Cambodia - S-21 RESTITUTION EXTORTION (5of10) [KH&EN]

All songs were revolutionary songs. Then we were gathered on the premises of Modom School surrounded by guards. We had enough to eat, but my family members were alerted to the executions as people were slaughtered one by one. Question: Did you know the reason for his arrest? Answer: It was normal to take people away under the pretext of 'training policy'. To train meant to kill. He never returned. I had assumed that he was detained in that place. But upon learning this news from you, I realize that Tiv Ol died a long time before the events on the hill. Finally, on the afternoon of 11 May 1977, Tiv Mei asked the unit leader if he could soak the leaves in order to cover his house. In the afternoon, around 4:00, while Tiv Mei was laying the leaves onto the cart, the cooperative leader and two or three other people Tiv Mei did not recognize came and told him that Angkar wanted to meet him. After that he disappeared forever. I soon found myself in the middle of a forested area, impenetrable brush. I went back and forth trying to find a way to get through the thick forest. I ended up back where I had started earlier, near the killing area again. After the fourth or fifth time of trying, I found myself in the middle of the forest, utterly lost. Extremely frustrated, I howled like a wolf without any fear of Angkar's executioners. As I later learned, myself being lost in the forest and all my back tracking trips was a good strategy. It is the one that most likely confused the Khmer Rouge's experienced trackers who were searching the escaped survivors. I remembered it took them almost a week to locate, capture, and to kill my friend Laive. I intend not to let that kind of thing being repeated. However, I was not the only survivor to escape the execution, evidently. During the night, I heard a movement deep in the forest, but I did not dare making a sound for fearing that I could be the subject of a manhunt. I intended to live, no matter what it takes. I needed to live, for the sake of my dead family and friends.

PHOK CHHAY'S FAMILY: The Documentation Center of Cambodia has been painstakingly preserving and documenting such "confession" documents of victims held at Tuol Sleng, which total fourteen thousand pages, including Phok Chhay's 81-page document. According to file D349, Phok Chhay, alias Touch, was sent to S-21 on March 14, 1977. After three months and twenty-two days of coerced interrogation, Phok Chhay was executed by Khmer Rouge cadre on July 6, 1977. Cross-checking against another file entitled "list of execution", prepared by Comrade Hor at S-21, and dated July 7, 1977, reveals the same information as in file D349. Through this file, I found the name of Phok Chhay alias Touch in the serial number of 123 among the 127 names of people targeted for execution on the same day, July 6, 1977. Before it was decided that Phok Chhay was to be executed, his name had been sent to Angkar for examination and advice. After thorough review, he noted: "A H+CH. already A/K 30/3/77, meaning that 'already read and sent to Angkar: March 30, 1977'." SOK SUNDAY: Most distressingly, a few days after the death of my younger sibling, the village chief summoned my father and other new people of about the same age to make biographies. My father told the village chief the truth that he was a former naval captain at Chroy Changva. Other people also told him exactly about their former occupations. After being questioned, the village chief told them to return to work as usual. Four or five days later, the village chief arrived at night to invite my father, who was collecting rainwater, and other people he called several days earlier to attend a study session. At that time, my mother put some clothes into a white plastic bag for him, but my father told her the clothes were not needed because they called him be to killed. Despite knowing he was called to die, he did not run, because he was afraid they would hurt our family. On that day, he left with nothing, except the clothes he was wearing. After they killed my father, the Khmer Rouge claimed our property; including motorcycles, crockery, and other belongings; to be shared by the cooperative. In mid-1978, my two uncles fell ill with knee injuries. The Khmer Rouge accused them of pretending to be sick to avoid working, so they took them, along with other four or five patients, to be killed at Prey Sva pagoda. This pagoda was a large killing field where people of all age groups, male and female, were brought from other provinces and ruthlessly executed. Execution tools consisted of a long knife, a hoe, and a bamboo pole. There were 30 to 40 mass graves containing 20 to 30 bodies each. In around September 1978, as the pagoda was flooded, the bodies swelled, pushing up from under the shallow graves. Dogs tore and ate the rotten flesh.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Kampuchea
• Angkar
• Yuon
• Khmer
• Rouge
• S-21
• Touls
• Sleng

[jemmeteo]

so very very sad and hurt. men are really capable of doing the worst crimes.

[sonohkong]

some of those guys are still evil, they sounds really mean and evil.

[jessicalyna]

I used to watch this video when I went to visite Tourl Sleng and I went there 4 times.