Charged Persons / Persons of Interest

There is significant speculation among experts that the following former senior Khmer Rouge leaders may be targets of investigation by the ECCC as individuals most responsible for the atrocity crimes of the Pol Pot regime. They have not been indicted. Much of the information set forth below is derived from Stephen Heder and Brian D. Tittemore, “Seven Candidates for Prosecution” (2001).

Sou Met and Meah Mut


Sou Met and Meah Mut are two surviving Khmer Rouge cadre who were Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) military division chairmen, a ranking within the CPK just below the senior level that positioned them to implement Party policies and influence the conduct of lower-level cadre. Sou Met was Secretary of Central Committee Division 502, which incorporated the DK air force, and Meah Mut was Secretary of Central Committee Division 164, which incorporated the DK navy.

Documents pertaining to Sou Met and Meah Mut provide compelling evidence of their direct involvement in the arrest and transfer to S-21 for execution of cadre from their Divisions. The evidence similarly suggests that both officials may be responsible for arrests and executions perpetrated by subordinates in their respective Divisions.

According to DC-Cam’s holdings of the minutes of meetings of Central Committee military units as well as various messages between Son Sen and those units, in 1976 and 1977 Sou Met regularly and Meah Mut occasionally attended General Staff meetings, where they obtained knowledge of arrests of civilians and CPK cadre as well as knowledge of various “smashings” and “sweepings,” including of purge victims to whom the especially damning label of “super-traitors” was applied.