Chou Taing

VPA-KR0004

Chou Taing

Male

66

Khmer

Mil

Chang Hap village, Kbal Damrei commune, Sambo district, Kratie province

Farmer

Chang Hap village, Kbal Damrei commune, Sambo district, Kratie province

1977

Chang Hap village, Kbal Damrei commune, Sambo disrict, Kratie province

Additional information collected on April 06, 2010

Arrest and imprisonment of my father-in-law, Neang Ham, in Kduoch Prison

In mid-1976, two communal combatants (whose names I forget) called upon my father-in-law, Neang Ham, to work at a commune. That evening, my wife, Neang Hout, and I witnessed the incident, because we were all present together at home. The following morning, following their order, he left without even saying a word. When he arrived at the communal hall, I noticed that he was held at gunpoint and escorted away. At that time, I did not know where he was taken.

Next, I learned that he was taken to Kduoch Prison, because one relative named Uncle Yan (deceased) informed me that he saw my father-in-law being sent to Kduoch Prison. He learned this information because he did farming nearby.

Upon working in Sambo, I ran into Uncle Yan, and he informed me that my father-in-law had been taken to Kdouch Prison half a month ago. I thought that my father-in-law was arrested because he confronted [the Khmer Rouge] about communal eating and collective property. Unsatisfied, he stood up and confronted the policies of [the Khmer Rouge]. A chief of Kbal Damrei Commune (whom I do not know), stated that my father-in-law had a tendency toward private ownership. This was the reason why my father was captured and imprisoned.

It was fortunate that he was released two years later. Between 1976 and 1978, though we knew that my father was detained in Kduoch Prison, my family and I never went to visit him, because we could not go anywhere freely and had to ask permission from the Khmer Rouge to visit him. At the beginning, I thought he must have been dead, because when someone was taken away, it usually meant they were dead.

Under the Khmer Rouge regime, we lived in Chang Hap Village, Kbal Damrei Commune, Sambo District, Kratie Province. The village chief was Ta Thang (deceased), and the commune chief was Chhan (deceased). After my father-in-law returned, he lived with our family. Afterward, he informed me that at the beginning of his detention, he was interrogated and tortured. They asked him about his network and why he dared to confront them about collective property and communal eating. In response, he stated that he had no network. My father said that for the first three or four months, he was beaten every two or three days. After they stopped torturing him, they put him to work doing heavy tasks such as building rice dikes, uprooting trees, etc. He said that sometimes they kicked him and beat him with a barrel during the interrogation. He did not know the security police or persons in charge of the torturing unit or the prison at Kduoch, nor did he tell me their names.

He mentioned that serious offenders would be shot dead or killed after the interrogation. In the prison, inmates were shackled at night. Light offenders, like him, were shackled on one leg only. Serious offenders were shackled on both legs. The prison was not made of wood or cement. They used only bamboo to build it. He stated that prisoners were kept in many places, based on the degree of their offense.

He had many assigned tasks and little food to eat. He went to work with nothing inside his stomach, from six a.m. to twelve p.m., before he was given a bowl of rice soup. Then [he] went back to work, from twelve p.m. to five p.m., before receiving another bowl of rice soup to eat. At night, [he] had to work from seven p.m. to nine p.m. without receiving any extra food. He asserted that those who escaped from the prison would be dead immediately after being caught. After he tried to re-educate himself and work very hard, they released him.

In late 1977, district Khmer Rouge soldiers captured my niece, Chou Koeun, and took her away. She has disappeared since and never returned. Soldiers from other far district came to capture her -- not from Sambo district.

Civil Party

No;

Hospital

No;

20081128

© DC-Cam