Saloth Sar was born May 19th, 1928. He was the leader of the political faction known as the Khmer Rouge, and was leader of the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea from the time when he gained power in 1975 to the deposition of his government by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979. During his brief rule his attempts to cleanse and remake Cambodia resulted in the deaths of around 21% of the population, between 1.7 and 2.5 million people. After he was deposed he and his government operated as the officially U.N. recognized government of Cambodia between 1979 and 1997. During this time he and his government hid in and around the Thailand-Cambodia border. He was put through a show trial in July of 1997 for the murder of one of his advisors, and sentenced to lifelong house arrest. He died on the night of April 15th, 1998, apparently of heart failure, though it has been speculated that he may have committed suicide or been poisoned.Â
