Pol Pot

=== Imprisonment and death: 1997–1998 ===
[[File:Graf pol pot.JPG|thumb|Pol Pot's grave in the [[Anlong Veng District]] of [[Oddar Meanchey Province]]]]

Pol Pot had grown suspicious of Son Sen and in June 1997 ordered his assassination. Khmer Rouge cadres subsequently killed Sen and 13 of his family members and aides; Pol Pot later stated that he had not sanctioned all of these killings.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=440}} Ta Mok was concerned that Pol Pot could turn on him too. Mok rallied troops loyal to him at [[Anlong Veng]], informing them that Pol Pot had betrayed their movement, and then headed to [[Kbal Ansoang]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=440}} Fearing Mok's troops, on 12 June Pol Pot, his family, and several bodyguards fled on foot. Pol Pot was very frail and had to be carried.{{sfn|Short|2004|pp=440–41}} After Mok's troops apprehended them, Pol Pot was placed under [[house arrest]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=441}} Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea sided with Mok.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=441}}

American journalist [[Nate Thayer]] conducted Pol Pot's last interview while Pol Pot was under house arrest. Pol Pot stated that his "conscience is clear" but acknowledged that mistakes were made and told Thayer that "I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/2a1128d4b0c52563496f1e296df0a229|title=Pol Pot: Mistakes Were Made|website=AP NEWS|access-date=3 November 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417123637/https://apnews.com/article/2a1128d4b0c52563496f1e296df0a229|url-status=live}}</ref> He also rejected the idea that millions had died saying "To say that millions died is too much" and that "You know, for the other people, the babies, the young ones, I did not order them to be killed".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-10-23-9710230347-story.html|title=POL POT FEELS NO GUILT FOR BUTCHERY|first=New York Times News|last=Service|website=chicagotribune.com|date=23 October 1997 |access-date=14 September 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417123707/https://www.chicagotribune.com/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-23-mn-45896-story.html |first=Maggie |last=Farley |title=Ailing Pol Pot Looks Back on Reign Without Remorse|date=23 October 1997|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=14 September 2020|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417123656/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-23-mn-45896-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In late July, Pol Pot and the three Khmer Rouge commanders who remained loyal to him were brought before a mass meeting near [[Sang'nam]]. Thayer was invited to film the event.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=441}} There, the Khmer Rouge sentenced Pol Pot to life imprisonment; the three other commanders were sentenced to death.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=442}} Three months later, Ta Mok permitted Thayer to visit and interview Pol Pot.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=442}}

On 15 April 1998, Pol Pot died in his sleep of a [[heart attack]].{{sfn|Short|2004|p=442}} Thayer, who was present, claimed that Pol Pot killed himself when he became aware of Ta Mok's plan to hand him over to the United States, saying that "Pol Pot died after ingesting a lethal dose of a combination of [[Diazepam|Valium]] and [[chloroquine]]".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/259622.stm |title="Killing Fields Leader 'killed himself'," ''BBC News,'' January 21, 1999 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306110815/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/259622.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Poole, Teresa (21 January 1999). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/pol-pot-suicide-to-avoid-us-trial-1075283.html "Pol Pot `suicide' to avoid US trial"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501053637/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/pol-pot-suicide-to-avoid-us-trial-1075283.html |date=1 May 2019 }}. ''The Independent''. London. Retrieved 5 August 2019.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Gittings|first1=John|first2=Mark|last2=Tran|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/21/cambodia|title=Pol Pot 'killed himself with drugs'|work=The Guardian|date=21 January 1999|access-date=8 August 2014|archive-date=8 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608090623/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/21/cambodia|url-status=live}}</ref> His body was preserved with ice after an improvised embalming with formaldehyde had failed, so that his death could be verified by journalists attending his funeral.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=442}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Sainsbury |first=Peter |title=Burned like old rubbish |date=24 April 1998 |url=https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/burned-old-rubbish |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=25 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125012442/https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/burned-old-rubbish |editor1-first=Ly |editor1-last=Tayseng |editor2-first=Sam |editor2-last=Rith |editor3-first=Phak |editor3-last=Seangly |editor4-first=May |editor4-last=Kunmakara |editor5-first=Pen |editor5-last=Simala |work=[[The Phnom Penh Post]] |language=English |publisher=Post Media Co Ltd |publication-place=[[Phnom Penh]], [[Cambodia]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Chandler |author1-link=David P. Chandler |title=A small, muddled, erratic, frightened man |date=27 June 1997 |url=https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/small-muddled-erratic-frightened-man |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=10 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410204341/https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/small-muddled-erratic-frightened-man |editor1-first=Ly |editor1-last=Tayseng |editor2-first=Sam |editor2-last=Rith |editor3-first=Phak |editor3-last=Seangly |editor4-first=May |editor4-last=Kunmakara |editor5-first=Pen |editor5-last=Simala |work=[[The Phnom Penh Post]] |language=English |publisher=Post Media Co Ltd |publication-place=[[Phnom Penh]], [[Cambodia]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Handley |first1=Erin |last2=Sineat |first2=Yon |last3=Meta |first3=Kong |title=Twenty years after Pol Pot died a broken man, his memory looms large |date=13 April 2018 |url=https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-post-depth/twenty-years-after-pol-pot-died-broken-man-his-memory-looms-large |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030104523/https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-post-depth/twenty-years-after-pol-pot-died-broken-man-his-memory-looms-large |editor1-first=Ly |editor1-last=Tayseng |editor2-first=Sam |editor2-last=Rith |editor3-first=Phak |editor3-last=Seangly |editor4-first=May |editor4-last=Kunmakara |editor5-first=Pen |editor5-last=Simala |work=[[The Phnom Penh Post]] |language=English |publisher=Post Media Co Ltd |publication-place=[[Phnom Penh]], [[Cambodia]] }}</ref> Three days later, his wife cremated his body on a pyre of tyres and rubbish, utilising traditional Buddhist funerary rites.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=442}}

In May, Pol Pot's widow and [[Tep Khunnal]] fled to Malaysia, where they married.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=443}}<ref name="english.cambodiadaily.com">{{Cite web |url=https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/once-pol-pots-aide-now-a-capitalist-crusader-71102/ |title=Once Pol Pot's Aide, Now a Capitalist Crusader &#124; the Cambodia Daily |date=28 October 2014 |access-date=23 April 2020 |archive-date=14 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914115537/https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/once-pol-pots-aide-now-a-capitalist-crusader-71102/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Khmer Rouge themselves continued to face territorial losses to the Cambodian Army and in March 1999 Ta Mok was also captured, and the Khmer Rouge effectively ceased to exist.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=443}}