01005718 Case File No. 002/19-09-2007/ECCC/TC E313 ROCHOEM Ton alias PHY Phuon did not recall KHIEU Samphan being present, KHIEU Samphan himself stated that he had attended the 1971 Party Congress and that he became a candidate member of the Central Committee in 1971.258 The Congress ratified the change in party name from Worker’s Party of Cambodia to the CPK, and created the Special Zone encompassing Phnom Penh and controlled by VORN Vet.259 It reiterated the Party’s strategic lines adopted at the 1st and 2nd Congresses.260 3.2. Sihanouk’s Overthrow and the Creation of FUNK and GRUNK 96. By 1969 the economy in Cambodia was flagging and there was uncertainty as to whether it would be dragged into the war in Vietnam despite Sihanouk’s official policy of neutrality.261 From 1969, American bombings in Cambodia served to push North-Vietnamese troops further into Cambodia which heightened the crisis.262 On 12 March 1970, while NORODOM Sihanouk was in Paris, the Vice-President of South Vietnam, NGUYEN Cao Ky, secretly visited Phnom Penh and formed an alliance with Prime Minister LON Nol.263 97. Encouraged by his Deputy SIRIK Matak, on 18 March 1970, LON Nol signed a decree approving the overthrow of NORODOM Sihanouk who was in Moscow and on his way to Beijing at the time.264 The same day, the Cambodian National Assembly approved a vote of no confidence in NORODOM Sihanouk and required that he 258 T. 26 July 2012 (ROCHOEM Ton alias PHY Phuon), p. 34; Book by KHIEU S.: Considerations on the History of Cambodia From the Early Stage to the Period of Democratic Kampuchea, E3/16, p. 76, ERN (En) 00498295; T. 13 December 2011 (KHIEU Samphan), p. 92; KHIEU Samphan Interview Record, E3/27, 13 December 2007, p. 11, ERN (En) 00156751. 259 Book by KHIEU S.: Considerations on the History of Cambodia From the Early Stage to the Period of Democratic Kampuchea, E3/16, pp. 76-77, ERN (En) 00498295-96; T. 5 December 2011 (NUON Chea), pp. 15-16, 69-70. 260 Revolutionary Flag, E169/4/1.1.2, Dec 1975-Jan 1976, p. 14, ERN (En) 00865704. 261 Book by P. SHORT: Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare, E3/9, 2004, pp. 185-187, ERN (En) 00396385-87. 262 Book by P. SHORT: Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare, E3/9, 2004, p. 185, ERN (En) 00396385; Book by W. SHAWCROSS: Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia E3/88, pp. 67-68, ERN (En) 00429754-55; See Section 3: Historical Background, paras 153-156. 263 Book by P. SHORT: Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare, E3/9, 2004, pp. 195-196, ERN (En) 00396395-96. 264 Book by P. SHORT: Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare, E3/9, 2004, p. 197, ERN (En) 00396397 (“Sihanouk was told [of the coup] in Moscow by Premier Alexei Kosygin as they were driving to the airport for his departure to Beijing”); Norodom Sihanouk Declaration, E3/1756, 23 March 1970, ERN (En) 00852373; Book by E. BECKER: When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution, E3/20, 1986, pp. 115-117, ERN (En) 00237820-22. Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public 51