Hut Hort

VPA-KT0065

Hut Hort

Male

Khmer

Khmer

Krasaing Kha village, San Kor commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province

19480501

Village chief

Krasaing Kha village, San Kor commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province, Cambodia

1976

Krasaing Kha village, Sankor commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province

Overwork:

In approximately 1976, I was sent to carry earth at the 30 September Dam in Vor Yeav Village, Damrei Slap Commune, Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province. I carried three cubic meters of earth and walked fifty or sixty meters up to the dam. Tren sent me to carry the earth. They told me to help build the dam to store water for farming. There was not enough food to eat. There was only watery rice soup. When I completed my assigned task, I was forced to carry more. My cousin, Pheng Rong, who lived in Trapeang Kha Village, used to work with me.

Malnutrition:

When Phnom Penh was liberated in 1975, I lived in Kampong Thom provincial town. I was deported to Krasaing Kha Village (in the forest), Sann Kor Commune, Kampong Svay District. After living in the village for a week, I ran out of food. In order to survive, I ate gruel mixed with banana and morning glory. I tried to find food to feed myself.

Until early 1976, I had been evacuated to Krasaing Kha Village. There I lived in a cooperative, eating collectively. The cooperative chief was Tren. They gave one can of rice to six people, which was not enough to eat. Approximately one or two months later, peoples’ bodies began to swell due to a lack of nutrition. I contracted malaria and my body swelled. At that time, there was no medicine. I did seek traditional medicine, tree root, to cure myself. Then I found a traditional doctor (literally called a doctor who burned flesh) and recovered from malaria. Regarding insufficient food rations, I think the regime sent rice product from my village to other regions which did not have enough rice. During meetings, village people were urged to sustain themselves on the small amount of rice which was made available. Tren, the cooperative chief, presided over the meetings. Generally, food supplies were insufficient everywhere.


Witnessing prisoners being detained:

In approximately late 1975, I went to take a look inside one security center, which used to be a villager’s house, in Krasaing Kha Village. One of the security guards was Lonh Sen. Upon meeting one security guard, I glanced inside and saw three prisoners in chains. I do not know for what reason those people were detained. In late 1975, my uncle, Prakk Din, was detained there, and his nephew, Lonh Sen, was a guard at that security center. My uncle was arrested because he killed and ate a cow which he owned. During that time, we could not eat a cow which we owned because all food was collective. He was detained there for a while, and later he was released. About three or four months later, he died from malnutrition.

Complainant

No;

Hospital

No;

20080324

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