Thursday, 07 June 2012
By Bridget Di Certo
Phnom Penh Post
Former district secretary Sao Sarun was the only person of his rank
from Sector 105 to escape the Democratic Kampuchea regime without being
arrested, killed or “disappeared,” prosecutors told the Khmer Rouge
tribunal yesterday.
Witness Sao Sarun provided compelling
testimony about the implementation of Khmer Rouge leaders’ efforts to
take Cambodia back to “Year Zero”, a policy that entailed communal
eating, forced marriage, frequent arrests and “self-criticism” meetings.
“After the liberation [of Phnom Penh], I was asked to attend a meeting to understand the political situation,” Sao Sarun said.
“They
talked about the closing of the market, and that in the future, the
markets would be re-opened,” he said, adding that topics including the
building of canals and dam irrigation systems, and the prospect of
forced marriages, were canvassed.
Sao Sarun indicated in his
testimony that in his home province of Mondulkiri, the practice of
religion was not prohibited, just reduced.
He added that
Buddhists had already seen all of their pagodas – and most of the houses
– levelled by aerial bombardments in the early ’70s.
For ethnic
animists, practice of religion was tempered as they were instructed to
be “economical” about sacrificing animals, because they should
concentrate their efforts on farming, the 80-year-old witness said.
When
questioned on the persecution of ethnic minority groups such as Chams,
Sao Sarun was light on detail, but recalled: “I heard people talking
about those Vietnamese [who] were loaded into trucks and sent back to
their country.”
The indictment against co-accused Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary states that in the late 1970s, Sector 105 was extensively purged.
Sao
Sarun’s narrative of events leading to his promotion to sector
secretary at a meeting with Pol Pot, Son Sen and Nuon Chea in late 1978
was populated with tales of executions conducted via beatings or
gunshots, as well as suicides.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
No comments:
Post a Comment