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A young woman from Takaev who became a courier for Ieng
Thirith in 1976 recalled that Thirith had three or four houses, a
residence at Chamkar Mon, an office in front of the Palace, and a
residence at the Central Market, but seemed to spend most of her
time at the one in front of the Palace, to the south of the main
palace, near Voat Botum, where the bigshots resided and worked. The
women carried letters and packets of documents for Thirith, always
travelling in a vehicle driven -- with an escort -- by Uncle Ra, who
was armed with a pistol, then either handing over the letter
personally to the addressee or a receptionist. Some went to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Ieng Sary, others to Pol Pot, Nuon
Chea and Khieu Samphan, and some to textile factories for which
Thirith was responsible, tailoring and textile factories near the
Foreign Ministry, Au Reuhsei market and Calemette Hospital
(including the K1, K2 and K3 factories), where Thirith went on a
number of occasions to talk to the workers, just like she
periodically went to hospitals to ask the patients how they were.
Sometimes, the woman also brought letters back to Thirith, although
on other occasions, letters were delivered by other couriers.
The woman recalled having heard of S21 when she was Thirith's
courier, but did not know where or what it was, never heard of Duch,
and had not taken letters there for Thirith, because Thirith had
told her S21 was too far away for Li to do the delivering;
explaining that other, older couriers should carry out such tasks.
The woman stated these couriers – a woman named Phâl and a man named
Pheap – had taken letters to S21 for Thirith.
As for the exact nature – the substantive content -- of Thirith's
work and responsibilities, she also was not allowed to know.
Thirith attended meetings around Phnom Penh, including at the
Foreign Ministry, and Thirith and Sary were living together, but
sometimes did not sleep in the same house, and did not often work
together, seeming to see each other only at major official
gatherings. They had separate bodyguards. As often as once a
fortnight, the woman went with Thirith in her vehicle to meetings
and on other work outings, usually to one of the bigshot offices in
the vicinity of the palace, where she saw various senior leaders,
mostly with enormous pot bellies. She commented that the bigshots seemed constantly to be in
meetings, rarely going down to see what was really going on,
although they got regular reports from their subordinates, Thirith
typically receiving two or three a day. On the other hand, Thirith
never had visitors from he countryside, although she sometimes went
to Angkor Voat, with Li accompanying her twice. Along the way, Li
saw people carrying dirt and manure, but Thirith never got out of
the vehicle, and the people were quite a distance from the road.
Despite their close working relationship, she never dared to be
casual with Thirith, never asking her about personal matters.
Still, she considered Thirith a good and nice woman, not someone who
was mean or vicious, someone who never raised her voice, always
talking sweetly and patting Li on the head, always generous. She
did not believe Thirith had ever killed anyone, nor did she believe
that Pol, Nuon, Sary or Samphan had ever personally committed
murders. She believed executions occurred only in the countryside,
where people were killing each other, not in the city. Thirith
never spoke to her about the threat of enemies. Food was
plentiful, and every ten day week there was a treat, such as a meat
sandwich or something sweet. And there were movies to which, film
of fighting. It was a fun life.
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