Born Phon

VPA-KT0033

Born Phon

Male

43

Khmer

Khmer

Taream, Sbaeng, Kampong Svay, Kampong Thom

Farmer

Kabthlok Village, Damrei Slab Commune, Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province

1977

Srange pagoda, Tbaeng, Kampong Svay, Kampong Thom

Killing

In late 1977, I saw a male security police named Kan come to call upon my two uncles, Phoeun and Dim, and take them to be killed at Sra Nge pagoda. The security police said that Angkar had ordered them to attend a meeting in Taream pagoda. Additionally, my male friend, Neang, and five other people, including his mother and siblings, were taken away at 4 pm and killed in Sra Ngai pagoda. They were accused of being former Lon Nol civil servants. Korn, a security police in Tbeng commune, Kampong Svay district came to call them. He took them away for re-education.

I watched this incident take place up until these people were killed behind Srange pagoda. During the killings, his mother and his sister, Chha, insulted (the executioners), saying, “ You motherfucker, don’t kill my younger sibling first, kill me first."

“You motherfucker, don’t kill my children first, kill me first,� his mother insulted them. In response, an executioner named Iet shouted, “you will be killed later.� After witnessing the deaths of my friend and his family, six people in total, I went back home. Five or six days after the incident took place, I went to work in Boeng Andeng village, Tbeng commune. Upon my arrival home, at approximately five p.m., I saw three executioners — (1) Iet, (2) Sakk, and (3) Mieng — taking (walking away) approximately twenty five to thirty people to be killed in the rear of Srange pagoda, next to an oxcart road. The people killed were men, women, and children. They were killed with a bamboo stick and hoe. Those who witnessed the incident are (1) Chol, female, who lives in Taream village; (2) Lay Nam, female, who lives in Taream village; and (3) Yay Nam, female, who lives in Taream village. The victims were people deported from the east zone.

Family separation

In 1976, Ta Beng, a chief of Tariem village, and Ta Orm, a deputy chief of Raiem village, sent me to carry soil at the Ponnhachy construction site, located in Santok district. At this time, each person was assigned to carry three cubic meters of soil per day. If we could not finish this assigned task, we would have nothing to eat.

Three months later, they sent me back to work in Taream village to carry Deidambok, a kind of land. Each person was supposed to carry half a hectare of this land per day. Two months later, they sent me to do farming with people whose names I forget. Later on, they sent me to tend cattle at Trapeang Thma, where five people tended two hundred cattle. After being separated from my parents at the age of thirteen, I did not reunite with them until 1979. I think that being separated from one’s parents at a young age is an unjust act.
Forced labor
Between 1977 and 1978, [we] were forced to work extremely hard while carrying soil. Each person was ordered to carry three cubic meters of earth per day. If a person could not finish the assigned task, he would be ordered to continue working until midnight. At this time, Kung and Leng, a female commune chief, supervised people working there.

Three months after building a dam, we were ordered to dig Deidambok (a kind of land) and carry it to put in the paddy field. Each person had to complete work on half a hectare of soil per day. At the time, He, male, and Thiev, female, were the chiefs who supervised all of the assigned tasks in this place. Two months later, they sent us to do farming in villages.

Working in the villages, each person was assigned to transplant one hundred and fifty or two hundred rice seedlings per day. At this time, my unit chief was Sen, female. Laing, also female, was a deputy chief. In an attempt to kill people without beating them (using sticks and hoes), I think they forced us to work hard until we died.

Starvation

From 1977 to 1978, Angkar ordered me to work extremely hard and did not give us enough to eat. As only one can of rice was served for ten people, we had to find other edible material, such as tree leaves, morning glory, manioc, papaya base, Phlomorn tree, Kam Pha-av, a part of edible tree, Kam coconut, a part of edible tree, and Tramoung tree [a kind of tree leaf] to satiate our hunger. People became exhausted, fell ill, and died on a daily basis from starvation and overwork. [When people died from these causes], the Khmer Rouge did not need to kill people with their own hands.

Religious persecution

In late 1979, I saw the destruction of the Bakang, Tbeng, Srangai, Sankor, Peamtry, and Svay Prey pagodas with my own eyes. At this time, people in black uniforms used big hammers to destroy the Buddha statue in the pagoda. During the destruction, I noticed that there were no monks left inside the pagoda. After destroying the statue, the people in black uniforms used string to tie up the statue, which they then placed in the pond.

Later on, some pagodas, such as the Bakang and Tbeng pagodas, were made into rice grand halls, whereas Srange pagoda was transformed into prison. They did these things because they wanted to eliminate the Buddhist religion.

Witness

No;

Road

No;

20080326

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