01005726 Case File No. 002/19-09-2007/ECCC/TC E313 to bring the population within its newly-established economic order.302 Consonant with NUON Chea’s interpretation, POL Pot explained to KHIEU Samphan that the emptying of the cities was part of a collectivisation policy pre-dating the war that enabled the CPK to maintain control over the rice supply. 303 According to POL Pot, the CPK’s ability to control the supply of rice forced Vietnam to respect Cambodia’s sovereignty while Vietnamese troops operated in Cambodia.304 The Chamber is satisfied that there was an economic rationale underlying the evacuation of cities in order to establish CPK control over the food supply and to provide workers for the fields.305 111. Nonetheless, the evacuations also constituted an attack on the enemy. On this point the Chamber finds Expert David CHANDLER’s assessment to be convincing. He noted that there was a repetitive pattern in Khmer Rouge policy that reached its climax in the evacuation of Phnom Penh and other cities following the 17 April 1975 victory. The people in the cities were considered intrinsically disloyal and had to be removed.306 As confirmed by several sources of evidence, the CPK leaders had concluded that city-dwellers would remain politically and ideologically corrupt if they were allowed to stay in the cities and would be difficult to control.307 This was a longheld belief of NUON Chea who explained that urban people from an earlier time were “the corrupt society, the womanizing society, the society with alcohol” and contrasted them with the rural people living in the forests who were “clean”.308 As mentioned in various statements and testimonies, the people were “captured” and “taken away” from the enemy by moving the population out of urban areas such as Oudong, Kratie, Banam and Kampong Cham into the countryside.309 302 NUON Chea Closing Brief, paras 255-256. This is also consonant with the closure of markets in Kratie discussed above. 303 Book by KHIEU S.: Cambodia’s Recent History and the Reasons Behind the Decisions I Made, E3/18, p. 57, ERN (En) 00103751. 304 Book by KHIEU S.: Cambodia’s Recent History and the Reasons Behind the Decisions I Made, E3/18, p. 57, ERN (En) 00103751. 305 See Section 3: Historical Background, paras 113-116. 306 T. 19 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 60-63. 307 Book by P. SHORT: Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare, E3/9, 2004, pp. 256-257, ERN (En) 00396456, 00396465; T. 10 April 2013 (François PONCHAUD), pp. 9-10; T. 26 July 2012 (ROCHOEM Ton alias PHY Phuon), p. 14. 308 T. 15 December 2011 (NUON Chea), p. 70. 309 Revolutionary Flag, E3/25, December 1976-January 1977, p. 31, ERN (En) 00491424; T. 19 June 2012 (YUN Kim) pp. 29; T. 6 May 2013 (Philip SHORT), p. 91; T. 9 April 2013 (François Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public 59