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| CPP Senator Sim Ka was in charge of the KR messenger section at Sector 20 |
By Mary Kozlovski
Source: http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/blog/2012/08/defense-teams-quiz-civil-party-prior-testimony
Mr. Karnavas moved his questioning to Mr. Oeun’s father Ouk Samem, quoting the civil party as saying in a document that Eastern Zone chief So Phim arrested his father – a member of the Sector 20 committee – in 1974 under the pretext of calling him for study, and he was taken to be killed. Mr. Karnavas said Mr. Oeun mentioned others who were taken but survived, including Mao Cheang, Sim Kar, and Khieu Sarun. Mr. Karnavas then referred to the supplemental information in Mr. Oeun’s civil party application, in which he stated that his father was summoned by the Angkar[11] to study at the center in early 1977 and henceforth disappeared. Mr. Karnavas queried the difference in years. Mr. Oeun said he provided the information to people from DC-Cam who assisted him and brought him the document to be thumb-printed, but he did not have time to review it thoroughly. Mr. Oeun testified that he believed 1977 was not the correct date. Mr. Karnavas asked Mr. Oeun to clarify if his father was taken away in 1974. Mr. Oeun said he believed he stated at the time that his mother died after she saw his father taken away without referring to a particular year, though he affirmed the veracity of the events. Mr. Oeun said he made a mistake in not paying enough attention to verifying the date when he wrote the information and struggled to remember the exact date.
Mr. Karnavas read an excerpt attached to Mr. Oeun’s civil party application on January 25, 2010, which stated that his parents – who were on the “Sector 20 Prey Veng province committee” – were taken to be “allegedly killed” for being opposed to communism in Prey Veng’s Sector 20 in late 1975. Mr. Karnavas pressed Mr. Oeun on when his father was taken away and allegedly killed, to which Mr. Oeun responded that he was sure it was 1974. When asked why his prior statements on the date of his father’s disappearance were inconsistent, Mr. Oeun said that he did not say his father was executed, only that he disappeared in 1974, and his mother died in the same year because she saw him being taken away. Mr. Oeun apologized for his inconsistency and commented that he believed others would experience similar problems with their memories.
When Mr. Karnavas asked how the civil party knew that Mao Cheang, Sim Kar, and Khieu Sarun, among others, were taken away but spared, Mr. Oeun said he did not say the three were being taken for execution, though they knew his father was removed. Mr. Oeun stated:
Mr. Khieu Sarun was my father’s nephew when Mr. Mao Cheang was his workmate, and Mr. Sim Kar was in charge of the messenger section at Sector 20. And that’s why I said that these three individuals were those who could support the idea that my father was actually taken away, and I just wish to be proven – that my statement be proven by these individuals – that the statement I make is true. Mr. Sim Kar is in Phnom Penh now, and Mao Cheang in Kampong Cham and another person Khieu Sarun is with me in the same village now.
On Tuesday, August 28, 2012, trial proceedings in Case 002 involving the accused Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan resumed at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Reserve Trial Chamber Judge Claudia Fenz replaced Trial Chamber Judge Silvia Cartwright, who was absent from the hearing.
