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

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

In preparation for the start of trial hearings beginning on 27 June 2011 of Case 002 against the surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, KI Media is starting a new series in 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 arguments over the criminal charges (e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956). 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 

Functioning

Structure and Personnel 

302.            Prior to 1975, the subdistricts of Tram Kok District were for the most part populated by local villagers. However, after the movement of the population from Phnom Penh, many former city residents were settled in Tram Kok District. Former Tram Kok District Chairman, [REDACTED], remembers being instructed by the Sector to prepare to receive the influx of people. He recalls sending approximately 3,500 to 4,000 families to the villages and subdistricts where they were organised into local cooperatives.¹²³⁹ As time went on, those people who settled in Tram Kok were occasionally moved en masse from area to area within the District.¹²⁴⁰ 

303.            The precise organization of the population in each cooperative depended on its leadership.¹²⁴¹ However, in accordance with CPK policy nationwide, members were officially divided into three categories: full-rights, candidate and depositee members. These categories determined the degree of their involvement in the functioning of the cooperatives.¹²⁴² The depositee category seems to have been broadly synonymous with the people moved from Phnom Penh and other locations which were under Khmer Republic administration up until 17 April 1975. This group was widely known as "new people"¹²⁴³ or "17 April people".¹²⁴⁴ "New people" lacked political rights and could not be unit chiefs within the cooperatives.¹²⁴⁵ Cooperative members known as "base people"¹²⁴⁶ could hold either full-rights or candidate status. The candidate category was for those with alleged family or other connections or links to the enemy.¹²⁴⁷ In mid-1978, this three-fold categorization was proclaimed abolished.¹²⁴⁸ However, this abolition may have been mere pretence.¹²⁴⁹ 

304.            Several witnesses recall that in their cooperatives full-rights, candidate and depositee people were separated into different labour units designated one, two and three, respectively.¹²⁵⁰ In which unit people were placed depended on what facts they revealed about themselves in their biographies.¹²⁵¹ The depositee unit was controlled by members of the full-rights and candidate units pursuant to the original policy that "new people" were not permitted to be unit chiefs.¹²⁵² In the Nheng Nhang Subdistrict, these three groups lived and worked apart until 1978, at which time they were integrated.¹²⁵³ This may have been in accordance with the CPK's nationwide abolition of the three categories.¹²⁵⁴ Each unit had several sub-units such as a carpenter unit, canal digging unit and cart unit.¹²⁵⁵ The head of each unit was a chairman who reported to the secretary of the subdistrict committee. In turn, the subdistrict committee reported to and received its orders from the district committee.¹²⁵⁶ Usually, messengers carried communications between the different levels, including invitations to meetings.¹²⁵⁷ 

305.            Every two weeks subdistrict committees met to discuss the "work plan". These meetings were led by District Committee cadre.¹²⁵⁸ Following these meetings, the subdistrict chief would verbally disseminate the work plan to the cooperative members and urged them to strive towards three to four tons of rice, per hectare, per year.¹²⁵⁹ One former cooperative member recalls attending small unit meetings three times a month. At these meetings members criticised each other and admitted what they had done wrong.¹²⁶⁰

308. The subdistrict made regular verbal and written reports to the district regarding the implementation of the work plan.¹²⁶¹ Similarly, the district made monthly reports about the implementation of the work plan to the sector.¹²⁶² This vertical chain of reporting on the implementation of the work plan at the bases extended all the way up to the Party Centre.¹²⁶³ Further, at least two witnesses recall the Zone Secretary, Ta Mok, visiting their cooperatives.¹²⁶⁴ 

309. A former member of the Sre Ronong subdistrict Committee recalls attending a meeting in 1977 or 1978 at which he was given instructions on "the purges of enemies within and outside the ranks, who had tendency for the Lon Nol people and as for the people in the party rank if they did not have good tendency, they were also purged.The enemies in the rank included cadres; as for the enemies outside the rank, they were ordinary civilians". ¹²⁶⁵ He also recalls reading copies of the magazine Revolutionary Flag which were distributed by the district to certain people in the subdistrict. The Number 6, June 1977 edition of this magazine contained a letter from the Central Committee to various districts, including Tram Kok, awarding them the Red Flag Award for "achieving the tasks of defending the country and continuing and building socialist revolution with the speed of the great leap forwards in consecutive years".¹²⁶⁶ In this letter, the Central Committee sets out a comprehensive and detailed work plan for the latter half of 1977 and includes instructions on defending the country, building socialism and achieving three to six tons of rice per hectare, per year.