01005734 Case File No. 002/19-09-2007/ECCC/TC E313 121. There is consistent evidence of a radicalisation of the policy regarding captured Khmer Republic soldiers and officials from 1970 until 1975. Initially, there was a distinction made between LON Nol soldiers and “agents.” Soldiers were often reeducated and forgiven348 whereas agents were usually executed.349 This distinction may have been difficult to put into effect as one refugee, likely a former party member, noted, “We did not know who was a Lon Nol officer or who was a CIA agent. So we were afraid that our enemy might rise up again.” 350 But around 1972 or 1973, Khmer Republic soldiers were less likely to be forgiven and more likely to be executed if captured by CPK forces.351 American bombings, which lasted until mid1973, had made people very angry and suspicious of outsiders, some of whom were accused of being agents from LON Nol camps and executed.352 For example, a former LON Nol soldier stated, “In 1972 there were lots of Lon Nol soldiers captured, about 500 of them. All were executed, none were forgiven.”353 122. There was some evidence of the uneven application of this policy. This can be attributed to two factors. First, there was no initial written directive on the targeting of 348 Report by S. HEDER and M. MATSUSHITA: Interviews with Kampuchean Refugees at ThaiCambodia Border, E3/1714, February-March 1980 ERN (En) 00170716 (“Most Lon Nol soldiers were reeducated for a short time and told not to rejoin the Lon Nol army and then released.” ERN (En) 00170732 (“most POW’s were forgiven while most agents were executed.”) ERN (En) 00170741-42 (“Also there were cases of capture of LON Nol soldiers, some were forgiven, some were not. But in the case of agents, none were ever forgiven, but they were sent to higher levels for execution” ERN (En) , 349 Report by S. HEDER and M. MATSUSHITA: Interviews with Kampuchean Refugees at ThaiCambodia Border, E3/1714, February-March 1980, ERN (En) 00170716, 350 Report by S. HEDER and M. MATSUSHITA: Interviews with Kampuchean Refugees at ThaiCambodia Border, E3/1714, February-March 1980, ERN (En) 00170728. 351 See e.g. KHIEU Samphan, HOU Yun and HU Nim Statement, E3/637, 17 April 1975 ERN (En) 00740933 (“according to an interim report, some 1,550 heads of enemy's military personnel and officers including hundreds colonels, captains, lieutenants and major-lieutenants have been smashed, while ten thousands of people have been liberated”); ERN (En) 00740938 (“All in all, up to midJanuary 1973, the Kampuchean people’s liberation armed forces and our people have obtained great victories. We have smashed a total of 10,245 heads of the enemies and liberated dozens of bases, Mekong River and tens of thousands of people, and confiscated thousands of rifles and the enemies have become hot-blooded and more panic-stricken. They have run out of strength, bases, territories, people, food-supply, gasoline and particularly means of transport including both land transport and waterway”). 352 Report by S. HEDER and M. MATSUSHITA: Interviews with Kampuchean Refugees at ThaiCambodia Border, E3/1714, February-March 1980, ERN (En) 00170741-42; Book by B. KIERNAN: How Pol Pot Came to Power: A History of Communism in Kampuchea, 1930-1975, E3/1815, 1985, ERN (En) 00487493 (after a change in leadership and the increase in American bombing in 1973, there were large-scale executions of all captured Lon Nol troops and militia, and also of traders”). 353 Report by S. HEDER and M. MATSUSHITA: Interviews with Kampuchean Refugees at ThaiCambodia Border, E3/1714, February-March 1980, ERN (En) 00170758 (statement made by a refugee and former LON Nol Soldier who defected in 1974 to the liberated zones where his relatives vouched for his loyalty). Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public 67