Tribunal Witness Describes ‘Reeducation’ of Medical Students

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

28 August 2012

PHNOM PENH - Top Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan ordered lower cadre to be “faithful” to the Communist Party of Kampuchea and to purge its internal enemies, a witness told the UN-backed tribunal Monday.

Tuol Sleng, the Khmer Rouge's infamous detention and torture center in Phnom Penh, one of several Khmer Rouge strongholds under the authority of Kang Kek Iev. (AP Photo/Andy Eames)

Em Oeun told the court the three leaders held political training and re-education of medical students, of which he was one, and “destroyed” those who did not follow.

Nuon Chea, the regime’s ideologue, and Khieu Samphan, its nominal head of state, are on trial for atrocity crimes, alongside Ieng Sary, its foreign minister.

Em Oeun, 61, a former medical student of the regime, said Monday that Nuoin Chea told students they should follow the regime’s doctrine. “If we did not follow the party, we would be responsible for what we had done,” he told the court.

Nuon Chea cited examples of internal “enemies,” and recommended people not follow them. They were, Em Oeun said, “destroyed.”

Khieu Samphan encouraged low-level cadre to unmask enemies of the regime by giving them hard labor.

ប្រភពពី VOA