Hean Teng

VPA-KT0069

Hean Teng

Male

55

Khmer

Khmer

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

19550418

shepherd

Krasaing Ka village, Sann Kor commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province, Cambodia

1975

Phum Sre pagoda, Sre village, Sala Visai commune, Kampong Svay district, Kampong Thom province

Prisoner of war:

When the Khmer Rouge liberated Phnom Penh in 1975, I was part of the Patyong group (a group which belonged to a division consisting of 336 Lon Nol soldiers), which was evacuated and divided into small groups in Salavisay region. After spending three days there, I was sent to Sre Phum Pagoda, located in Sre Village, Salavisay Commune, Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province. Living in Phum Sre Village was like living in prison; however, we were not tortured. There were approximately seventy people consisting of men, women, children, and soldiers ranking from captain down to corporal sergeant. The cooperative chief (whose name I do not remember) ordered me to dig the earth and grow crops, including grass potatoes and rice, depending on the given assignment. From my experience, the insufficient ration was the most difficult thing we endured. However, I had no right to speak up about anything.

Regarding the lack of food, a spoonful of rice served for two people was mixed with tree leaves and a spoonful of Kruos [big pieces of salt] to serve for twelve people. Those big pieces of salt were broken into small pieces. By doing so, the cooperative chief intended to kill us, because lots of people in the division group had died. This was because we were Lon Nol soldiers and we were classisfied as new people, or depositees (because we had been “deposited� from the city into the countryside).

I became aware of an unbelievable incident in which many people were killed in a pit. The pit contained approximately thirty to forty bodies of people who had been killed in just two or three days, along with a number of people who had been killed in the previous few days. I saw a big stick, smooth square heartwood of a tree, leaning on a big Phdiek tree and waiting to be used to kill people. I witnessed people being killed in this pit as I was walking to pick up peacock mushrooms to mix with gruel to eat at Prey Thom, located east of Phum Srae Pagoda, approximately two kilometers from Salavisay Commune

In particular, people who stayed in Phum Srae Pagoda lived like animals. Their bodies looked like Bret, [evil spirits], because they were distorted due to a lack of nutrition. Their oversized knees and heads were predominant, and only skin covered their emaciated bodies. Twice a week, the security people in the village informed two or three prisoners of war to take a bath and prepare their belongings for re-education. During the re-education meeting, two or three security people informed the prisoners of war that if they revealed their former rank and weapons they had held, they would be returned to their post. However, the truth was that those people were taken to be executed. After this tense situation, I decided to defect. From my knowledge, there were, at the beginning, seventy people living in the pagoda.

After approximately two or three months had passed, there were only five people left living in Phum Srae Pagoda aside from my friends, relatives, and me (seven in total). I knew that if I did not escape, my group would be taken to be executed by the Khmer Rouge security police. Seventy people had died from malnutrition and disease, but primarily from execution. At that time, my status was a prisoner of war.

When I defected in late 1976, Im (deceased), chief of the communal dining hall, put me to work fishing using a large fishing net at Tonle Sap lake. At one point in 1977, Peng, chief of the work unit, who lived in Stong District , assigned me to dive down twelve meters into Tonle Sap lake, using the large fishing net to catch fish. As a consequence, my right ear is deaf to this day. I knew that the chiefs made me work like that because they wanted me to die.

In late 1977, the Khmer Rouge security guards arrested a woman, half-Vietnamese, at O Thma region, next to the small river Stung Sen (currently Boeng Thom Village). Comrade Lai, the security chief, ordered me to take this woman to Brasat Pagoda for execution. I knew that those security people took her and killed her, but I dared not help. If this woman had escaped, I would be dead as well. I took the woman from O Thma to Brasat Pagoda. Her hands were tied behind her back, and she was accompanied by her one-year-old child. When we neared Brasat Pagoda, two security men took them away and I went to take a rest. About ten minutes later, while I was going to ask if I could take a rest in the house of some village people, I saw the two security men rape the woman next to Brasat Pagoda, called Chuon Ta O . I overheard the woman shout, “Do not rape me! If you want to kill me, kill me!� The incident took place at eight p.m. but, because of the bright moon, I could see and hear the woman clearly. Witnessing the incident, I rushed to hide, since I was fearful of being killed. I knew that the half-Vietnamese woman was executed by the security men because they accused her of being a C.I.A or KGB agent. Those two security men were Comrade Lai and Comrade

Complainant

No;

Depend on the judges

No;

20080324

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