Tuesday, 29 May 2012
By Bridget Di Certo
Phnom Penh Post
Khmer Rouge
leaders Pol Pot (from left), Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Vorn Vet
are seen in this undated file photo. Photograph: DC-CAM
Senior Khmer Rouge leader Son Sen’s younger brother took the stand at
the tribunal yesterday and delivered his insights into a regime governed
by secrecy and information control.
Ny Kan said he was not
completely certain what his brother’s role in the regime was, only
attesting that he was “leading the army for a while”.
“Secrecy
was so high, discipline was so firm – I had to be given tasks from other
people, I had no opportunity to choose them,” the now-adviser at the
Ministry of National Defence said yesterday.
Either loss of memory or loss of nerve dominated Ny Kan’s responses to prosecution questioning yesterday.
He needed to be reminded several times about an interview he gave to former BBC correspondent Philip Short for his biography Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare.
However,
when asked if he felt any trepidation in his testimony, Ny Kan said: “I
joined forces with the Cambodia People’s Party, so I do not feel
pressure anymore. I am operating more freely now.”
The
69-year-old said he joined the revolution movement in the 1960s because
he had the “necessary skills” – meaning he was literate.
As a
propaganda official during the time of Democratic Kampuchea, Ny Kan said
he moved around a lot and was tasked with making banners for the
evacuation of Phnom Penh in April 1975.
He described the situation as “very chaotic”.
“There
were a lot of people in Phnom Penh before it was liberated, and people
had to come out of their homes and flooded the roads,” he said of city
dwellers evacuating the city by foot.
The threat of aerial
bombardment – the Communist Party of Kampuchea’s stated motivation for
evacuating Phnom Penh – had everyone living in fear, Son Sen’s brother
said.
He recounted how Khmer Rouge forces had dug a network of
trenches and tunnels under six-metre-high anthills along the abandoned
railway between Phnom Penh and Battambang to try and protect themselves
from aerial attacks he said were the responsibility of either forces
loyal to Lon Nol or American B-52 bombers.
At this time, “all the
pagodas in the country” were destroyed by bombs from the B-52s and
monks flocked to join the revolutionary forces, he said.
After that, there were “no more pagodas where people could go and visit as religious believers”, he added.
Throughout proceedings, a still-recovering Ieng Sary remained in the holding cells beneath the courtroom.
Doctors last week said the former Khmer Rouge deputy prime minister’s heart condition is not expected to improve.
Ny Kan’s testimony continues today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment