How many died khmer rouge

If their parents survived the Khmer Rouge, they rarely speak of their experiences because many Cambodians believe that would transmit the suffering to their children. That means most Cambodians have no direct experience of the Khmer Rouge, who were known to execute teachers, doctors, ethnic Vietnamese, with pickaxes rather than spend money on bullets. Many of the remains were ground down to make fertilizer in an effort to meet quotas for the rice crop.

Others, like those found by soil excavators in , were buried intact with arms bound behind them or weighed down by rocks, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia DC-CAM. They tortured people, so he deserved to die.

People should have peace of mind. According to Buddhist beliefs, even though Noun Chea and other Khmer Rouge leaders are dead, the souls of their victims and those who survived still do not have a peaceful mind. Nuon Chea died without the dignity that comes with age, said Youk Chhang, and his death is drawing mixed reactions.

Documentary filmmaker Thet Sambath interviewed Nuon Chea extensively in the late s, and then co-produced the award-winning documentary "Enemies of the People," about the Khmer Rouge leadership. Search Search. Home United States U. Africa 54 - November 11, Specially targeted were the inhabitants of the areas close to the Vietnamese border. On December 25, Vietnam invaded Cambodia. The Vietnamese sought to remove the Khmer Rouge from power. At first, survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime considered the Vietnamese to be liberators, but they were soon viewed as occupiers.

Vietnamese troops stayed in the country until , with armed clashes between Vietnamese and Cambodians going on throughout the s. A post-Pol Pot government with some democratic features, led by a reestablished monarchy, took over. Yet the Khmer Rouge did not disappear until much later, and continued to hold Cambodia's seat at the United Nations for twelve years.

In May the first free elections in more than twenty years were held. In January the Cambodian government established the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to try leadership of the Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity. Trials began in but have led to only three convictions, including that of Kaing Guek Eav, the commander of the S21 prison, who was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity.

The vast majority of the perpetrators suffered no consequences for their actions. Phansy details how she was affected by losing both her parents and children during the Cambodian Genocide. Four decades on, Cambodia, a developing nation of about 16 million people, is still grappling with its past — not just the tragedy beyond conception that was official Khmer Rouge rule, but also the civil war that followed and continued through the early s.

In November, a U. That significant verdict underscored the lingering legacy of the genocidal regime on Cambodian society today. The insurgents were driven by Marxist ideology and their army was led by a man called Pol Pot, who had earlier lived in France and became a member of the communist party there. When the Khmer Rouge took power in known in the country as Year Zero , millions were immediately sent to work in labor camps in the countryside, on the idea that this was a step toward the creation of an agrarian utopia.

Mass killings primarily targeted the middle class and intellectuals — such as doctors, lawyers, journalists, artists and students — as well as ethnic Vietnamese and Cham Muslims. Private property, money, religion and traditional culture were abolished, and the country became known as Democratic Kampuchea. But even then, the Khmer Rouge was seen by many in the West as a powerful challenge to Vietnamese influence in Cambodia, and maintained support and military assistance from the U.

From , the Khmer Rouge held onto its seat in the U. General Assembly, and was recognized as the only legitimate representative of Cambodia. When Pol Pot died in , he was only just about to face the possibility of trial before the world. Cambodia historian David Chandler says that, as time wears on, Cambodians are steadily overcoming the trauma.

Cambodia is a young country, with nearly half its population under the age of