Pol Pot


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Pol Pot

Pol Pot, 1925–98, Cambodian political leader, originally named Saloth Sar. Paris-educated, and a Khmer Communist leader from 1960, he led Khmer Rouge guerrillas against the government of Lon Nol after 1970. In 1975 he proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea and served as its premier (1976–79). The systematic murder of members of various groups; the complete destruction of individual rights; forced labor, disease, and starvation in Cambodia's “killing fields”; the transformation of a developing country into a xenophobic agrarian society; and other horrors that can be ascribed to the cruelty or ineptitude of Pol Pot made him one of the most infamous leaders in modern history. Some 1.5 million out of a total population of about 7 million died during his rule, which ended with an invasion by the Vietnamese in late 1979. Although he retired officially in 1985, Pol Pot continued to control his guerrillas, the strongest antigovernment force, in western jungle areas of Cambodia until factional collapse shortly before his death.

Bibliography

See biographies by D. Chandler (1992, rev. ed. 1999) and P. Short (2005); study by B. Kiernan (2d ed. 2002).

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Pol Pot

original name Kompong Thom. 1925--98, Cambodian Communist statesman; prime minister of Kampuchea (1976; 1977--79); his policies led to the deaths of thousands in labour camps before he was overthrown by Vietnamese forces; in 1997 his former supporters in the Khmer Rouge captured him and claimed to have tried and sentenced him to life imprisonment
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
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References in periodicals archive ?
Pol Pot is said to have died last week from a heart attack aged 73, but there are theories he was murdered to stop him exposing the crimes of others.
BURN IN HELL; Tyrant Pol Pot who murdered a million gets a makeshift pyre in the jungle ...with four rubber tyres, a wicker chair, a mattress and a handful of flowers
Under his vision of communism after overthrowing the government, Pol Pot declared that the nation would start again at 'Year Zero' and abolished money, private property and religion.
Terrifying Pol Pot reign that left two million dead
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Mong Hay did not disagree with Hun Sen regarding the country's development, but he said Phnom Penh was not abandoned because of war but because of Pol Pot's genocide.
Hun Sen compares modern Cambodia to post-war era
In 1979, Vietnam's army invaded Cambodia's capital, overthrowing Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
Khmer Rouge: Justice For The Victims
"The chamber finds that Nuon Chea exercised ultimate decision-making power with Pol Pot and therefore finds Nuon Chea is responsible as a superior for all the crimes," presiding judge Nil Nonn said.
Khmer Rouge leaders found guilty of genocide in landmark verdict
Pol Pot, it was recalled, was a Cambodian communist revolutionary and politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1963 to 1981.
AFP names 18 schools where NPA has been recruiting members
He said the Khmer Rouge, which Pol Pot headed, killed around two million people.
Duterte to Lanao folks: Do not support NPA
1998 - Pol Pot, the former leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrilla group, has been tracked down and found sick, dispirited and firmly in the custody of his former comrades in their north Cambodian jungle stronghold.
January 6, 1998: Pol Pot under house arrest in Combodia
"Nowadays, they put [most] of the information at Ta Mok's house and Pol Pot's grave," he says.
ANLONG VENG'S LEGACY IS DISAPPEARING
1989: 96 football supporters were killed in Britain's worst-ever sporting disaster at Hillsborough 1998: The former Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot, whose regime led to the deaths of millions of his people, died.
ON THIS DAY
The prolific and feared Khmer Angkor Empire that extended over Southeast Asia was transformed by years of civil and border wars and French protectionism, but the biggest change of all was imposed by a native Khmer, Saloth Sar, better known as Pol Pot, under the guise of creating an equal society.
Tears (and hope) for Cambodia

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