History
Between 1974 and 1978, two pagodas (wat in Khmer) in Kang Meas district were used as prisons and killing fields by the Khmer Rouge.According to a mapping team who surveyed the region in 1995 and 1996 Wat O Trau Kuon and Wat Nikroath in Peam Chi Kang commune were used as a district prison and regional prison respectively. O Trau Kuon was the main Democratic Kampuchea district prison from 1974 until 1978. Initial victims at this site were soldiers from the army of Lon Nol and then New People who were brought to Kang Meas District from Phnom Penh. Victims were executed at the mass graves close to the Wat. District authorities reported 467 mass graves at this site and estimated that 32,690 victims were executed there. The graves were excavated in 1982 and the remains placed in a memorial stupa near the pagoda.
Wat Nikroath was used as a prison from 1975 when New People were invited to the pagoda to receive food. They were then imprisoned and later executed. District officials recorded 186 mass graves at the site containing an estimated 11,160 victims. Monks from the pagoda reported that they have found names written in blood on the walls when they returned after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. These have now been covered with fresh paint.
Read more about this topic: Kang Meas District
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