This study examines the responsibility of seven senior officials for their roles in developing and implementing the murderous policies of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), known to its enemies as the “Khmer Rouge”:
- Deputy Secretary of the CPK Central Committee Nuon Chea, who is implicated in devising and implementing the Party’s execution policies.
- Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs and Central and Standing Committee member Ieng Sary, who repeatedly and publicly encouraged and facilitated arrests and executions within his ministry and throughout Cambodia.
- Democratic Kampuchea State Presidium Chairman Khieu Samphan, who encouraged lower-level CPK officials to perpetrate executions and, at least in some instances, monitored and contributed to the implementation of Party policies by regional authorities.
- Zone Secretaries and Central Committee members Ta Mok and Kae Pok, who directed or otherwise facilitated their subordinates’ arrests of suspected traitors in their zones, and failed to prevent or punish atrocities perpetrated by their subordinates.
- CPK Military Division Chairmen Sou Met and Meah Mut, who played direct roles in the arrest and transfer of cadre from their divisions for interrogation and execution, and failed to prevent or punish atrocities perpetrated by their subordinates.
While extensive work has been done to document and analyze evidence of CPK crimes generally, this is the first comprehensive legal analysis of available evidence against specific individuals for international crimes. Heder and Tittemore also shed new light on how the CPK designed and implemented the CPK’s policies of mass execution.
Funding provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the OSI Development Foundation (a Swiss charitable foundation).