The Cambodian Genocide

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedNo fewer than 12,273 people were detained at S-21, and no fewer than 12,272 were executed.

   Rests on documents from: Testimony of the accused; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

   The count is the tribunal's revised list, built by the Co-Prosecutors from lists DC-Cam compiled out of S-21's own prisoner registers and execution logs, and the accused put his own figure at more than 12,300 killed. The registers are the perpetrators' record read through the court, and the court itself says certain entries carry minimal information; a floor carried by the prison's own books and its commandant's admission is not an independent count, so the verdict is capped at qualified.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)¶ 141Exhibit 3

      141. The Revised S-21 Prisoner List indicates that no fewer than 12,273 individuals were detained at S-21.239 This list is a revision of an earlier list relied upon in the Amended Closing Order which indicated that no fewer than 12,380 individuals were detained at S- 21.240 The Revised S-21 Prisoner List contains 5,994 entries as men, 1,698 as women and 89 as children.241 5,609 entries are members of the RAK and 4,371 are DK cadres, while 1,751 are neither members of RAK nor DK cadres.242 Furthermore, it describes 876 entries as relatives of somebody else;243 328 as soldiers in the Khmer Republic Army (“KRA”);244 279 as either teachers, professors, students, doctors, lawyers or engineers;245 345 as Vietnamese, of whom 122 are described as Vietnamese soldiers, 144 as Vietnamese spies while for the remaining 79, who were presumably civilians, no description is provided.246 Finally, it also contains 155 entries for former S-21 Staff and 590 for individuals arrested from S-24.247 Certain of the entries on the Revised S-21 Prisoner List contain minimal information.248

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)n. 240

      240 See Amended Closing Order, paras 107, 140; “S-21 Prisoner List (1975-1978)”, E3/38 Annex A. This list was a collation by the Office of the Co-Prosecutors of previous lists compiled by DC-Cam based on the original prisoner lists and execution logs of S-21. The Combined S-21 Prisoner List contained 107 entries which appeared to be duplicate entries and were thus removed by the Office of the Co-Prosecutors from the Revised Prisoner List. See “Co-Prosecutors' Rule 92 Motion to disclose analysis of the revised S-21 Prisoner List”, E68, 19 May 2009, paras 3-4.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)¶ 597

      597. The Chamber has found the Accused criminally responsible for crimes of a particularly shocking and heinous character. As Deputy and then Chairman of S-21, the Accused managed and refined a system over the course of more than three years that resulted in the execution of no fewer than 12,272 victims, the majority of whom were also systematically tortured. Victims who were not executed died as a result of the conditions of detention, which led to widespread disease, malnourishment and physical and psychological pain, as well as extreme fear. The Accused worked tirelessly to ensure that S-21 ran as efficiently as possible and did so out of unquestioning loyalty to his superiors and CPK ideology, without regard to the humanity of the detainees he oversaw. Under his tutelage, S-21 became a highly efficient instrument of persecution in furtherance of a politically-motivated policy of discrimination.

   4. Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, statements before the Trial Chamber and the Supreme Court Chamber, compiled by the ECCC, Compilation of statements of apology made by Kaing Guek... (2012)p. 7

      [p. 67 Lines 2-9]7 In conclusion, if you look at the photo of me taken in those days when I was training cadres, it seems like I was quite a person with my heightened class consciousness, but as I look at it carefully now, I find the photo shameful. It is shocking and upsetting to see that picture of me, I who killed more than 12,300 people. I am accountable for all the crimes committed at S-21. At the same time, as a member of the Party, I am appalled by the fact that more than 1 million Cambodians lost their lives. I am morally responsible for the loss of more than one million lives, now and forever.

2. QualifiedThe crime of genocide was committed against the Cham and against the Vietnamese.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The finding is the court's, entered in Khmer and English in 2018; the United Nations' experts had found in 1999 that the two groups qualify as protected groups and that intent had support in the evidence, and asked a tribunal to investigate. Two producers, but the second asked the question the first answered, so the verdict is qualified rather than supported.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 30

      30. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, persecution on political and religious grounds, and the other inhumane acts through conduct characterised as forced transfer were committed with respect to the Cham.

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 34

      34. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, deportation and persecution on racial grounds were committed regarding the Vietnamese. In addition, recalling the existence of the ongoing international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975 and the protected status of the victims, the Chamber finds that several grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions were also perpetrated against this group at S-21 Security Centre, including wilful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wilful deprivation of the rights of a fair and regular trial and unlawful confinement.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 3993

      3993. Having established that a CPK policy to destroy the Cham population existed from 1977,13253 the Chamber finds that the CPK policy targeting the Cham had as its primary objective their physical destruction as an ethnic and religious group, as such. The Chamber is satisfied that the treatment of the Cham demonstrates the CPK’s objective of establishing an atheistic and homogenous society without class divisions and, in so doing, the Party’s intent to abolish all national, religious, class and cultural differences. The Chamber is further satisfied that this objective was implemented through the CPK’s policy to identify, arrest, isolate and “smash” enemies,13254 and was therefore in furtherance of the common purpose of rapidly implementing socialist revolution through a “great leap forward” in order to, among other things, defend the country against enemies and radically transform the population into an atheistic and homogenous Khmer society. The Chamber accordingly finds that the crime of genocide

   4. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 63

      63. In the view of the Group of Experts, the existing historical research justifies including genocide within the jurisdiction of a tribunal to prosecute Khmer Rouge leaders. In particular, evidence suggests the need for prosecutors to investigate the commission of genocide against the Cham, Vietnamese and other minority groups, and the Buddhist monkhood.11 The Khmer Rouge subjected these groups to an especially harsh and extensive measure of the acts enumerated in the Convention. The requisite intent has support in direct and indirect evidence, including Khmer Rouge statements, eyewitness accounts and the nature and number of victims in each group, both in absolute terms and in proportion to each group’s total population.12 These groups qualify as protected groups under the Convention: the Muslim Cham as an ethnic and religious group; the Vietnamese communities as an ethnic and, perhaps, a racial group; and the Buddhist monkhood as a religious group.

3. SupportedEstimates of the dead range from 600,000 to 3 million, and experts accept 1.5 to 2 million as the most accurate.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The tribunal's own survey lists every estimate from 740,800 to the 2 to 3 million used by governments; the United Nations' experts, a second producer, put the scholars' figures at 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million, about 20 per cent of a population of 7.3 to 7.9 million, and record that historians reject 2 to 3 million. The experts' figures sit inside the tribunal's band and their rejection matches its edge.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 174

      never been identified and that many who died were never buried.522 Overall, estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 3 million died as a result of Khmer Rouge policies and actions. Within this range, experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and 2 million excess deaths as the most accurate.523

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...n. 523

      523 T. 25 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 9-12 (the consensus is that between 1.5 and 3 million people died under the Khmer Rouge); T. 10 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD), pp. 75-76 (in 1986, PONCHAUD estimated that 800,000 people were killed during the DK regime, CIA were estimating that 1.4 million people were killed and other embassies were estimating that 1 million people were killed); Article by P. HEUVELINE: The Unbearable Certainty of Numbers: Estimating the Death Toll of the Khmer Rouge Period, E3/1798, Nov-Dec 1998, p. 10, ERN (En) 00291624 (After reviewing various estimates, determining that the central interval, 1.5 to 2.5 million excess deaths, is most probable); Article by P. HEUVELINE: ‘Between One and Three Million’: Towards the Demographic Reconstruction of a Decade of Cambodian History (1970-79), E3/1799, 1998, p. 60, ERN (En) 00096735 (Heuveline estimates that there were 1.5 to 2 million excess deaths in 1975-1978, and states that, in his reconstruction, at least 600,000, and possibly as many as 2 million, deaths, cannot be accounted for by either a general decline in life expectancy or by the mortality due to the war prior to 1975); Article by B. SHARP: Counting Hell, E3/1801, undated, p. 24, ERN (En) 00078288 (After reviewing other experts’ figures, SHARP identifies a range of 1.747 million to 2.459 million deaths due to Khmer Rouge policies and actions; SHARP considers the midpoint of the range being 2.12 million “falls fairly close to the most likely figure”); Book by M. VICKERY: Cambodia 1975-1982, E3/1757, 1984, pp. 200-201, ERN (En) 00397115-16 (M. VICKERY estimated that 740,800 deaths were caused by the special conditions during the DK. He estimated that more than half were caused by hunger, exhaustion and illness and about 300,000 people were executed. He suggested that more accurate estimates were impossible and that it was impossible to project a figure of 1-2 million executions based on the data available in 1984); Demographic Expert Report: Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, April 1975-January 1979: A Critical Assessment of Major Estimates, E3/2413, 30 September 2009, pp. 15-19, 64-70, ERN (En) 00385258-62, 00385326-32 (Excess death estimates published between 1980 and 1993 consistently approach one million, except VICKERY who suggested 740,000. Later estimates made between 1995 and 2009 range from 1.4 million to 2.2 million. After reviewing all these estimates, the authors accepted that the interval of 1.747 to 2.2 million deaths under the Khmer Rouge is the most likely range and determined that earlier estimates heavily underestimated the scale of actual killing by the Khmer Rouge).

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe Khmer Rouge subjected the Cham, the Vietnamese and the Buddhist monkhood to the acts in the Convention with intent, so a tribunal should investigate genocide against them.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The tribunal, a second producer, found genocide against the Cham and the Vietnamese and found that the party targeted the Cham as an ethnic and religious group throughout the period. On the monkhood the held extracts are silent, so the third group in the experts' list is not carried by the artifacts, and the verdict is qualified.

   The 5 extracts it rests on

   1. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 63

      63. In the view of the Group of Experts, the existing historical research justifies including genocide within the jurisdiction of a tribunal to prosecute Khmer Rouge leaders. In particular, evidence suggests the need for prosecutors to investigate the commission of genocide against the Cham, Vietnamese and other minority groups, and the Buddhist monkhood.11 The Khmer Rouge subjected these groups to an especially harsh and extensive measure of the acts enumerated in the Convention. The requisite intent has support in direct and indirect evidence, including Khmer Rouge statements, eyewitness accounts and the nature and number of victims in each group, both in absolute terms and in proportion to each group’s total population.12 These groups qualify as protected groups under the Convention: the Muslim Cham as an ethnic and religious group; the Vietnamese communities as an ethnic and, perhaps, a racial group; and the Buddhist monkhood as a religious group.

   2. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 64

      64. Specifically, in the case of the Buddhist monkhood, their intent is evidenced by the Khmer Rouge’s intensely hostile statements towards religion, and the monkhood in particular; the Khmer Rouge’s policies to eradicate the physical and ritualistic aspects of the Buddhist religion; the disrobing of monks and abolition of the monkhood; the number of victims; and the executions of Buddhist leaders and recalcitrant monks. Likewise, in addition to the number of victims, the intent to destroy the Cham and other ethnic minorities appears evidenced by such Khmer Rouge actions as their announced policy of homogenization, the total prohibition of these groups’ distinctive cultural traits, their dispersal among the general population and the execution of their leadership.13

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 30

      30. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, persecution on political and religious grounds, and the other inhumane acts through conduct characterised as forced transfer were committed with respect to the Cham.

   4. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 34

      34. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, deportation and persecution on racial grounds were committed regarding the Vietnamese. In addition, recalling the existence of the ongoing international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975 and the protected status of the victims, the Chamber finds that several grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions were also perpetrated against this group at S-21 Security Centre, including wilful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wilful deprivation of the rights of a fair and regular trial and unlawful confinement.

   5. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 3228

      3228. The Chamber finds that the CPK, in the effort to establish an atheistic and homogenous society without class divisions,10887 targeted the Cham as an ethnic and religious distinct group throughout the DK period. This policy evolved over time and was characterised by an escalation of the means used to implement such policy. In the early years of the DK period, the CPK, in an initial attempt to assimilate them, specifically targeted the Cham by restricting their cultural and religious practices.10888 When the Cham resisted abandoning their ethnic and religious identity, “rebellions” were brutally suppressed, leaders of the rebellions were executed and Cham communities dispersed.10889 A final shift occurred between 1977 and 1978, when purges of all Cham were ordered.10890 This coincided with the escalation of the conflict with Vietnam when the need to preserve the Khmer race and to protect Cambodian population from all enemies was considered as a top priority. The Chamber will now turn to the implementation of this policy.

2. QualifiedThe dead were approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million, and the 2 to 3 million figure is rejected by historians.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The tribunal accepts 1.5 to 2 million as most probable, a band whose lower end is the experts' 20 per cent and whose upper end is above it, and whose stated ceiling still reaches 3 million; two producers agree on the floor and on the implausibility of 3 million as a count, and differ on how far above 1.7 million the truth may lie.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 174

      never been identified and that many who died were never buried.522 Overall, estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 3 million died as a result of Khmer Rouge policies and actions. Within this range, experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and 2 million excess deaths as the most accurate.523

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 297

      297. By 2008, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (“DC-Cam”) had identified an estimated 1.3 million human remains in 390 mass grave sites spread throughout Cambodia.801 Numerous estimates of the casualties that occurred as a result of the CPK’s policies and actions have been made. They range from 600,000 to three million. Experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and two million excess deaths as the most probable.802 The Chamber recalls, however, its finding that the absence of relevant and reliable statistical data for the purposes of assessing a precise number of deaths attributable to the CPK leads to inherent uncertainty surrounding the use of demographic evidence.803 The Chamber notes in this regard that there are substantial

3. QualifiedBy 1977 Cambodia had escalated a low-intensity border war into raids that massacred hundreds of Vietnamese in border villages.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; United Nations Security Council; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The tribunal dates an international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975, and Vietnam's own delegate told the Council the border war was started by Phnom Penh; both agree there was a war and that it did not begin in Hanoi. Neither artifact counts the dead in the border villages, so the massacres rest on the experts alone.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 37

      37. From 1975 to 1977, Democratic Kampuchea and Viet Nam engaged in a low- intensity border war. By 1977, Cambodia had escalated the conflict to include raids in which it massacred hundreds of Vietnamese in border villages. Viet Nam eventually responded by sending troops into Cambodia in December 1977.

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 34

      34. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, deportation and persecution on racial grounds were committed regarding the Vietnamese. In addition, recalling the existence of the ongoing international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975 and the protected status of the victims, the Chamber finds that several grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions were also perpetrated against this group at S-21 Security Centre, including wilful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wilful deprivation of the rights of a fair and regular trial and unlawful confinement.

   3. United Nations Security Council, Security Council Official Records, thirty-fourth year,... (1979)¶ 115

      115. In order to draw a clear picture of the problem of Kampuchea, it is appropriate to make a clear distinction between two wars: one, the border war started by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique against Viet Nam, which the Vietnamese people have been forced to deal with, the other, the revolutionary war of the Kampuchean people against the dictatorial rule of the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique, which is an instrument in the hands of the reactionary ruling circles of Peking.

Tested against the primary record

1. ContradictedAbout 3 million innocent people were killed by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The prosecution of 1979 charged 3 million on the strength of a survey of Phnom Penh's former residents, one commune in Siem Reap and a journalist's figures from three provinces, by its own account. The United Nations' experts record that historians reject the 2 to 3 million used by the governments in Cambodia since 1979, and the ECCC places the accepted band at 1.5 to 2 million with 3 million as the outer edge of every estimate ever made. Two producers, the experts and the court, say otherwise.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; edited by a group of Cambodian jurists, People's Revolutionary Tribunal Held in Phnom Penh for... (1990)§ prosecution

      Running counter to our people’s deep felt wishes to live in peace, independence and democracy, to build a prosperous and happy country after complete liberation, over the last four years the Pol Pot - Ieng Sary clique have betrayed our people and driven them to the brink of extermination : about 3 million innocent people have been killed, the more than 4 million survivors seriously injured physically and morally : the national economy has been ruined, national culture destroyed and disastrous consequences suffered by all strata of population in different parts of the country, by all families, by the whole of our nation.

   2. People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; edited by a group of Cambodian jurists, People's Revolutionary Tribunal Held in Phnom Penh for... (1990)§ consequences

      - Some three million innocent people were massacred, on the strength of a simple survey of the population formerly living in Phnom Penh and at a commune in Siemreap province ( documents No 2.4.01 ; 2.4.05) and of data collected on the spot by Australian journalist W. Burchett in three provinces, Prey Veng, Kompong Speu and Svay Rieng (document No.2.6.06). There is good reason to estimate that after four years of rule, the Pol Pot - Ieng Sary clique have killed about three million people, among them many patriots, genuine revolutionaries, the quasi totality of intellectuals, scientists and technicians, writers and artists, a large number of students and pupils both able-bodied and educated, all of them being indispensable to national defence and construction.

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

   4. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 174

      never been identified and that many who died were never buried.522 Overall, estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 3 million died as a result of Khmer Rouge policies and actions. Within this range, experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and 2 million excess deaths as the most accurate.523

2. QualifiedThe Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique started the border war immediately after 1975 and massed 19 of the army's 23 divisions on the frontier.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; United Nations Security Council; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The experts date a low-intensity border war from 1975 and Cambodia's escalation to 1977, and the tribunal dates the international armed conflict from May 1975; both carry the war and its early start. The count of 19 divisions in 23 is Viet Nam's own and nothing else in the record carries it.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. United Nations Security Council, Security Council Official Records, thirty-fourth year,... (1979)¶ 115

      115. In order to draw a clear picture of the problem of Kampuchea, it is appropriate to make a clear distinction between two wars: one, the border war started by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique against Viet Nam, which the Vietnamese people have been forced to deal with, the other, the revolutionary war of the Kampuchean people against the dictatorial rule of the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique, which is an instrument in the hands of the reactionary ruling circles of Peking.

   2. United Nations Security Council, Security Council Official Records, thirty-fourth year,... (1979)¶ 120

      120. Throuahout that oeriod. the Pol Pot-Iena Sarv cliaue strove to i&&y the ‘war against Viet Na&. Of the-23 divisions which the Kampuchean Army had at the time, the Pol Pot-Ieng Sat-y clique massed 19 on the border between Viet Nam and Kampuchea. Encouraging racial hatred against the Vietnamese people, it sought relentlessly to achieve its aim of invasion of many areas of South Viet Nam. So as to achieve that goal, it spread the fable, for domestic Kampuchean consumption, that Viet Nam had been weakened in its endeavour to cope with innumerable difIiculties and was suffering from insurmountable domestic division and, consequently, Kampuchea, having conquered the Americans and with the support of 800 million Chinese, would surely conquer Viet Nam.

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 37

      37. From 1975 to 1977, Democratic Kampuchea and Viet Nam engaged in a low- intensity border war. By 1977, Cambodia had escalated the conflict to include raids in which it massacred hundreds of Vietnamese in border villages. Viet Nam eventually responded by sending troops into Cambodia in December 1977.

   4. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 34

      34. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, deportation and persecution on racial grounds were committed regarding the Vietnamese. In addition, recalling the existence of the ongoing international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975 and the protected status of the victims, the Chamber finds that several grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions were also perpetrated against this group at S-21 Security Centre, including wilful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wilful deprivation of the rights of a fair and regular trial and unlawful confinement.

3. SupportedThe regime abolished Islam, killed its leaders and forced believers to eat pork at gunpoint.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The ECCC found that the party restricted the Cham's cultural and religious practices, executed the leaders of their rebellions and ordered purges of all Cham in 1977 and 1978; the United Nations' experts found intent evidenced by the total prohibition of the group's distinctive traits and the execution of its leadership. Two producers carry the abolition and the killing of the leaders; the pork is the 1979 witnesses' detail and is not tested here.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; edited by a group of Cambodian jurists, People's Revolutionary Tribunal Held in Phnom Penh for... (1990)§ islam

      b) Together with Buddhism, Islam was abolished. The Pol Pot - Ieng Sary rigime advocated exterminating muslim believers. During the first months after liberation they tracked down Islamic priests. They killed Hikry Selas, leader, and Hathi Seay Mas Sokri, senior deputy-leader of the Islamic religion in Cambodia. They forced believers to renounce their religion, and to eat pork, at gunpoint. They punished those who refused to eat pork, and in many instances killed them. According to Mr. Nhek Huon, now working in Army Corps I over 1,000 people were killed in Svay Rieng, Kompong Cham province ( document No.2.1.4.01 ).

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 3228

      3228. The Chamber finds that the CPK, in the effort to establish an atheistic and homogenous society without class divisions,10887 targeted the Cham as an ethnic and religious distinct group throughout the DK period. This policy evolved over time and was characterised by an escalation of the means used to implement such policy. In the early years of the DK period, the CPK, in an initial attempt to assimilate them, specifically targeted the Cham by restricting their cultural and religious practices.10888 When the Cham resisted abandoning their ethnic and religious identity, “rebellions” were brutally suppressed, leaders of the rebellions were executed and Cham communities dispersed.10889 A final shift occurred between 1977 and 1978, when purges of all Cham were ordered.10890 This coincided with the escalation of the conflict with Vietnam when the need to preserve the Khmer race and to protect Cambodian population from all enemies was considered as a top priority. The Chamber will now turn to the implementation of this policy.

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 64

      64. Specifically, in the case of the Buddhist monkhood, their intent is evidenced by the Khmer Rouge’s intensely hostile statements towards religion, and the monkhood in particular; the Khmer Rouge’s policies to eradicate the physical and ritualistic aspects of the Buddhist religion; the disrobing of monks and abolition of the monkhood; the number of victims; and the executions of Buddhist leaders and recalcitrant monks. Likewise, in addition to the number of victims, the intent to destroy the Cham and other ethnic minorities appears evidenced by such Khmer Rouge actions as their announced policy of homogenization, the total prohibition of these groups’ distinctive cultural traits, their dispersal among the general population and the execution of their leadership.13

Tested against the primary record

1. ContradictedTo say that millions died is too much.

   Rests on documents from: Testimony of the accused; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Pol Pot; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   Every count the record carries from a producer other than the leadership itself exceeds a million: the tribunal's accepted band is 1.5 to 2 million, the United Nations' experts put the scholars' figures at 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million, and the commandant of S-21 told the court he was morally responsible for the loss of more than one million lives. Three producers say otherwise.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Pol Pot, interviewed by Nate Thayer, Pol Pot (1997)p. 4

      regime killed perhaps 200,000 people, many from its own ranks. For every person executed, perhaps seven more died of starvation or disease as a result of the KR's inept central policies. "To say that millions died is too much. Another aspect you have to know is that Vietnamese agents, they were there. There was rice, but they didn't give rice to the population," Pol Pot claims. Even more outrageous is Pol Pot's claim that Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison was a "Vietnamese exhibition" set up for propaganda purposes after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978 and drove the KR from power. Scholars say the KR documented each of the 16,000 people whom they tortured and executed, often on Pol Pot's direct orders. In fact, admissions he makes in the interview link Pol Pot directly to Tuol Sleng. He

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 174

      never been identified and that many who died were never buried.522 Overall, estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 3 million died as a result of Khmer Rouge policies and actions. Within this range, experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and 2 million excess deaths as the most accurate.523

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

   4. Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, statements before the Trial Chamber and the Supreme Court Chamber, compiled by the ECCC, Compilation of statements of apology made by Kaing Guek... (2012)p. 7

      [p. 67 Lines 2-9]7 In conclusion, if you look at the photo of me taken in those days when I was training cadres, it seems like I was quite a person with my heightened class consciousness, but as I look at it carefully now, I find the photo shameful. It is shocking and upsetting to see that picture of me, I who killed more than 12,300 people. I am accountable for all the crimes committed at S-21. At the same time, as a member of the Party, I am appalled by the fact that more than 1 million Cambodians lost their lives. I am morally responsible for the loss of more than one million lives, now and forever.

2. ContradictedTuol Sleng was a Vietnamese exhibition set up for propaganda after the invasion.

   Rests on documents from: Testimony of the accused; Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Pol Pot.

   The tribunal's count of 12,273 detainees is built from S-21's own prisoner lists and execution logs, and the prison's commandant, in his own words before the court, said he killed more than 12,300 people there. The perpetrators' registers and the perpetrator's admission are two producers, and neither is Vietnamese.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Pol Pot, interviewed by Nate Thayer, Pol Pot (1997)p. 4

      regime killed perhaps 200,000 people, many from its own ranks. For every person executed, perhaps seven more died of starvation or disease as a result of the KR's inept central policies. "To say that millions died is too much. Another aspect you have to know is that Vietnamese agents, they were there. There was rice, but they didn't give rice to the population," Pol Pot claims. Even more outrageous is Pol Pot's claim that Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison was a "Vietnamese exhibition" set up for propaganda purposes after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978 and drove the KR from power. Scholars say the KR documented each of the 16,000 people whom they tortured and executed, often on Pol Pot's direct orders. In fact, admissions he makes in the interview link Pol Pot directly to Tuol Sleng. He

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)¶ 141Exhibit 3

      141. The Revised S-21 Prisoner List indicates that no fewer than 12,273 individuals were detained at S-21.239 This list is a revision of an earlier list relied upon in the Amended Closing Order which indicated that no fewer than 12,380 individuals were detained at S- 21.240 The Revised S-21 Prisoner List contains 5,994 entries as men, 1,698 as women and 89 as children.241 5,609 entries are members of the RAK and 4,371 are DK cadres, while 1,751 are neither members of RAK nor DK cadres.242 Furthermore, it describes 876 entries as relatives of somebody else;243 328 as soldiers in the Khmer Republic Army (“KRA”);244 279 as either teachers, professors, students, doctors, lawyers or engineers;245 345 as Vietnamese, of whom 122 are described as Vietnamese soldiers, 144 as Vietnamese spies while for the remaining 79, who were presumably civilians, no description is provided.246 Finally, it also contains 155 entries for former S-21 Staff and 590 for individuals arrested from S-24.247 Certain of the entries on the Revised S-21 Prisoner List contain minimal information.248

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)n. 240

      240 See Amended Closing Order, paras 107, 140; “S-21 Prisoner List (1975-1978)”, E3/38 Annex A. This list was a collation by the Office of the Co-Prosecutors of previous lists compiled by DC-Cam based on the original prisoner lists and execution logs of S-21. The Combined S-21 Prisoner List contained 107 entries which appeared to be duplicate entries and were thus removed by the Office of the Co-Prosecutors from the Revised Prisoner List. See “Co-Prosecutors' Rule 92 Motion to disclose analysis of the revised S-21 Prisoner List”, E68, 19 May 2009, paras 3-4.

   4. Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, statements before the Trial Chamber and the Supreme Court Chamber, compiled by the ECCC, Compilation of statements of apology made by Kaing Guek... (2012)p. 7

      [p. 67 Lines 2-9]7 In conclusion, if you look at the photo of me taken in those days when I was training cadres, it seems like I was quite a person with my heightened class consciousness, but as I look at it carefully now, I find the photo shameful. It is shocking and upsetting to see that picture of me, I who killed more than 12,300 people. I am accountable for all the crimes committed at S-21. At the same time, as a member of the Party, I am appalled by the fact that more than 1 million Cambodians lost their lives. I am morally responsible for the loss of more than one million lives, now and forever.

3. QualifiedThe regime had no choice but to defend itself against Viet Nam.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Pol Pot; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The record holds an international armed conflict from May 1975 in the tribunal's finding, and the experts' account of a border war that Cambodia escalated in 1977 into raids massacring hundreds of Vietnamese villagers. Two producers carry the war; both place the escalation on Phnom Penh's side, which is the part of the claim they do not bear out.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Pol Pot, interviewed by Nate Thayer, Pol Pot (1997)p. 3

      Trial or no trial, Pol Pot's line of defence is the same: His youthful, inexperienced movement made "mistakes" under pressure from its enemies, but they saved the country from Vietnamese annexation. Asked whether he wanted to apologize for the suffering he caused, he looks genuinely confused, has the interpreter repeat the question, and answers: "No." "We had no other choice. Naturally we had to defend ourselves," he says. "The Vietnamese... wanted to assassinate me because they knew without me they could easily swallow up Cambodia."

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 34

      34. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, deportation and persecution on racial grounds were committed regarding the Vietnamese. In addition, recalling the existence of the ongoing international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975 and the protected status of the victims, the Chamber finds that several grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions were also perpetrated against this group at S-21 Security Centre, including wilful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wilful deprivation of the rights of a fair and regular trial and unlawful confinement.

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 37

      37. From 1975 to 1977, Democratic Kampuchea and Viet Nam engaged in a low- intensity border war. By 1977, Cambodia had escalated the conflict to include raids in which it massacred hundreds of Vietnamese in border villages. Viet Nam eventually responded by sending troops into Cambodia in December 1977.

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedPrisoners were photographed on arrival at S-21 and only a few survived it.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Survivor testimony.

   The tribunal found that only a very small number of those detained survived, and in 2018 tested one survivor's account against the list Ung Pech gave the 1979 tribunal and against the photographs, and found the absence from both inconclusive. The witness's about 13 on the last morning and the court's very small number are two producers agreeing on the order of magnitude, not on a count, so the verdict is qualified.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Vann Nath, witness before the Trial Chamber (transcript of trial proceedings, Case 001, trial day 35), Transcript of Trial Proceedings, Kaing Guek Eav alias... (2009)p. 20

      And after we arrived into a room we were each photographed. After they took off the blindfold I saw the camera in front of my face already. So then one prisoner would be photographed while the next would sit because we were cuffed together and we take turns to be photographed. And I think it was -- I was then placed in the second floor, which is now marked Building D, and we were put into the long row of shackles. There were 20 or 30 of us in each row of those shackles. And the black clothes that we were wearing, we were stripped of those clothes. Some had shorts and they just wore the shorts. For those who did not have any shorts, they were given shorts about an hour later. They were only like shorts with nothing to tighten the waist because probably they were afraid that maybe we would take the string from the waist tightening to hang ourselves to commit suicide.

   2. Vann Nath, witness before the Trial Chamber (transcript of trial proceedings, Case 001, trial day 35), Transcript of Trial Proceedings, Kaing Guek Eav alias... (2009)p. 52

      The question is, for the remaining prisoners, how many of them altogether? And when you were asked to go along with them, besides the guns pointing at you, were you cuffed or were a string used to tie all of you up? A. Mr. President, from what I can recall, at that time we left the painting workshop there were woodcrafters, electricians, blacksmiths and there were about 13 of us. We were ordered to leave but we were not tied or handcuffed. We walked with our bare hands but we were ordered to walk only in one straight line. And there were no other prisoners remained in the prison.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)¶ 598

      598. Only a very small number of those detained at S-21 survived. S-21 survivors who appeared before the Chamber testified to the lasting physical and psychological impact of their ordeal.1019 The relatives of S-21 detainees also testified to the devastating consequences of the Accused’s crimes on these detainees’ families.1020

   4. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 2083

      Particularly, the NUON Chea defence notes that while CHUM Mey asserted he escaped from S-21 with UNG Pech, the latter did not name CHUM Mey when listing the people with whom he escaped.6981 The Chamber notes that indeed CHUM Mey was not listed by UNG Pech when he spoke in the 1979 in absentia trial of POL Pot and IENG Sary about those who survived S-21.6982 In addition, CHUM Mey was not in photographs taken of S-21 survivors or interviewed by an East German film crew.6983 However, the Chamber finds that there is nothing to indicate that UNG Pech exhaustively listed or could recollect the names of all survivors. Similarly, there is nothing to suggest that the photographs taken or the East German documentary purported to include all those who survived S-21. To the contrary, the Chamber is aware that some photographic evidence was removed from S-21 in 1980.6984 The Chamber therefore finds that the absence of a photograph of CHUM Mey among the S-21 detainees is not conclusive, given that some

2. QualifiedChum Mey's fingers were broken, his toenails removed and he was electrocuted during interrogation.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Survivor testimony.

   The Case 002/02 Judgement records the same torture as a finding: beaten for 12 days and nights, electrocuted twice until he lost consciousness, two toenails removed. The court's finding rests on the same man's testimony in a later trial, so it is one producer heard twice, and the verdict is capped at qualified.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Chum Mey, civil party before the Trial Chamber (transcript of trial proceedings, Case 001, trial day 36), Transcript of Trial Proceedings, Kaing Guek Eav alias... (2009)p. 11

      One day, while I was being interrogated and then they were beating me and then I put my hands up to protect myself, then it broke my fingers. And one day they removed my nails from the toes and I was trembling in pain. And later on, about 10 days later, I was electrocuted. It was the direct electrical wire

   2. Chum Mey, civil party before the Trial Chamber (transcript of trial proceedings, Case 001, trial day 36), Transcript of Trial Proceedings, Kaing Guek Eav alias... (2009)p. 12

      from the wall attached to the very fresh current, not the one like Duch mentioned about electric telephone or something like that. So then I was electrocuted and I could hear some kind of sound in my ears, and the person who beat me up called Contemptible Sieng -- I'm sorry to say Contemptible Sieng -- and Hor. Hor has a scar on his cheek. But after my research I found out that three of them already died.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 4447

      4447. The few survivors of S-21 described the physical and moral suffering, trauma and loss of dignity they experienced at the Security Centre. Civil Party CHUM Mey was interrogated about his links with the CIA and KGB and beaten up for 12 days and nights, as a result of which his back was swollen.14286 He was electrocuted twice until he lost consciousness.14287 As a result of this treatment he suffered permanent harm in the form of partial loss of sight and hearing.14288 While being tortured, two of his toenails were removed which caused him pain so intense that he “almost passed out”.14289 CHUM Mey also described the humiliation he experienced when the interrogator Seng sat on his head and when he had to lick his excrements as they spilled out of the container into which prisoners had to relieve themselves.14290 He described his detention as follows: “The situation was so miserable. I thought that I was being treated worse than a human being, I was treated like an animal, like a dog. A dog would be given steamed rice to eat, but for me, I was given only watery gruel.”14291 CHUM Mey also described the anguish and suffering he experienced at not knowing about his fate while at S-21.14292 The Civil Party was separated from his pregnant wife when he was taken to S-21 and was concerned as he could not take care of her.14293

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe 95 per cent simulation interval for excess deaths runs from 1.2 to 2.8 million, with a median of 1.9 million.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   Every figure the primary record carries from the tribunal and the experts, 1.5 million, 1.7 million, the 1.5 to 2 million band, sits inside the interval, and the median sits inside the tribunal's band; but no Tier A artifact states the interval or the median, so the verdict is qualified: consistent with the record, not carried by it.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 174

      never been identified and that many who died were never buried.522 Overall, estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 3 million died as a result of Khmer Rouge policies and actions. Within this range, experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and 2 million excess deaths as the most accurate.523

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...n. 523

      523 T. 25 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 9-12 (the consensus is that between 1.5 and 3 million people died under the Khmer Rouge); T. 10 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD), pp. 75-76 (in 1986, PONCHAUD estimated that 800,000 people were killed during the DK regime, CIA were estimating that 1.4 million people were killed and other embassies were estimating that 1 million people were killed); Article by P. HEUVELINE: The Unbearable Certainty of Numbers: Estimating the Death Toll of the Khmer Rouge Period, E3/1798, Nov-Dec 1998, p. 10, ERN (En) 00291624 (After reviewing various estimates, determining that the central interval, 1.5 to 2.5 million excess deaths, is most probable); Article by P. HEUVELINE: ‘Between One and Three Million’: Towards the Demographic Reconstruction of a Decade of Cambodian History (1970-79), E3/1799, 1998, p. 60, ERN (En) 00096735 (Heuveline estimates that there were 1.5 to 2 million excess deaths in 1975-1978, and states that, in his reconstruction, at least 600,000, and possibly as many as 2 million, deaths, cannot be accounted for by either a general decline in life expectancy or by the mortality due to the war prior to 1975); Article by B. SHARP: Counting Hell, E3/1801, undated, p. 24, ERN (En) 00078288 (After reviewing other experts’ figures, SHARP identifies a range of 1.747 million to 2.459 million deaths due to Khmer Rouge policies and actions; SHARP considers the midpoint of the range being 2.12 million “falls fairly close to the most likely figure”); Book by M. VICKERY: Cambodia 1975-1982, E3/1757, 1984, pp. 200-201, ERN (En) 00397115-16 (M. VICKERY estimated that 740,800 deaths were caused by the special conditions during the DK. He estimated that more than half were caused by hunger, exhaustion and illness and about 300,000 people were executed. He suggested that more accurate estimates were impossible and that it was impossible to project a figure of 1-2 million executions based on the data available in 1984); Demographic Expert Report: Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, April 1975-January 1979: A Critical Assessment of Major Estimates, E3/2413, 30 September 2009, pp. 15-19, 64-70, ERN (En) 00385258-62, 00385326-32 (Excess death estimates published between 1980 and 1993 consistently approach one million, except VICKERY who suggested 740,000. Later estimates made between 1995 and 2009 range from 1.4 million to 2.2 million. After reviewing all these estimates, the authors accepted that the interval of 1.747 to 2.2 million deaths under the Khmer Rouge is the most likely range and determined that earlier estimates heavily underestimated the scale of actual killing by the Khmer Rouge).

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

2. QualifiedAdult men, the urban and the educated were the most likely to die.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The experts reproduce a death rate of 25 per cent for the urban and rural new people against 15 per cent for the rural base people, and the 1979 tribunal charged the killing of the quasi totality of intellectuals, scientists and technicians; two producers carry the urban and the educated. Neither counts men against women, so that part of the claim is not tested here.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

   2. People's Revolutionary Tribunal of the People's Republic of Kampuchea; edited by a group of Cambodian jurists, People's Revolutionary Tribunal Held in Phnom Penh for... (1990)§ consequences

      - Some three million innocent people were massacred, on the strength of a simple survey of the population formerly living in Phnom Penh and at a commune in Siemreap province ( documents No 2.4.01 ; 2.4.05) and of data collected on the spot by Australian journalist W. Burchett in three provinces, Prey Veng, Kompong Speu and Svay Rieng (document No.2.6.06). There is good reason to estimate that after four years of rule, the Pol Pot - Ieng Sary clique have killed about three million people, among them many patriots, genuine revolutionaries, the quasi totality of intellectuals, scientists and technicians, writers and artists, a large number of students and pupils both able-bodied and educated, all of them being indispensable to national defence and construction.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 170

      170. On 17 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge moved at least two million people from Phnom Penh.498 The evacuees were provided insufficient, if any, accommodation and

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe death rates by group were close to 100 per cent for the ethnic Vietnamese, 50 per cent for the Chinese, 36 per cent for the Cham, 25 per cent for the new people and 15 per cent for the base people.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The experts reproduce these rates from the scholarship's own table, so the recital is the position's data read back, not a second measurement; the tribunal found that the Vietnamese were expelled until late 1976 and targeted for destruction from April 1977, which carries the direction of the Vietnamese rate and nothing of the others. The verdict is qualified: the direction is carried for one group, the percentages for none.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

   2. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)n. 5

      These data also show a death rate of 50 per cent for the Chinese minority, 36 per cent for the Cham, and 40 per cent for ethnic Thai.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 32

      32. The Chamber further finds that specific instances of killings of Vietnamese civilians were established, for instance, in Svay Rieng in 1978; on Democratic Kampuchea waters after April or May 1977 and on 19 March 1978; in Kampong Chhnang province in 1977; at Wat Khsach (Siem Reap province) in late 1978; and in Kratie in September 1978. These deliberate killings occurred on a massive scale, were systematically organised and directed against the Vietnamese. In each case, Vietnamese were targeted not as individuals but based on their membership of the group and their perceived ethnicity. This happened under the umbrella of the CPK’s policy to specifically target the Vietnamese, including civilians, as a group. Until late 1976, the Vietnamese were targeted for expulsion, from April 1977, for destruction as such.

2. SupportedThe regime's violence against the Cham was directed at them as an ethnic and religious group, as such.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The tribunal found that the party targeted the Cham as an ethnic and religious group throughout the period and that its policy had their physical destruction as such as its primary objective; the United Nations' experts found the intent to destroy the Cham evidenced by the announced policy of homogenization and the execution of their leadership. Two producers carry the claim.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 3228

      3228. The Chamber finds that the CPK, in the effort to establish an atheistic and homogenous society without class divisions,10887 targeted the Cham as an ethnic and religious distinct group throughout the DK period. This policy evolved over time and was characterised by an escalation of the means used to implement such policy. In the early years of the DK period, the CPK, in an initial attempt to assimilate them, specifically targeted the Cham by restricting their cultural and religious practices.10888 When the Cham resisted abandoning their ethnic and religious identity, “rebellions” were brutally suppressed, leaders of the rebellions were executed and Cham communities dispersed.10889 A final shift occurred between 1977 and 1978, when purges of all Cham were ordered.10890 This coincided with the escalation of the conflict with Vietnam when the need to preserve the Khmer race and to protect Cambodian population from all enemies was considered as a top priority. The Chamber will now turn to the implementation of this policy.

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 3993

      3993. Having established that a CPK policy to destroy the Cham population existed from 1977,13253 the Chamber finds that the CPK policy targeting the Cham had as its primary objective their physical destruction as an ethnic and religious group, as such. The Chamber is satisfied that the treatment of the Cham demonstrates the CPK’s objective of establishing an atheistic and homogenous society without class divisions and, in so doing, the Party’s intent to abolish all national, religious, class and cultural differences. The Chamber is further satisfied that this objective was implemented through the CPK’s policy to identify, arrest, isolate and “smash” enemies,13254 and was therefore in furtherance of the common purpose of rapidly implementing socialist revolution through a “great leap forward” in order to, among other things, defend the country against enemies and radically transform the population into an atheistic and homogenous Khmer society. The Chamber accordingly finds that the crime of genocide

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 64

      64. Specifically, in the case of the Buddhist monkhood, their intent is evidenced by the Khmer Rouge’s intensely hostile statements towards religion, and the monkhood in particular; the Khmer Rouge’s policies to eradicate the physical and ritualistic aspects of the Buddhist religion; the disrobing of monks and abolition of the monkhood; the number of victims; and the executions of Buddhist leaders and recalcitrant monks. Likewise, in addition to the number of victims, the intent to destroy the Cham and other ethnic minorities appears evidenced by such Khmer Rouge actions as their announced policy of homogenization, the total prohibition of these groups’ distinctive cultural traits, their dispersal among the general population and the execution of their leadership.13

Tested against the primary record

1. ContradictedAbout 740,800 people died as a result of the regime, about 300,000 of them executed.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Group of Experts for Cambodia (United Nations).

   The tribunal's own survey records the figure beside Ponchaud's 800,000 and the embassies' 1 million as the lowest point estimates in its list, below Heuveline's at least 600,000, and reports the court's demographers' finding that the earlier estimates heavily underestimated the scale of the killing; it accepts 1.5 to 2 million as most accurate. The United Nations' experts put the scholars' figures at 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million. Two producers say otherwise, and the position's figure is known here only as the first of them reports it.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...n. 523

      523 T. 25 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 9-12 (the consensus is that between 1.5 and 3 million people died under the Khmer Rouge); T. 10 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD), pp. 75-76 (in 1986, PONCHAUD estimated that 800,000 people were killed during the DK regime, CIA were estimating that 1.4 million people were killed and other embassies were estimating that 1 million people were killed); Article by P. HEUVELINE: The Unbearable Certainty of Numbers: Estimating the Death Toll of the Khmer Rouge Period, E3/1798, Nov-Dec 1998, p. 10, ERN (En) 00291624 (After reviewing various estimates, determining that the central interval, 1.5 to 2.5 million excess deaths, is most probable); Article by P. HEUVELINE: ‘Between One and Three Million’: Towards the Demographic Reconstruction of a Decade of Cambodian History (1970-79), E3/1799, 1998, p. 60, ERN (En) 00096735 (Heuveline estimates that there were 1.5 to 2 million excess deaths in 1975-1978, and states that, in his reconstruction, at least 600,000, and possibly as many as 2 million, deaths, cannot be accounted for by either a general decline in life expectancy or by the mortality due to the war prior to 1975); Article by B. SHARP: Counting Hell, E3/1801, undated, p. 24, ERN (En) 00078288 (After reviewing other experts’ figures, SHARP identifies a range of 1.747 million to 2.459 million deaths due to Khmer Rouge policies and actions; SHARP considers the midpoint of the range being 2.12 million “falls fairly close to the most likely figure”); Book by M. VICKERY: Cambodia 1975-1982, E3/1757, 1984, pp. 200-201, ERN (En) 00397115-16 (M. VICKERY estimated that 740,800 deaths were caused by the special conditions during the DK. He estimated that more than half were caused by hunger, exhaustion and illness and about 300,000 people were executed. He suggested that more accurate estimates were impossible and that it was impossible to project a figure of 1-2 million executions based on the data available in 1984); Demographic Expert Report: Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, April 1975-January 1979: A Critical Assessment of Major Estimates, E3/2413, 30 September 2009, pp. 15-19, 64-70, ERN (En) 00385258-62, 00385326-32 (Excess death estimates published between 1980 and 1993 consistently approach one million, except VICKERY who suggested 740,000. Later estimates made between 1995 and 2009 range from 1.4 million to 2.2 million. After reviewing all these estimates, the authors accepted that the interval of 1.747 to 2.2 million deaths under the Khmer Rouge is the most likely range and determined that earlier estimates heavily underestimated the scale of actual killing by the Khmer Rouge).

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/01 Judgement, 7 August 2014 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 174

      never been identified and that many who died were never buried.522 Overall, estimates indicate that between 600,000 and 3 million died as a result of Khmer Rouge policies and actions. Within this range, experts accept estimates falling between 1.5 and 2 million excess deaths as the most accurate.523

   3. Group of Experts for Cambodia (Ninian Stephen, Rajsoomer Lallah, Steven R. Ratner), transmitted by the Secretary-General, Report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia established... (1999)¶ 35

      35. Finally, scholars and Governments have offered differing totals for the number of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge. Scholars have separately arrived at figures of 1.5 million and nearly 1.7 million.4 There was a sharp disparity among victim groups. One study posits close to a 100 per cent death rate for rural and urban ethnic Vietnamese, 25 per cent for urban and rural Khmer "new people", and 15 per cent for rural Khmer "base people".5 Overall, the various estimates point to a death rate of approximately 20 per cent of the April 1975 population of 7.3 to 7.9 million people. Historians of Cambodia have rejected the figure of 2 to 3 million that has often been used by the

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe court's genocide convictions cover the Cham and the Vietnamese only, and Khieu Samphan's covers the Vietnamese alone.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. One producer, so the verdict is capped at qualified.

   The court's own summary enters genocide for the Cham and for the Vietnamese, finds Khieu Samphan not responsible for the Cham, and its separate opinion states that the case focused exclusively on those two groups. Only the court's record can carry what the court decided, so the verdict is one producer's and is capped at qualified, by the rule and not by any doubt.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 30

      30. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, imprisonment, torture, persecution on political and religious grounds, and the other inhumane acts through conduct characterised as forced transfer were committed with respect to the Cham.

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 34

      34. The Chamber thus finds that the crime of genocide and the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, deportation and persecution on racial grounds were committed regarding the Vietnamese. In addition, recalling the existence of the ongoing international armed conflict between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea from May 1975 and the protected status of the victims, the Chamber finds that several grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions were also perpetrated against this group at S-21 Security Centre, including wilful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wilful deprivation of the rights of a fair and regular trial and unlawful confinement.

   3. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 62

      62. Finally, the evidence did not rise to the level of proving that KHIEU Samphan actively assisted or facilitated the execution of the genocidal policy against the Cham. The Chamber is also not satisfied that KHIEU Samphan was a superior in the sense of having had the ability to prevent or punish the commission of crimes. The Chamber therefore finds that KHIEU Samphan is not responsible for the crime of genocide by killing members of the Cham ethnic and religious group, neither as aider or abettor nor as superior.

   4. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02 Judgement, 16 November 2018 (Nuon Chea and...¶ 4468

      4468. In relation to the crime of genocide (prolai pouch-sas in Khmer), this case focused exclusively on charges of genocide by killing Vietnamese and Cham.14352 Yet the reasons for such a narrow focus have not been explained – adequately or at all. During the judicial investigation, for example, the Lead Co-Lawyers for the Civil Parties requested that broader genocide charges should be examined by an external expert, specifically in relation to the Khmer national group.14353 The Co-Investigating Judges rejected this request. They stated that it was for them to “decide whether to characterise the facts as genocide when drafting the Closing Order”.14354 Submissions were also made to the Co-Investigating Judges in relation to the Khmer Krom.14355 The Closing Order merely notes such submissions.14356 It does not explain the restrictive approach to genocide which the Co-Investigating Judges adopted.

2. QualifiedThe Khmer Rouge expelled the ethnic Vietnamese and then killed those who stayed, so that by late 1978 the minority had disappeared.

   Rests on documents from: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. One producer, so the verdict is capped at qualified.

   The tribunal found a policy of expulsion until late 1976 and of destruction as such from April 1977, with killings on a massive scale, and a floor of 345 Vietnamese prisoners of war and civilians at S-21 alone. The record carries the sequence; it does not carry the article's counts of 150,000 to 170,000 expelled and 20,000 killed, which rest on the demographic report this record could not read.

   The 2 extracts it rests on

   1. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 002/02, Summary of Judgement (2018)¶ 32

      32. The Chamber further finds that specific instances of killings of Vietnamese civilians were established, for instance, in Svay Rieng in 1978; on Democratic Kampuchea waters after April or May 1977 and on 19 March 1978; in Kampong Chhnang province in 1977; at Wat Khsach (Siem Reap province) in late 1978; and in Kratie in September 1978. These deliberate killings occurred on a massive scale, were systematically organised and directed against the Vietnamese. In each case, Vietnamese were targeted not as individuals but based on their membership of the group and their perceived ethnicity. This happened under the umbrella of the CPK’s policy to specifically target the Vietnamese, including civilians, as a group. Until late 1976, the Vietnamese were targeted for expulsion, from April 1977, for destruction as such.

   2. Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Trial Chamber, Case 001 Judgement, 26 July 2010 (Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch)¶ 425

      425. No fewer than 345 Vietnamese prisoners of war and civilians were detained at S-21 and constituted protected persons under the Geneva Conventions of 1949.767 Vietnamese detainees were registered as either soldiers (122 entries), Vietnamese civilians (79 entries) or spies (144 entries).768 Vietnamese prisoners of war, many of whom were captured on the battlefield, entered the S-21 complex in their military uniforms.769 Amongst the Vietnamese civilians were women, as well as children brought to the S-21 complex along with their parents.770 The Accused stated that “spies” were classified as such on order of his superiors but were in fact either civilians or combatants.771

3. Cannot be tested from the free recordFormer Khmer Rouge cadres' claims to victim status have been largely accepted in Cambodia.

   Rests on an absence in the free record.

   No court record or United Nations document in the free record measures how Cambodians receive former cadres; the claim rests on the authors' interviews with 58 former cadres and cannot be tested against artifacts that do not speak to it.

   The extract it rests on

   1. Timothy Williams and Erin Jessee, Perpetrators as Victims? Inclusivity and Proximity in... (2024)p. 4

      dia from 1975 to 1979 and the Hutu Power extremist-perpetrated “1994 genocide against the Tutsi” in Rwanda.8 These are two vastly different contexts, particularly in terms of: the scale, time period, and duration of the genocides (1.7–2.2 million deceased victims over approximately four years from 1975 to 1979 in Cambodia, compared to an estimated 500,000 to one million deceased victims over three months in 1994 in Rwanda);9 the underlying social cleavages that made the atrocities possible (primarily political divisions in Cambodia, compared to ethnic divisions in Rwanda); and post-genocide efforts to ensure legal accountability for genocide-related crimes (prosecutions of very few high- level Khmer Rouge officials in Cambodia, compared to “universal accountability” for all genocide-related crimes in Rwanda).10 Yet amid these differences, many people who committed genocide-related crimes acknowledge their responsibility, but simultaneously perceive themselves as victims. The post-genocide governments and civil societies in Cambodia and Rwanda have had