BACKGROUND: What was the Khmer Rouge?

Feb 3, 2012, 4:52 GMT

Phnom Penh - The Khmer Rouge tribunal on Friday extended to life the sentence of Comrade Duch, former prison chief of the regime that ruled Cambodia in the late 1970s. Below are some basic facts about the movement:

FOUNDING

- French-educated Saloth Sar, known as Pol Pot, rises up the ranks of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in the early 1960s.

- Now commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, the CPK begins to control tracts of the country as civil war takes hold of Cambodia in the late 1960s.

TAKING POWER

- The Khmer Rouge takes Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, setting the clock back to 'Year Zero.'

- The country is re-named Democratic Kampuchea. Khieu Samphan becomes head of state and Pol Pot is prime minister.

BELIEFS

- The Khmer Rouge aim to transform Cambodia into a rural, classless society. To do this they abolish money, private property, religious practices and traditional Khmer culture.

1975-1979RULE

- Cities across Cambodia are emptied, forcing urban residents to become rural labourers. Intellectuals and minorities are among those tortured in special centres and executed.

- Between 1.7 million and 2.2 million people die under the regime, through execution, disease, starvation or exhaustion, according to Khmer Rouge tribunal estimates.

OVERTHROW

- Vietnamese troops fight their way into Cambodia and capture Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979.

- The Khmer Rouge leaders flee to the west of the country to re-establish their movement, which finally collapses altogether in the late 1990s.

TRIBUNAL

- The United Nations and Cambodia sign an agreement on Khmer Rouge prosecutions in 2003.

- Case 001 sees former prison chairman Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, found guilty of crimes against humanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions in 2010.

- Case 002 sees Brother Number Two Nuon Chea put on trial along with Khieu Samphan, Ieng Thirith and Ieng Sary in 2011.

- Questions remain about upcoming Cases 003 and 004, which senior members of Cambodia's government have openly opposed.

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