Democratic Kampuchea

Democratic Kampuchea was the official name of Cambodia, or Kampuchea, from 1976 to January 1979. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge ruled the country. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 and took over the government, Democratic Kampuchea became the People's Republic of Kampuchea.

Kampuchea កម្ពុជា  (Khmer) (1975–1976) Democratic Kampuchea កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ  (Khmer) (1976–1982)
1975 – 1982
Top: (1975 - 76) Bottom: (1976 - 82) Emblem (1975–82)
Anthem: បទនគររាជ Nôkôr Réach "Majestic Kingdom" (1975–1976) ដប់ប្រាំពីរមេសាមហាជោគជ័យ Dâb Prămpir Mésa Môha Choŭkchoăy "Victorious Seventeenth of April" (1976–1982)
Location of Democratic Kampuchea
Capital	Phnom Penh
Official languages	Khmer
Religion	State atheism
Demonym(s)	Kampuchean • Cambodian
Government	Unitary one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian dictatorship (under a coalition government from 75 - 76)[1][2][3]
General Secretary
• 1975 – 1979	Pol Pot
Head of State
• 1975 – 1976	Norodom Sihanouk
• 1976 – 1979	Khieu Samphan
Prime Minister
• 1975 – 1976	Penn Nouth
• 1976	Khieu Samphan
• 1976 – 1979	Pol Pot
Legislature	Kampuchean People's Representative Assembly
Historical era	Cold War
• Fall of Phnom Penh	17 April 1975
• Proclamation	15 January 1976
• Vietnamese invasion	7 January 1979
• Establishment of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea	22 June 1982
Area
181,035 km2 (69,898 sq mi)
Currency	None
Driving side	right
Calling code	855
Preceded by Succeeded by Khmer Republic People's Republic of Kampuchea Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
Today part of	Cambodia

Cambodian genocide

As many as 3,000,000 Cambodians (​¹⁄₃ of the Cambodian population) died in the Cambodian genocide (Khmer: ហាយនភាពខ្មែរ / ការប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ខ្មែរ) committed by Democratic Kampuchea's Khmer Rouge regime.^[4] This was around 25% of the population: one in every four people.^[5]

Killing fields

The Khmer Rouge massacred at least hundreds of thousands of people in the "killing fields," and buried them in mass graves to destroy evidence that could be used for proving their genocide.^[4][6] They also forced city populations into the countryside to work in labor camps, where many died from starvation, overwork, and disease.^[6]

End

In January 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Cambodia. They wanted to oust Pol Pot from power as his army had crossed the Cambodian–Vietnamese border to massacred Vietnamese civilians.^[7] They removed the Khmer Rouge from power and propped up another pro-Vietnamese communist dictatorship, which was not recognized by many UN members.^[7] Hundreds of thousands of survivors fled to refugee camps in Thailand,^[8]: 45 Many of whom immigrated to the United States afterwards.

The former S-21 prison (now Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) through barbed wire.

Trials

In 2006, the United Nations and the Cambodian government established a special court called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). This court has tried some former Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity.^[6]

Kaing Guek Eav – also known as Comrade Duch – was the first to be tried before the ECCC. Eav was the head of Security Prison 21 during the genocide. The court found him guilty of crimes against humanity and breaking the Geneva Conventions of 1949.^[9] He was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.^[10]

In 2011, the ECCC convicted two top Khmer Rouge officials, Noun Chea and Khieu Samphan, for crimes against humanity, genocide, and breaking the Geneva Conventions.^[10]