Pol Pot

Pol Pot (1926?-1998) was the ruthless Cambodian communist dictator responsible for killing 1-2 million Cambodians in the late 1970s. Anyone thought to be intellectual was murdered, including the killing of people simply for knowing a foreign language or even merely wearing classes. Pol Pot held power through a combination of enormous charm and complete ruthlessness.

When Pol Pot took over Cambodia in 1975, he abolished private property, money and religion and converted everything back to an agricultural society. He emptied the cities. His Khmer Rouge government fell in 1979 when Vietnam invaded Cambodia after a series of violent border confrontations, and Pol Pot fled to the northern jungle with his forces.

The Hollywood movie about his dictatorship, The Killing Fields, helped expose his atrocities. The United States and other Asian nations were blamed for once supporting him in order to counter Vietnam next door.

There was a bloody power struggle within the Khmer Rouge in 1997. Pol Pot was then arrested by his former supporters in July 1997. They charged him with treason but a "people's tribunal" merely sentenced him to house arrest for life.