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 November 2011, the Trial Chamber will hear the substantive (sic!) arguments over the criminal charges (genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956, etc., only the Phase I Movement in April 1975).  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 CHEA

 

 Participation in the Common Purpose

Knowledge and Implementation of the Policy

923. With the exception of a witness who believes Nuon Chea visited Kraing Ta Chan and talked to another witness (who denies this event ever took place),³⁸⁶⁸ there is no evidence in the Case File that Nuon Chea visited any security centres or execution sites. Duch confirms that Nuon Chea never entered the S-21 premises.³⁸⁶⁹

924. Nevertheless, during the mass political meetings and trainings organised in Phnom Penh for CPK cadres and RAK members from virtually all the zones in Cambodia, as well as during visits to the zones, Nuon Chea instructed participants to prevent hidden enemies within the ranks from destroying the CPK, paying particular attention to those associated with the Vietnamese or CIA, to be cautious of the activities of others, and to "cleanse" the Party of enemies.³⁸⁷⁰ For instance, a former company commander explains that in early 1976 he participated in several meetings with CPK cadres from the Northwest Zone where Nuon Chea stated that "The plan to purge internal enemies was to place spies in the units, districts, sectors, teams ... The spies reported to the districts and sector. Later the sector, after receiving information from the spies, ordered the militia to make arrests".³⁸⁷¹

925. Nuon Chea also participated in the implementation of this policy through his involvement in the creation and distribution of the Revolutionary Youth and Revolutionary Flag magazines to CPK cadres,³⁸⁷² as well as through his involvement in the programming of radio broadcasts. In particular, the speech made by "the Party organization representative" on the occasion of the West Zone conference on 25 July 1977 is reproduced in the August 1977 issue of Revolutionary Flag.³⁸⁷³ [REDACTED], former Deputy Commander of Division 1, states that he attended this Zone Congress where the zone, sector and district committees were present, as well as the Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of the divisions of the West Zone. He has no recollection of Nuon Chea's presence but acknowledges that it cannot be ruled out, as Pol Pot and Nuon Chea were usually present at the zone congresses. Further the witness acknowledges that he did not attend the whole congress and that and he may have been absent when Nuon Chea was present.³⁸⁷⁴ The long speech reprinted in Revolutionary Flag describes in detail the work carried out by the West Zone in "cleaning the bad elements and traitors in the Zone"³⁸¹⁵ Finally, the article proposed "that every leadership echelon in the Party concentrate on examining, discussing, and studying this presentation conscientiously in order to take it for implementation in their respective Zones and get good results"³⁸¹⁶ [REDACTED] confirms that at the conference there was discussion "about the purges of the enemy burrowing from within" ³⁸¹¹ Whether or not Nuon Chea delivered this particular speech he certainly participated in, or was at a minimum aware of, this edition of Revolutionary Flag and the arrests in the West Zone due to his role in CPK propaganda, the telegrams sent to the CPK Centre from that zone,³⁸⁷⁸ and his role as supervisor of S-21.

926. With respect to "immorality", telegraph operator [REDACTED] explains that anything involving the "the violation of moral codes" had to be sent to Nuon Chea and that rape was a form of immorality.³⁸⁷⁹ He also explains that "leaders had to have leadership qualities, morality, strong will, and good morals in living" otherwise they would be "remove[d] or take[n] for tempering at various locations" ³⁸⁸⁰ In this regard, Nuon Chea himself mentioned in an interview after the CPK regime that the "bad comrades" were reeducated and removed from their position and adds that "in my time girls did not stay with boys".³⁸⁸¹ Additionally, Nuon Chea was copied to a telegram in which men who were accused of rape were categorized as "enemies" .³⁸⁸²

 

927.            During study sessions, Nuon Chea instructed CPK cadres about the CPK Revolutionary Moral Code. Nuon Chea's former bodyguard and messenger [REDACTED] explains that during study sessions for the bodyguards, Nuon Chea instructed them about the "12 points of the ethic, including must be straightforward, must not touch women, must not steal, must not lie" and that these points were included in the booklet he used to read. He understood that "if I violated that ethic, I would be dead".³⁸⁸³ Around November 1975, civil party [REDACTED] participated as a Subdistrict Chairman in a study session at Borei Keila in Phnom Penh with Nuon Chea. He states that "each participant was given a document of about 10 pages ... That document was the party statute whose content said, 'Must [be your own] master; do not switch side; do not betray; must have morale; do not have mistresses; do not touch people's things; do not be proud that you are the high-ranking people and act crazily'".³⁸⁸⁴ Duch also mentions that Nuon Chea taught about the 12 ethics principles during

study sessions.³⁸⁸⁵