January 7, 1979: The Vietnamese take Phnom Penh, beginning 11 years of Vietnamese occupation. May 25, 1978: Khmer Rouge purges East Zone. Late 1977: Fighting breaks out between Vietnam and Cambodia. Some two million people are forced out of Cambodia’s urban centers. The city’s inhabitants are forced to leave the capital, heading out to rural areas. Sihanouk is aligned with the Khmer Rouge, an ultra-Maoist group building up a following in the countryside.Īpril 17, 1975: The Khmer Rouge seize Phnom Penh, completing their taking over of the country. Here’s a timeline of the Khmer Rouge regime and the long path to bring its leaders to justice:ġ970: Marshal Lon Nol stages a coup, forcing Prince Norodom Sihanouk out of power. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in 2012, more than 30 years after the fall of the regime. Kaing Guek Eav, alias Comrade Duch, the head of an infamous torture prison, was convicted of crimes against humanity in 2010.
On Thursday, guilty verdicts were handed down to Nuon Chea, otherwise known as Brother Number Two, and Khieu Samphan, the one-time President of Democratic Kampuchea, as Cambodia was known. Three of the ultra-Maoist regime’s former leaders have been found guilty for crimes against community by a U.N.-backed tribunal. At least 1.7 million people – nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population – were killed by execution, disease, starvation and overwork under the Khmer Rouge’s brutal rule from 1975 to 1979.
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