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 (Indictment).  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, English and French. Contact the ECCC for a free copy. 

 

CLOSING ORDER

of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde

15 September 2010

 

 

IX. ROLES OF THE CHARGED PERSONS

A. NUON CHEA³⁶⁵²

Background

859.           Nuon Chea became politically active in the late 1940s while working in Thailand and was a part of Youth for Democracy, an offshoot of the Communist Party of Thailand, of which he was a member.³⁶⁵³

860.           He then moved back to Cambodia and joined the maquis of the Indochinese Communist Party in the Samlaut area and he was in charge of propaganda within the Party.³⁶⁵⁴ At that time, he was actively involved with the Vietnamese communists and communist elements of the Issarak movement (1950-1953).³⁶⁵⁵ He continued as an active member of the communist movement after the formation of the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party ("KPRP") in 1951 ³⁶⁵⁶ Between 1951 and 1953, he underwent political training in both South and North Vietnam. Following the signing of the Geneva Agreement, he posed as a businessman while was he was in fact a member of the underground communist movement in Phnom Penh.³⁶⁵⁷

861.            In September 1960, Nuon Chea was elected Deputy Secretary of the KPRP, which was renamed the Kampuchea Workers Party, and later, the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), alongside Saloth Sar and Tou Samouth.³⁶⁵⁸ When Saloth Sar became Secretary of the CPK following the death of Tou Samouth in 1962, Nuon Chea remained the Deputy Secretary.³⁶⁵⁹

862.            On 18 March 1970, after the overthrow of Sihanouk, Nuon Chea left Phnom Penh to join the underground movement alongside Saloth Sar, Son Sen, Ta Mok and Sao Phim. The CPK leaders set up camp successively in various provinces, including Kampong Thom³⁶⁶⁰, Kampong Cham³⁶⁶¹ and Kampong Chhnang.³⁶⁶²

863.            Between 1970 and 1975, Nuon Chea held office as Vice-President of the High Military Command of the People's Armed Forces for the National Liberation of Kampuchea and the Chief of the Army Political Directorate. In this role, he was in charge of liaising with the Vietnamese.³⁶⁶³

864.            In early April 1975, Nuon Chea remained with Pol Pot and other prominent military and political figures within the CPK, such as Koy Thuon, Sao Phim, Ta Mok and Son Sen, until Phnom Penh fell.³⁶⁶⁴

865.            During the CPK regime, Nuon Chea was variously referred to by his surname "Nuon" as in "Brother Nuon"³⁶⁶⁵ or "Uncle Nuon"³⁶⁶⁶ as well as by his Party title "(Comrade) Deputy Secretary".³⁶⁶⁷ He was also known by the alias Brother Number Two.³⁶⁶⁸

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