Khieu Samphan’s wife asks the court to speed up its work

So Socheat (Foreground, left), Khieu Samphan's wife, is seen walking into the Calmette Hospital to visit her husband in November 2007 (Photo: AP)

16 March 2008
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

On Sunday, the wife of the former president of the KR regime requested that the ECCC or the KR Tribunal (KRT) speeds up the hearing in her husband’s case, and she also asked for thorough investigation before any sentencing is handed down to Khieu Samphan. She claimed that Khieu Samphan was a clean and gentle man, quite the opposite to the accusation made by the tribunal against him.

56-year-old So Socheat told RFA on Sunday: “Why did they incarcerate him for so long because others had their judgments or their hearings for the sentencing, why I don’t see anything (for him)? The court must investigate thoroughly in order to provide proper justice as to whether my husband’s involvement in ordering someone to kill others. It must be clear to his (Khieu Samphan) satisfaction, and to my satisfaction.”

In reaction to the demand and the call made by Khieu Samphan’s wife, Reach Sambath, KRT spokesman, explained: “The tribunal is speeding up its work. On the 20th (of March), we will issue the decision for Nuon Chea who asked for bail release. The following month (i.e. April), the other 3 people who asked for bail release also, they include Mr. Ieng Sary, Mrs. Ieng Thirith, and Mr. Khieu Samphan, (their cases) will follow afterward. At the tribunal, we are working with all our ability to fulfill our duty according to the law.”

On Sunday, there was no immediate comment given by Mr. Say Bory, the co-defense lawyers of Khieu Samphan regarding his defendant because someone else answered his phone and said that he was busy.

The 77-year-old Khieu Samphan was the former (2nd) president of the KR regime, and he was arrested at the Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh by the Cambodian authority based on a warrant issued by the KRT on 19 November 2007. He was officially charged by the KRT co-investigating judges of crime against humanity and war crimes.

The KRT has already issued its decision to continue the incarceration of Kaing Kech Iev, aka Duch, the former Tuol Sleng prison (or S-21) director. On 20 March, the KRT will issue its decision on the bail relaease appeal by Nuon Chea, the former president of the National Assembly of the KR regime.

A source indicated that the ECCC plans to hold successive hearings in the appeal made by the group of former KR leaders, such as Kheiu Samphan, Ieng Sary, and Ieng Thirith, Ieng Sary’s wife.

Becoming State Presidium President's Wife While Performing Art for Khmer Rouge

Grandma Ream, 100, is the mother of So Sary and So Saroeun who is Khiev Samphan's wife (Picture by: Oka)

So Sary, 63, is an older sister of So Sareoun who is Khiev Samphan's wife (Picture by: Oka)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
By Oka
Rasmei Kampuchea
Unofficial Translation by krtrial.info

Rovieng-Preah Vihear: Becoming the wife of the president of the Khmer Rouge State Presidium from a girl roaming around, So Saroeun, Khieu Samphan's wife, was born in Kok Poun, Rohas, Rovieng, Preah Vihear.

So Saroeun's revolutionary name was Comrade Rin. Although no sources have ever claimed about the year Khieu Samphan got married, what his wife's name is, or how many children he has, the people living in Rovieng district in Phreah Vihear province said Khieu Samphan's wife was So Saroeun, alias Comrade Rin, and that they had four children. So Savoeun has got a 100-year-old mother and 6 siblings who are currently living in Kok Poun, Rohas, Rovieng. The cover-up of the identity has made the public almost not aware of whom Khieu Samphan's wife is at the present time. In September Rasmei Kampuchea's reporters traveled to the hometown of Khieu Samphan's wife and interviewed her mother and one of her siblings.

Kok Poun village lies 3 kilometers southeast of Rovieng district. It is a village with hundreds of houses amongst which some are old in style. There are tall fruit trees like coconuts and milk fruit trees. All of these show that the village has long been established.

The 100-year-old grandmother who was in her senility was sitting and surrounded by two other old ladies who are her daughters. Yeay Ram is the mother of So Saroeun, alias Comrade Rin, and is also Khieu Samphan's mother-in-law. "My daughter Saroeun and my son-in-law Khieu Samphan are really poor," said Yeay Ram with an unstable feeling. So Sary, 63, So Saroeun's older sister, said, "Saroeun, my sister, left the hometown since 1970 in order to work as an art performer for the Khmer Rouge army and disappeared since then." "After 1975 we saw So Saroeun visit home two times. She came alone and did not say she had husband named Khieu Samphan," she added. So Sary said that after 1979 she disappeared and it was not until the Khmer Rouge integrated with the government that she knew her sister So Saroeun was Khieu Samphan's wife and had 4 children, two sons and two daughters. So Sary said Khieu Samphan had used to visit his mother-in-law two times in very secret travel. "In the first visit, he only stayed for one night while in the second he stayed for two nights and returned back," [she said]. However, Rovieng's district authorities denied they had known that Khieu Samphan had ever visited his wife's birthplace.

Leng Keang, who used to live in Rovieng district and study in Rorveang District primary school in 1970, said So Saroeun had used to study in the same school with him, but that So Saroeun stopped and fled into the jungle to struggle with the Khmer Rouge soldiers. “Her information was lost until she was re-known as Khieu Samphan's wife,” he said.

Real biography of So Saroeun, alias Comrade Rin, has not been revealed yet. She is claimed by the villagers to be a "total revolutionary person” since she was thinking about her mother and siblings very little, whilst she was very fortunate to be married to the president of the State Presidium of the Democratic Kampuchea regime.

Khieu Samphan's wife plays down her husband's role during the KRouge period, even though he was their presdident

Wife plays down husband's role in Khmer Rouge years

20/07/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

In Cambodia, the wife of a former Khmer Rouge leader has echoed her husband's recent denials of his involvement in crimes against humanity during the Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s.

Earlier this week, 76-year-old Khieu Samphan told journalists that he was a patriot, and not guilty.

Now in a rare interview, his wife has played down her husband's role during the Khmer Rouge years, describing it as insignificant.

So Socheat has told Radio Australia's Khmer Service that her husband never witnessed, nor had anything to do with any killings.

And she says there is not enough evidence for him to be tried by the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

Her comments came as prosecutors filed their first cases against surviving leaders of the regime.

The names of the five involved have not been made public.

The Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia from April 1975 until January 1979, when it was defeated by invading Vietnamese forces.

An estimated two million people died from execution, exhaustion and starvation during the rule of the radical Maoist regime.