Neou Ly

VPA-KT0044

Neou Ly

Male

53

Khmer

Khmer

Tuol Thnot village, Peuk commune, Cheung Prey district, Kandal province

1955

Farmer

Slengkhlos village, Sann Kor commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province

1976

Sophy village, Preah Damrei commune, Stung district, Kampong Thom province

Malnutrition and overwork

From 1976 to 1978, Cheng, a mobile work brigade chief, sent me to carry soil, transplant and pull out rice seedlings, and carry earth to build both the 30 September dam, located in Sophy village, Preah Damrei commune, and the 5 January dam, located in Tbaung Krapae village, Tbaung Krapae commune. I saw thousands of people who had come from Kampong Svay, Sandan, and Santuk districts working together there. Every day, particularly in the dry season, Chakk, a chief of Krasaing commune, and Meas, a district chief, ordered Sun, a cooperative chief, to give orders to Cheng, a mobile work brigade chief, to summon all the people to build the dam.

Everyone was ordered to use their respective (individual) earth moving buckets and to make sure that the buckets did not disappear. At four a.m., Preng, a unit chief, blew the whistle and if anyone came late, Preng would pull him or her down to the ground. We then worked until twelve p.m. before receiving a ladle of gruel with only a little Prakhok soup. After a short break, we went to back to work from one p.m. to five pm. After eating dinner, we then went back to work until ten p.m.

In 1977, at the 30 September dam in Sauphy village (Sauphy dam), I recall that Meas, a district chief, ordered a mobile work brigade to build a strong foundation site. While digging the ground, however, approximately ten people died in a pit, nine to ten in depth. It took a whole day to dig up the bodies that had been buried by the collapse of the foundation. The majority of people who worked in this place died from malnutrition and illness. Some were later sent to other areas and also died.

In late 1977, my 60-year-old mother, Sou Nuon, died as a result of starvation and not having a caretaker to look after her. This incident occurred because Pom, a cooperative chief, did not allow me to visit my mother or even bury her. At this point, during an attempt to ask a chief of a mobile work brigade for permission to visit and bury my mother, he said, “You are not a special person who can make the dead become alive. Just focus on your work!� I dared not confront him, because I felt that this would make me seem too unreasonable: a notorious person. I was willing to continue working.
From my viewpoint, it was not easy for the Khmer Rouge to kill everyone and this is why they forced people to overwork and starve from malnutrition: so that people would die. As it (Democratic Kampuchea) was a communist society, they let Khmer people die and would take people from China instead.
In 1977, while building the 5 January dam, located in Ponnheachy village and Tbaungkrapae village, Tbaungkrapae commune, I witnessed two to three cars containing Ta Mok and approximately four to five members of a Chinese delegation driving up to visit the dam site. I do not know who was in charge of the dam, but I was aware that Cheng, a mobile work brigade chief, and Sun, a cooperative chief, were the most brutal people in terms of mistreating people in Ponnheachy. One day, while plowing the rice field, buffaloes got free of the cart and I could not plough for one evening. The cooperative chief then starved me. I became frustrated with him. At the time, I wondered where all the rice in the rice grange was being taken and why people were starving.

Torture

Between 1976 and 1977, I witnessed a person named Heu, who worked in the mobile work brigade, sneaking away to steal salt. A moment later, Cheng, a cooperative chief, severely beat him with a stick. Heu shouted in pain and was then starved. No one dared help him. Even I, who was there at the time, dared not watch the incident because I was afraid that Cheng would beat me as well. After beating Heu, Cheng buried him, but only from his waist down. Heu was buried in the stove abyss and the Khmer Rouge placed a pan used to cook sugar palm gruel on him for almost two to three hours before releasing him; Heu was about to stop breathing and die. Heu was then warned not to steal anything again. If he stole something one more time, they would not keep him. This incident took place at Tralamtrakk construction site, Prasat village, Sann Kor commune.

Killing which was fortunately stopped by a security center chief

Ta Chheng, a villager in my village, told me that he had been taken to be killed at Chamka Andaung by unknown Khmer Rouge security police. I learned of this incident after the Vietnamese troops came in 1970, when Ta Chheng returned to his home village. Ta Chheang has since passed away due to an illness. His descriptions of being taken to be killed follow below. In 1978, Ta Chheang lived in Kampong Thom province. The Khmer Rouge evacuated him to a place where new people were being taken to be killed by Khmer Rouge guards. This place was located in Chamkar Andaung, a rubber plantation area in Kampong Cham province. The new people, including children, men, and women, were taken from areas controlled by the enemy: Kampong Thom provincial town and Phnom Penh.

There were approximately eighty people loaded onto two trucks and taken to be killed. The first truck had already taken people to be killed, including Ta Chheang’s daughter. When the second truck arrived in front of the well, the prisoners were tied up with a string and taken to be killed. When there were only two people left to be killed, the security chief came to order the release of Ta Chheang, whereas the rest were all executed. Ta Chheang did not recognize this chief, though the chief had probably known him or been his subordinate transplanting rice seedlings during Lon Nol regime. This was the luckiest moment in his entire life.

Complainant

No;

Road

No;

© DC-Cam