Witness says Khmer Rouge killed Vietnamese in Cambodia

Phnom Penh (VNA) – A witness told the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on January 6, that the Khmer Rouge killed Vietnamese people in Cambodia’s Prey Veng province.

Theng Phon, one of 10 witnesses, was called to the court to give testimony concerning the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge against Vietnamese people living under its reign.

At the testimony session, Theng Phon said the Khmer Rouge raged through each family having a Vietnamese husband or wife, with the intent to arrest and kill.

According to the witness, if the father was Vietnamese and the mother was Khmer - then the Khmer Rouge just arrested the father and released the mother and the children.

However, if vice versa, the Khmer Rouge would arrest the mother and kill the child. That the possible reason for this was, that the Khmer Rouge supposed a Vietnamese-born child carried the blood of Vietnam .

A spokesperson said the ECCC has continued to question other witnesses on January 8, to have more information about the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge to the Cham community.

In 2015, the ECCC has investigated and accused five former Khmer Rouge officials of crimes against humanity, or breaching international conventions on human rights. They are Xu Meng, who died in 2012, Ao An, Yim Tith, Meas Muth and Im Chaem.

The ECCC gave a life sentence to ‘Dutch’, the former director of Toul Sleng (a Khmer Rouge prison notorious for torture and mass executions) in Phnom Penh , for crimes against humanity and genocide in 2010. It also handed down life sentences to Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, for crimes against humanity in 2014.

The court, which was endorsed by the United Nations, was established in 2006 with the aim of getting justice for victims of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.-VNA