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

In light of the HISTORIC (!) start of MOST COMPLEX (sic!) trial hearings beginning on 27 June 2011 and again ANOTHER HISTORIC (!) START of this same MOST COMPLEX (sic!) on 21 Nov. 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 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 (sic!) arguments over the criminal charges (e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956 - sic!).  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

 

D. TREATMENT OF SPECIFIC GROUPS

Treatment of the Cham³²⁰²

744.            The Cham are an ethnic minority within Cambodia who share a common language, a common culture and Islam as a common religion.³²⁰³ The Cham people self-identify as Cham and are identified as such by others outside the group.³²⁰⁴

745.            Prior to 1975, many Cham lived along the Mekong River in Kampong Cham Province. Large communities of Cham lived in Kroch Chhmar District and Kang Meas District.³²⁰⁵

746.            The Demographic Expert Report: CPK Victims in Cambodia, April 1975 - January 1979, A Critical Assessment of Major Estimates concludes that 36% of the Cham population in Cambodia perished during the regime (compared to a death rate of 18.7% for Khmers).³²⁰⁶

Pre-1975 Policy Towards Cham

747.            From around 1970, the CPK exerted control over increasingly large parts of Kampong Cham Province, including many areas inhabited by Cham.³²⁰⁷

748.            At first the CPK appeared to support Islam.³²⁰⁸ Before 1975, some Cham joined the CPK, for example, [REDACTED], a Cham man, was a member of the Tboung Khmum District Committee in Kampong Cham³²⁰⁹ and a Member of the Standing Committee of the People's Representative Assembly of Kampuchea³²¹⁰ (he fled Cambodia and crossed the border into Vietnam in May 1978).³²¹¹ Some other Cham people were cadre at S-21 (though all were killed in 1977 and 1978).³²¹²

750.            The CPK began to indoctrinate the Cham against the values of religious practice in general and curtail their freedom to practice Islam in particular.³²¹³ One witness states that in 1974, the Cham were announced by the CPK to be "enemy number one".³²¹⁴

751.            The CPK appears to have begun targeted expulsions of Cham villages in approximately 1973. Sometimes only the religious leaders and those well-educated in Islam were expelled,³²¹⁵ on other occasions the majority of the village was evacuated, leaving only a few Cham families in each village.³²¹⁶ The Cham were expelled to various provinces in Cambodia.³²¹⁷

752.            Prior to 1975, some Cham were arrested, detained, tortured and killed.³²¹⁸ In 1970 or 1971, a security centre was established in Kroch Chhmar, which had a particular role with respect to Cham as set out below. The CPK targeted Cham religious leaders for arrest as well as Cham who protested about the curtailment of their religious freedom.³²²¹ Witnesses from Kroch Chhmar District, Kampong Cham stated that between 100³²²² and 200³²²³ Cham people were arrested and had disappeared from their villages by around 1975 and that the decision to arrest them was made at provincial level or higher.³²²⁴