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5.1.3. Military Committee
204. The Military Committee was another extra-statutory sub-committee of the
Central Committee. The Military Committee was chaired by POL Pot and was
responsible for military and security affairs.626 SON Sen was also a member of the
Military Committee.627 Although the Closing Order alleges that NUON Chea was a
member of the Military Committee, the Chamber is not satisfied on the available
evidence that this has been demonstrated.628
5.1.4. Party Centre
205. Several of the witnesses and experts who testified before the Chamber used the
phrase ‘Party Centre’ to refer to the senior leadership tier of the CPK. However, as
Witness Stephen HEDER pointed out, ‘Party Centre’ was a nebulous term: sometimes
it was used in a collective sense to describe an entire “level within the Party
hierarchy”, and sometimes it was used to designate a specific entity or body within
the upper echelon of the CPK (such as the Central Committee, the Standing
Committee or one of its connected offices, or even POL Pot himself).629 The phrase
‘Party Centre’ also appeared in a number of documents put before the Chamber,
including both DK-era documents and subsequent academic commentaries, generally
27 March 2012 (KAING Guek Eav), p. 73; T. 8 May 2013 (Philip SHORT), p. 2; Report by S. HEDER
and M. MATSUSHITA: Interviews with Kampuchean Refugees at Thai-Cambodia Border, E3/1714,
February-March 1980, p. 58, ERN (En) 00170749.
625
KHIEU Samphan Interview Record, E3/27, 13 December 2007, p. 11, ERN (En) 00156751. See
also, Section 5: Administrative Structures, fn. 624.
626
T. 11 January 2012 (NUON Chea), p. 34; IENG Sary Interview by Stephen HEDER, E3/89, 17
December 1996, p. 8, ERN (En) 00417606; Article by T. CARNEY: The Organization of Power, in
Cambodia 1975-1978: Rendezvous With Death, E3/49, p. 88, ERN (En) 00105137.
627
IENG Sary Interview by ABC Television, E3/93, 28 August 1996, p. 6, ERN (En) 00078610;
IENG Sary Interview by Elizabeth BECKER, E3/94, 22 July 1981, p. 3, ERN (En) 00342502; KAING
Guek Eav Interview Record, E3/83, 20 October 2009, p. 6, ERN (En) 00398166; NUON Chea Initial
Appearance Record, E3/54, 19 September 2007, p. 4, ERN (En) 00148817.
628
See Section 7: Roles and Functions – Nuon Chea, para. 333.
629
T. 11 July 2013 (Stephen HEDER), p. 15. See e.g. T. 20 June 2012 (YUN Kim), p. 6 (referring to
the Party Centre as the “supreme leadership level of the CPK”); T. 21 August 2012 (SA Siek), p. 23
(defining the Party Centre as the level above the Zones and Sectors). See also, T. 18 July 2012 (David
CHANDLER), p. 112 (suggesting that “Party Centre […] referred particularly to the […] Central
Committee”); T. 7 August 2012 (SUONG Sikoeun), p. 12 (describing “Office 870” as the “Party
Centre Office”); NORNG Sophang Interview Record, E3/64, 18 February 2009, p. 6, ERN (En)
00334047 (equating the Party Centre with “Committee 870”); KE Pich Vannak Interview Record,
E3/35, 4 June 2009, p. 16, ERN (En) 00346160 (mentioning a “Party Centre Standing [committee]”);
SONG Meng Interview Record, E3/5142, 12 December 2007, p. 4, ERN (En) 00223616 (suggesting
that POL Pot was the Party Centre); SAR Sarin DC-Cam Interview, E3/4596, 5 May 2009, p. 9, ERN
(En) 00739501 (referring to the Centre as the “upper echelons”).
Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public
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