PHNOM PENH ¨C Cambodia¡¯s Khmer Rouge chief ideologist and ¡°Brother No. 2¡± Nuon Chea died Sunday at the age of 93, a court spokesman said.
A U.N.-backed court found Nuon Chea guilty of genocide and sentenced him to life in prison last year, almost four decades after the Maoist regime which oversaw the ¡°Killing Fields¡± was overthrown.
Most of the victims of the 1975-79 regime died of starvation, torture, exhaustion or disease in labor camps or were bludgeoned to death during mass executions.
¡°We can confirm that defendant Nuon Chea, 93, passed away this evening on 4 Aug., 2019, at Khmer Soviet Friendship hospital,¡± Neth Pheaktra, spokesman at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, said. ¡°Nuon Chea¡¯s family has been informed.¡±
Between 1.7 and 2.2 million people, almost a quarter of the population, died during the Khmer Rouge¡¯s rule.
Currently, only former President Khieu Samphan and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Comrade Duch, are serving life sentences after being convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.
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