Ieng Sary
Encyclopedia
Ieng Sary was a powerful figure in the Khmer Rouge
. He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
of Democratic Kampuchea
from 1975 to 1979 and held several senior positions in the Khmer Rouge until his defection to the government in 1996.
ancestry on his father's side, and Chinese
ancestry on his mother's, Ieng Sary was born in Chau Thanh, Tra Vinh province, southern Vietnam
. Sary changed his name from the Vietnamese Kim Trang when he joined the Khmer Rouge. He is the brother-in-law by marriage, of the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot
(real name: Saloth Sar). Sary and Saloth Sar studied at Phnom Penh
's Lycée Sisowath
where their future wives, the sisters Khieu Thirith
and Khieu Ponnary
also studied. Before leaving Cambodia to study in Paris
, Sary was engaged to Khieu Thirith.
Sary and Saloth Sar also studied together in Paris. Whilst there, Sary rented an apartment in the Latin Quarter, a hotbed of student radicalism. He and Saloth Sar met with French communist intellectuals, and formed their own cell of Cambodian communists.
Sary and Khieu Thirith married in the town hall of Paris' 15th arrondissement
the summer of 1951 and Thirith took her husband's name, becoming Ieng Thirith
.
of the Workers Party of Kampuchea in September 1960.
After the fall of the Khmer Republic on 17 April 1975, Sary made personal appeals to expatriates (the well-educated Cambodians who had survived the prison death camps, and had afterwards moved abroad and others who wanted to come back to Cambodia homeland) to help rebuild Cambodia. However upon returning to Cambodia, they were arrested on arrival, and thrown into brutal detention centres. Together with Pol Pot, Ieng Sary was sentenced to death in absentia after the Khmer Rouge had been overthrown in 1979.
The then Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk
officially pardoned Ieng Sary in 1996. He was the founder of the Democratic National Union Movement
, a split from the Cambodian National Unity Party
.
, was also arrested for crimes against humanity.
On 16 December 2009, the tribunal officially charged him with genocide for his involvement with the subjugation and murder of Vietnamese and Muslim minorities in Cambodia.
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
. He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
of Democratic Kampuchea
Democratic Kampuchea
The Khmer Rouge period refers to the rule of Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouge Communist party over Cambodia, which the Khmer Rouge renamed as Democratic Kampuchea....
from 1975 to 1979 and held several senior positions in the Khmer Rouge until his defection to the government in 1996.
Early years
Of KhmerKhmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
ancestry on his father's side, and Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
ancestry on his mother's, Ieng Sary was born in Chau Thanh, Tra Vinh province, southern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Sary changed his name from the Vietnamese Kim Trang when he joined the Khmer Rouge. He is the brother-in-law by marriage, of the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....
(real name: Saloth Sar). Sary and Saloth Sar studied at Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
's Lycée Sisowath
Lycee Sisowath
Lycée Preah Sisowath is a secondary school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The school was founded in 1873 as a collège and became a lycée in 1933.-History:...
where their future wives, the sisters Khieu Thirith
Ieng Thirith
Ieng Thirith was an influential figure in the Khmer Rouge, but was neither a member of the Khmer Rouge Standing Committee nor of the Central Committee. Her original name is Khieu Thirith...
and Khieu Ponnary
Khieu Ponnary
Khieu Ponnary was the first wife of Pol Pot, sister of Khieu Thirith and sister-in-law to Ieng Sary.Khieu Ponnary was born in 1920 in Battambang Province, and her sister, Khieu Thirith, was born about 12 years later. Their father, a Cambodian judge, abandoned the family during World War II,...
also studied. Before leaving Cambodia to study in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Sary was engaged to Khieu Thirith.
Sary and Saloth Sar also studied together in Paris. Whilst there, Sary rented an apartment in the Latin Quarter, a hotbed of student radicalism. He and Saloth Sar met with French communist intellectuals, and formed their own cell of Cambodian communists.
Sary and Khieu Thirith married in the town hall of Paris' 15th arrondissement
XVe arrondissement
The 15th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France.Situated on the Rive Gauche of the River Seine and sharing the Montparnasse district with the 6th and 14th arrondissements, it is the city's most populous arrondissement...
the summer of 1951 and Thirith took her husband's name, becoming Ieng Thirith
Ieng Thirith
Ieng Thirith was an influential figure in the Khmer Rouge, but was neither a member of the Khmer Rouge Standing Committee nor of the Central Committee. Her original name is Khieu Thirith...
.
Midlife
After returning to Cambodia, he was inducted into the Central CommitteeCentral Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
of the Workers Party of Kampuchea in September 1960.
After the fall of the Khmer Republic on 17 April 1975, Sary made personal appeals to expatriates (the well-educated Cambodians who had survived the prison death camps, and had afterwards moved abroad and others who wanted to come back to Cambodia homeland) to help rebuild Cambodia. However upon returning to Cambodia, they were arrested on arrival, and thrown into brutal detention centres. Together with Pol Pot, Ieng Sary was sentenced to death in absentia after the Khmer Rouge had been overthrown in 1979.
The then Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihanouk regular script was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his semi-retirement and voluntary abdication on 7 October 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni...
officially pardoned Ieng Sary in 1996. He was the founder of the Democratic National Union Movement
Democratic National Union Movement
The Democratic National Union Movement is a Cambodian political party founded after senior Khmer Rouge official Ieng Sary's defection from the Cambodian National Unity Party in August 1996. A magazine entitled Phka Rik is associated with it...
, a split from the Cambodian National Unity Party
Cambodian National Unity Party
The Cambodian National Unity Party was a political party set up by the Khmer Rouge on November 30 1992 during the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia to participate in the elections that year. The party was led by Khieu Samphan and Son Sen. It succeeded the Party of Democratic...
.
Arrest and Trial
Ieng Sary, reportedly living in "an opulent Phnom Penh villa surrounded by security guards and barbed wire" was arrested on November 12, 2007 in Phnom Penh on an arrest warrant from the Cambodia Tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity. His wife, Ieng ThirithIeng Thirith
Ieng Thirith was an influential figure in the Khmer Rouge, but was neither a member of the Khmer Rouge Standing Committee nor of the Central Committee. Her original name is Khieu Thirith...
, was also arrested for crimes against humanity.
On 16 December 2009, the tribunal officially charged him with genocide for his involvement with the subjugation and murder of Vietnamese and Muslim minorities in Cambodia.
External links
- http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/Ledgerwood/biographies.htm
- Cambodia Tribunal Monitor