹

635. Prisoners were either arrested by CPK cadre and forcibly taken to Phnom Kraol²⁷⁶² or were arrested at K-17 after having been called to a meeting.²⁷⁶³ Some arrests were ordered by the sector secretary and carried out by sector member for military affairs, with the help of

sector military and security cadre with Division 920 having the the right to make arrests of both sector cadre, civilians and military, with its secretary [REDACTED] having lists of persons to be detained ²⁷⁶⁴ Some prisoners were first detained at the district or cooperative authorities and transferred to Phnom Kraol.²⁷⁶⁵

636.                  One former prisoner states being hung upside down by his ankles for 24 hours upon arriving at Phnom Kraol.²⁷⁶⁶ Another recalls having his legs tied to a bench and his hands tied behind his back,²⁷⁶⁷ whilst other prisoners report being placed in wooden leg shackles upon arriving at Phnom Kraol.²⁷⁶⁸ The shackles ranged in size from holding one prisoner, to holding four or five²⁷⁶⁹ and some up to 20 prisoners.²⁷⁷⁰ Whilst all prisoners were shackled at night,²⁷⁷¹ there are reports of light offenders being unshackled and taken out to work during the day.²⁷⁷²

637.                 Within K-11, prisoners were held temporarily under the same conditions.²⁷⁷³ As of November 1977, 40 prisoners were held, tied-up on the ground floor of K-17 and five were held on the first floor.²⁷⁷⁴ Concerning the number of prisoners Phnom Kraol was holding, one witness states to have seen 80²⁷⁷⁵, whilst another witness mentions that the Phnom Kraol could hold up to 3 8 5.²⁷⁷⁶

638.                  At Phnom Kraol some prisoners were made to work during the day;²⁷⁷⁷ their hands remained tied whilst doing so.²⁷⁷⁸ Prisoners were under guard at all times.²⁷⁷⁹ Food at Phnom Kraol was insufficient and as a result prisoners were generally in a weakened state and emaciated.²⁷⁸⁰

Interrogations

639.                  Several witnesses state that detainees were seriously mistreated during interrogations at Phnom Kraol. One witness recounts being hung upside down and interrogated.²⁷⁸¹ Another former prisoner witnessed an eight year old son of a female prisoner being hung upside down by the guards until he was bleeding from the eyes.²⁷⁸² Other witnesses state that serious mistreatment was not commonplace, if done at all.²⁷⁸³ One witness states that "there was no torture during the interrogations, but there were strong threats²⁷⁸⁴ This is corroborated by a former soldier working at Phnom Kraol. ²⁷⁸⁵

640.                  Interrogations included questioning the prisoners about their alleged links to the CIA and/or Vietnamese networks.²⁷⁸⁶