biography
| name: |
Pol Pot
|
| |
also called Saloth Sar
|
pronunciation:
[pol pot]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1926–98)
|
| biography:
| Cambodian politician and prime minister (1976–9), born in Kompong Thom Province, C Cambodia. He was active in the anti-French resistance under Ho Chi-Minh, and in 1964 joined the pro-Chinese Communist Party. He then studied in Paris (1949–53), worked as a teacher (1954–63), and became leader of the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, defeating Lon Nol's military goverment in 1976. As prime minister, he set up a totalitarian regime which caused the death, imprisonment, or exile of around 2 million. Overthrown in 1979, when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, he withdrew to the mountains to lead the Khmer Rouge forces. He announced his retirement in 1985, but continued to be an influential figure within the movement. He defected from the Khmer Rouge in 1996. Later he was blamed as sole perpetrator of genocide, and in 1997 he was captured by his former comrades. After a show trial deep in the Cambodian jungle he died while still in captivity, having been condemned to life imprisonment. |
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