CLOSING ORDER
of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde, 15 September 2010
IV. COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE
- 72. The CPK Standing Committee was at the top of the Party’s nation-wide communications. It was at the centre of a system of constant information between each part of the administrative hierarchy. It issued the instructions: “Send general reports through various spearheads. Propose short reports by telegram, (all this so) the Standing Committee knows the situation in order to provide timely instructions”.206
A. CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION
- 73. The channels of communication were meticulously organized at the level of the Centre (among ministries and offices around the Centre, within the Centre armed forces and within the Centre’s S-21 security apparatus); between the Centre and the zones (with no inter-zone communication allowed); and between zones and sectors. Communication between sectors and districts depended on available means, but was less formalized.
Communication Within the Centre
- 74. The distribution of messages that arrived at the Centre from outside entities was coordinated by Office K-1, where it was decided which of the leaders were to receive copies of messages which were subsequently delivered to them.207 This decision was taken by Pol Pot and his staff, who for this purpose received ingoing messages several times per day.208 According to one witness, Nuon Chea always received a copy of the messages Pol Pot had read.209
- 75. There was also frequent written communication between individual CPK leaders, most notably between Pol Pot and Nuon Chea, who used to exchange letters every one or two days.210
Zone to Centre Communication
- 76. Zones and autonomous sectors reported to the Standing Committee primarily on the agricultural situation, such as the rice harvest and on irrigation systems, the livelihood of the people and the enemy and military situation.211Secretary of Autonomous Sector 105) mentions that he sent telegrams to the Centre and that Pol Pot would send comments back to him about the arrests of cadres and about confessions.212