Tei Moeuk

VPA-KT0137

Tei Moeuk

Male

Khmer

Khmer

Trach Chrum Village, Sam Proch Commune, Stong District, Kampong Thom Province

1937

Farmer

Trach Chrum Village, Sam Proch Commune, Stung District, Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia

1976

High school (currently Raksmei Saophoan High School), Stong District, Kampong Thom Province

Execution:

Four of my six siblings died:

- Tei Phoeun, my first elder brother, died from starvation in 1975. The cooperative chief was Lo (who came from O Ramchek). My oldest brother was starved because he had a fever and was unable to work , so the cooperative starved him to death. I was present to see him and bury his body.
- Tei Prin, my second elder brother, contracted malaria while he was chopping down trees in the forest in 1975. Lo ordered him to chop down the trees. After returning from the forest, my brother contracted malaria. I buried his body to the north of Pou Pagoda. In 1979, I dug up his body and held a religious ceremony for him.
- Tei Khin, my third elder sister, died as a result of a miscarriage, and I buried her body at Sauphy construction site. Kha, the chief of the construction site at Sauphy Dam, overworked her until she suffered a miscarriage in 1976.
- Tei Thean, my fourth elder sister, died from food poisoning after eating toad’s gall bladder at Sauphy construction site. This incident took place in 1976. Thean was starved and that is why she ate toad and was poisoned to death.

I saw four to ten people leaving Kok Snay Village to go to the fields and grow potatoes. Instead of being taken to grow potatoes, they were taken to a high school (now known as Raksmey Sohoan High School). Their hands were tied behind their backs and they were marched toward the high school. An elderly woman named Say (an evacuee from Phnom Penh) was among the group of people whom I saw being taken to be executed. This incident took place in 1976. Because the elderly woman named Say had taken gold from my wife, Bun Yen, I recognized the clothing she was wearing. The following morning, a person named Kha brought Say’s shirt to my wife and gave it to her as a gift. Say never returned.

Forced labor:

I carried earth from dawn to dusk, working on the construction of Sauphy Dam, whose height was as tall as the top of a sugar palm tree. I was allowed to rest for only an hour. Poeu No, who in charge of the economic section, ordered me to pick up tree bases, whose size was as big as an oxcart wheel, and pull them out of the water. Pet, who worked in the commerce section, stated that one person did not have the strength to do this task, but Poeu No scornfully said, “If you cannot pull them up, you will be taken to be executed.�

When I could not lift the logs, Pet reported that I could not lift them up because I was working alone and they were too heavy. In 1976, when I returned home, Ran, the cooperative chief, put me to work driving the oxcart. I did not want to do this task, but it was ordered by the cooperative. If I did not work, I would have been starved and taken to be executed. I transported firewood from Trach Chrum village to Kok Svay Village twice per day.

During the rainy season, I had to row the boat from Tonle Sap, a distance of ten kilometers. My colleagues were Rith Kung, Him Khean (deceased) and Long Lanhh. For two nights, two boats had to carry firewood to the cooperative. When the water level receded, Ran provided carts to transport the firewood from Trach Chrum to Kok Svay Village, where the firewood was used for making sugar from sugar palm trees.

Complainant

No;

Road

No;

20080319

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